JC in India

There is a saying that you cry when you first arrive in India, and you cry when you leave. The inference being that on arrival in this foreign land of such differing culture, it is hard to deal with and can overcome you. But that over time you adjust your perceptions and as you adjust to life here, the level of affinity grows and then… well, you are sad to leave.

I have just spent the last week in Melbourne, Australia. I add ‘Australia’, because technically other Melbourne’s exist, but I doubt that needs clarifying in reality! I was last in Melbourne many years ago, and I have memories of a cold city and do not have any real recollections of note. This time around though it was much more favourable for my future memories. It is a fabulous place; clean, friendly and in possession of a real vibe.

I always think you can tell a pleasant culture by the level of activeness of its population. And the outdoor lifestyle was evident, with runners, rowers and generally people just being “fit” all around. Not to mention the propensity for early nights with most bars closing by 10pm on weeknights…

It was a work trip which included a busy few days doing my job running a multitude of airline meetings, but when in the downtime there was the opportunity to explore the city. It helped that I was there with colleagues from former times, who transcend that description into good friends, and so that made it all the better exploring the city and its environs with people I enjoy spending time with.

Great food, great company, a couple of good runs (albeit my lack of fitness is showing..), and some good fresh air.

It is the polar opposite of Delhi in terms of Air Quality right now. I managed to change my flight back to return a day later than originally planned to make the most of being there. An extra day away from the pollution being too good to pass up.

The return back “home” came in the form of a 2 stopper through Adelaide and Kuala Lumpur. There is a direct flight Melbourne to Delhi which takes around 12 hours but the indirect option was much cheaper so it meant my journey to and from Australia this time involved enjoying the Malaysia Airlines hospitality.

KL is actually a good airport to transfer through as it is a central hub terminal which makes it pretty seamless, and the lounge is ok too. I managed to catch part of one of the pre-F1 races of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix there while I had my two hour layover. Not quite as good as one of my friends (you know who you are!) who had to leave Melbourne earlier than the rest of us to get back to Abu Dhabi to actually host clients at the Grand Prix. As an aside it is free to run or cycle around the Abu Dhabi F1 circuit on Tuesday evenings. So for some reason therefore when in my former role I was meeting Etihad regularly, I always managed to schedule my meetings to see them there on Tuesdays. Can’t possibly think why…

Transitioning from Melbourne (other nice cities are available – delete as applicable) into Delhi is a culture shock. It is probably one of the most polar opposite cultural locations on the planet (not that there is an official declaration of such). I used to live in Montreal which had one of the worlds highest thermal inclines (i.e. the temperature fluctuated materially over the year from plus 30c in summer to -30c in winter, so a thermal incline of 60c). There isn’t a cultural incline scale that I know of but Delhi / Melbourne would be up there with the best of them if there was.

I went through my usual arrival routine in Delhi and got a new personal best in terms of time from wheels down to opening the apartment door due to the aggressive help of this trips Minion. [Great job that man – please can I have him next time I arrive?!]

Riding along in my taxi to the cacophony of horns and near misses, I knew I was back for sure. The high cultural incline highly evident. I won’t deny I left Melbourne with a heavy heart, and I remember actually having a moment while descending into KL genuinely thinking I’m tired of all this. Not Delhi, but the travel. The constantly being away from home, the little chance to settle. The sense of yearning for stability was really strong, and at times like that I actually miss the peace of the pandemic grounding. I remember looking out the window over the tropical Malaysian countryside on that approach to KL, and a real sense of just wanting to stop and be at home came right over me. Trust me it is great to see other places and experience the world afar, but the sacrifices to do so with such intensity are great. As I’ve said before, when my working life finishes I will be happy to stay home for a very (very) long time.

But despite my hesitation to return to Delhi, I felt comfortable. I know now the sights and sounds, the sensory experience overall. When I got home, it was nice to have Pushpender (my night guard) open the gate with a warm smile and in broken English welcome me back. To curl up in a bed I am now familiar with and that is truly comfortable. To relax in an environment I now feel at home in. It’s not foreign anymore. It is different of course, and the cultural incline remains high against some places – the U.K. included – but after nearly a year here, I have adjusted to that incline and know how to cope with it.

There is another side to this tale though, and that is from the Indian perspective. It is fair to say that the Indians experience this same incline phenomena, just in reverse. So much so that quite often some of the team I work with don’t actually want to travel. One of my colleagues who I would have brought to Australia with me this last trip simply did not want to go. Another time one of the team was with me in Norway and he pretty much lived on McDonalds all the time he was there, as his palate wasn’t used to the more western style of eating. In the absence of Indian food he at least was familiar with McDonalds so settled for that. And I won’t forget laughing while reading an article in our company magazine where one employee wrote a travel story of a journey he’d been on overseas somewhere where he quoted something along the lines of “imagine my amazement when I saw drivers adhering to lanes and not honking their horns all the time”!

We need to remember that while we describe the Indian culture as being very different, in fact likewise the Indians view some western cultures through the same lens, just from the opposite angle. You know what you know and are comfortable with familiarity. Same goes both ways.

On a macro scale there is a degree of this playing out with the World Cup in Qatar right now. So much is being made of the fact Qatar has strict rules against certain norms in western society. To be clear I don’t agree with those Qatari rules, but I have heard Qataris talk of the fact we are coming along imposing our beliefs but that we wouldn’t want them coming to us imposing theirs. Of course I don’t agree with their stance on these key matters, but it is an example of a cultural incline of differing attitudes which is quite steep.

I write this from onboard a flight back to the U.K. and somewhere over the Western Himalayas.

It is a flying visit for just a few days over the weekend, which I am really excited for, although I will be home for a full two weeks over Christmas too so not long until then. There is the short matter of a quick trip to Istanbul in the interim period, but once that’s done I can put a check in the “done” box for 2022. It will be nice to recharge at home, and spend the most time there since before I left nearly a year ago. I’m really looking forward to that and having the wheels stop for a while. Although while the wheels may stop, the running shoes will come on for sure!

And so my experience of the cultural incline continues. As much as I am adjusting now to being comfortable in India, there remains a plethora of challenges, and the “working culture incline” is just as significant as the lifestyle one – if not more so at times. 

But that’s a story for next time…