My office is on the fourteenth floor of a high rise office building in Gurgaon. The occupants tend to be a mix of multinational, (American, European, Korean, Japanese) and Indian companies. Over the last few years I have been riding the lift ( elevators) up and down at least three four times a day and it is interesting to see the social interaction in the short time you reach your floor.
Reflecting the population demographics most of my fellow passengers tend to be young ( by my definition that's under forty). with a slight majority of males. The offices they work for tend to be names such as Reebok, Hays Consulting, Lowes/Linta,some technology companies and a Hong Kong based buying company.
At five feet seven and a half inches ( my wife insists its seven and three eights) I thought I was average or slightly above, but standing next to the males, I positively feel short. The younger Indian male tends to be getting bigger, not just in terms of height , but also around the middle. At the rate we are going, India in a few decades will catch up with The United States and South Africa in terms of adult obesity. The woman however tend to be considerably shorter and the younger ones slimmer.
The back pack is the new office accessory . Very rarely do you see anyone carrying a briefcase.What I find most annoying is when the person standing in front of you with a back pack strung across his shoulders starts backing into you and his huge bag pack pushes into your chest. You try to gently push back but when that does not work you have to tap the individual concerned and tell him to stop pushing. While most accept that you have a occasional person who stares at you and you have to respond.
Sometimes you are standing in a crowded lift and suddenly you hear a loud Muni Badnam Hoi, or Sheila Ki Jawani, or a Om Hari Om, or a Wahe Guru Sat Nam.You get disoriented for a split second, until the person next to you reaches into his pocket takes out his cell phone and starts a loud conversation with his wife,mother, business associate, boss or supplier with no attempt at keeping his voice soft.On occasion when he is talking, his other phone rings.
The riders who get in on the floor where one of the largest property companies in India has its marketing office are a study in contrasts. Some of them enter with a triumphant look on their face, which means that they finally been able to get possession of the flat. The others look depressed with an expression of anger and frustration, meaning that they have been told once again that the delivery of the property for which they have paid fully years ago, is going to be delayed yet again for the nth time.
The worst time to get in the lift is right after lunch in summers.It is crowded with sweaty bodies and you have someone's pot belly pushing into your back. You can have a pretty good guess as to what he had for lunch as he breathes down your neck and occasionally belches.
At times you have a person or a group complaining about a boss or a colleague with no attempt to speak softly or not mentioning the persons name. In our time we were a bit more discrete .
With increasing prosperity you see examples of one upmanship. Once a working couple ( probably in their mid thirties ) got in together with some colleagues. It was the sale season. The couple mentioned that they were not going to the Armani boutique sale ( I did not know there was one in Delhi) , because " everyone is wearing Armani". I looked down at my tee shirt - it had the Giordano frog !!!
The Koreans, Chinese and Japanese talk to their own group, unlike the Americans or Europeans. I have rarely have seen them talking to their local colleagues.
Depending on the time of the day , the lift stops on many floors, but my favorite stop is when the lift doors open on the thirteen floor. It is where the Hong Kong based William Connors office is and you see them packing samples of goods to be sent to Ikea, or William Sanoma, or The Pottery Barn.Some of them are quite interesting. I have made a number of attempts to buy an occasional item but without any success.
Finally in closing I have to say the younger generation all seem to have a lot more attitude and confidence in their mannerisms, their behavior and their speech ( might not be grammatically correct English, but spoken with confidence ) you know that they are sure of themselves and in their own skin. This is what New India is all about - the blending of the Indian and the West.
Reflecting the population demographics most of my fellow passengers tend to be young ( by my definition that's under forty). with a slight majority of males. The offices they work for tend to be names such as Reebok, Hays Consulting, Lowes/Linta,some technology companies and a Hong Kong based buying company.
At five feet seven and a half inches ( my wife insists its seven and three eights) I thought I was average or slightly above, but standing next to the males, I positively feel short. The younger Indian male tends to be getting bigger, not just in terms of height , but also around the middle. At the rate we are going, India in a few decades will catch up with The United States and South Africa in terms of adult obesity. The woman however tend to be considerably shorter and the younger ones slimmer.
The back pack is the new office accessory . Very rarely do you see anyone carrying a briefcase.What I find most annoying is when the person standing in front of you with a back pack strung across his shoulders starts backing into you and his huge bag pack pushes into your chest. You try to gently push back but when that does not work you have to tap the individual concerned and tell him to stop pushing. While most accept that you have a occasional person who stares at you and you have to respond.
Sometimes you are standing in a crowded lift and suddenly you hear a loud Muni Badnam Hoi, or Sheila Ki Jawani, or a Om Hari Om, or a Wahe Guru Sat Nam.You get disoriented for a split second, until the person next to you reaches into his pocket takes out his cell phone and starts a loud conversation with his wife,mother, business associate, boss or supplier with no attempt at keeping his voice soft.On occasion when he is talking, his other phone rings.
The riders who get in on the floor where one of the largest property companies in India has its marketing office are a study in contrasts. Some of them enter with a triumphant look on their face, which means that they finally been able to get possession of the flat. The others look depressed with an expression of anger and frustration, meaning that they have been told once again that the delivery of the property for which they have paid fully years ago, is going to be delayed yet again for the nth time.
The worst time to get in the lift is right after lunch in summers.It is crowded with sweaty bodies and you have someone's pot belly pushing into your back. You can have a pretty good guess as to what he had for lunch as he breathes down your neck and occasionally belches.
At times you have a person or a group complaining about a boss or a colleague with no attempt to speak softly or not mentioning the persons name. In our time we were a bit more discrete .
With increasing prosperity you see examples of one upmanship. Once a working couple ( probably in their mid thirties ) got in together with some colleagues. It was the sale season. The couple mentioned that they were not going to the Armani boutique sale ( I did not know there was one in Delhi) , because " everyone is wearing Armani". I looked down at my tee shirt - it had the Giordano frog !!!
The Koreans, Chinese and Japanese talk to their own group, unlike the Americans or Europeans. I have rarely have seen them talking to their local colleagues.
Depending on the time of the day , the lift stops on many floors, but my favorite stop is when the lift doors open on the thirteen floor. It is where the Hong Kong based William Connors office is and you see them packing samples of goods to be sent to Ikea, or William Sanoma, or The Pottery Barn.Some of them are quite interesting. I have made a number of attempts to buy an occasional item but without any success.
Finally in closing I have to say the younger generation all seem to have a lot more attitude and confidence in their mannerisms, their behavior and their speech ( might not be grammatically correct English, but spoken with confidence ) you know that they are sure of themselves and in their own skin. This is what New India is all about - the blending of the Indian and the West.
No comments:
Post a Comment