July 21st - Hindi Lesson Part 2

Today was a weird day, it rained again – of course. I made it to work and headed over to banquets for my day of training. I made it through until lunch and then had to come home because I felt so badly. The doctor at the hotel gave me some anti-biotic and other medications to make me feel better, which they have already.

I am, though, going to talk about some more cultural differences. For one thing, I still feel that women are suppressed in India. The Leela has a complain going around bragging how 185 of their 1,200 employees are women! That is barely 15% of their staff – nothing to brag about in my opinion.

Also, SHOES. Not mandatory anywhere. Not even at work or throughout the hotel. The American saying, “No Shoes, No Service” wouldn’t service in India. Some cultures and religions believe that the sole of shoes are evil and cannot wear them anywhere. That includes the streets, puddles, hallways, roads, and BATHROOMS. I constantly see people walking around barefoot. At first it grossed me out, but to be honest, the streets are the worst, not their feet.

The kitchen is normally my favorite place, but I might have to rethink this in India. Men dominate the kitchen. While there is a similar domination in the US, it is different in India – women cannot really be in professional kitchens. They have a very difficult time in the kitchen and sometimes even find trouble when they begin to take an authoritative roll. The food and beverage industry in it of itself is very male dominated. Last year, the waiters rebelled at one of the restaurants in the Hotel, Citrus, and physically attacked and beat up the restaurant manager. After this incident, women were not allowed to hold authoritative roles within restaurants. The waiters are all men and are members on Indian Unions (very different from the US). These unions get PHYSICAL and threat not only individuals, but entire companies to make sure their members are taken care of.

Being sick in India is somewhat of a joke. The first sign of a runny nose and the employee will take of two to three days. While this may be nice, it is somewhat ridiculous. For a country that cannot keep anything clean and has piles of filth everywhere, they should rethink how hygienic they will be in the workplace.

Water: something that almost no one drinks. It is not that they don’t drink water, Indians barely drink anything! The American suggestion of drinking 8 glasses of water everyday is a joke here. No one takes a drink with lunch (unless it is chai tea) and water is not commonly found throughout the workplace. While I do understand that it is more difficult to come across drinkable water in India then it is in the US, Indians have a very high tolerance for being dehydrated. I, on the other hand, have been drinking as much clean water as possible, and when I chug down a glass in the cafeteria, I literally get stares.