The Hindu Business Line : The need to manage expectations

With India’s economy booming, the world is making a beeline for our shores to transact business and partake of the good times. The global Indian now walks tall and views the world with a confidence that has never been as high in recent times.

Professionals in developed economies are now keen to spend a few years in India so as to enrich their resumes. Such professionals can be broadly categorised as expatriates, also referred to as “expats” who are foreigners but not ethnic Indians, and non-resident Indians (NRIs), many of whom have lived for extended durations abroad and often assumed the citizenship of other countries. These two categories of professional visitors offer an interesting study in contrasts when they move in to India for a short period.

The first-time visitor

The expat who comes on a working assignment to India for a few years is very often a first-time visitor to the country. The expat’s family typically follows after the expat has checked out the city of residence, the facilities it offers, and the housing options available. The family usually goes through the classic cultural acclimatisation curve, which begins with a phase full of wonder and excitement at moving into a new land, being pampered by hotel staff and taking in the sights and sounds that they may have just heard or read about so far.

This phase lasts for less than a month by which time they have usually moved into their own home. Soon, they fall into a trough of disillusionment when faced with the challenges of living in an alien land and having to cope with inevitable lifestyle changes — from unreliable domestic help and unannounced visitors to the chaotic and noisy traffic, public spaces littered with un-segregated garbage, the presence of stray cattle and the sheer number of people who, at the very least, tend to throw them a second glance when they step outside. This phase lasts between two and four months and the family needs all the support they can get from their well-wishers and colleagues during this period so as to not yield to the urge to pack-up and go home.

However, after a few months of this trying phase, they reconcile themselves to reality in their host country and start focusing on the positives instead – the affordability of a relatively luxurious lifestyle, the wonderful sights of India, its cultural diversity;the list goes on. This is the best phase of their stint in India and usually lasts for the rest of their stay here. Very often, the expat and his or her family leave with a heavy heart. Managing the family’s expectations up front when they arrive in India goes a long way in cushioning the effect of their journey through these stages and helps them focus on the last and best stage of their stay in India.

The NRI’s journey of discovery

On the other hand, an NRI family’s approach to a stint in India is distinctly different. To start with, they carry with them memories of a country they left, may be a decade or two ago. As a result they are unprepared for the rapid change that has occurred in most Indian cities during this period such as the traffic and human congestion with its consequent air and noise pollution. Unfortunately, the legacy of old memories is usually the biggest cause of stress for the visiting NRI, since he tends to compare the India he knew with the environment he sees today.

Salary levels have increased several-fold and so have prices, especially in sectors such as IT and realty, giving the NRI a lot to adjust to. Families that have not visited or been in touch with India lately need to ensure that they do not remain in a time warp when they land here, and consciously acquaint themselves with more recent facts and figures regarding India.

Accepting India for the way it is today, warts and all, is the best way to rapidly settle into their new and temporary home, and enjoy the good things India has to offer them. It is a choice each family makes — either complain about those things that have always been and continue to be different here vis-a-vis the Western world (for example, flexible time commitments, reluctance of the Indian to say “no”, human relationships being more important than legal contracts) or savour these contrasts and delve deeper into the reasons behind them so as to appreciate them for what they are without getting judgemental about their ethnic homeland.

Ultimately, it is all about expectations and how one manages them, with or without external help, that is always available for the asking – since in India, the spirit of neighbourliness and hospitality is alive and well!

(The writer is COO of Global Adjustments, the Chennai-headquartered cross-cultural training and services company. The views expressed in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of his organisation.)

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