My trip to sydney was a really pleasant. Good weather, nail biting cricket matches, the training was a breeze with a good customer sat. score, lots of beautiful places to see, got to cuddle a Koala and lots more :) Even the people there were extremely polite and helpful. But the most important lesson I learnt from there was from another Indian, in fact, he is a collegue of mine who was with me to conduct the training. It’s called cultural sensitivity.
Culturally, we were in an alien world and it is very important to realize that. But our pal here is hardly bothered. Some how, my colleague seemed to miss the point each time and land me into some really embarrassing situations, but he hardly took notice of the consequences of his words and actions.He rambled on whatever he felt like, to anyone, not caring whether it hurts people’s feelings or sentiments.
A couple of posts ago, I mentioned about the baby history of australia, and how it pales compared to our heritage. yet, its their history and they are proud of it and flaunt it. I however, didnt make the stupid mistake to telling it to Australians there. Some of the comments in the visitor’s book included “A journey across time”. Being a foreigner in their country I felt obliged to respect that. But our hero here cant let it go there, he started ranting about how every other village in India has houses that’s over 150 years old, and the temple in India are over 100 years old and still standing as a testimony to our enduring culture and heritige and what not. But what was worse is that he put down the australian museum as a marketing gimmick to attract tourists because they have nothing else to show. It was a slap across the face to the ppl there. I could see that they were hurt, but they didnt say anything.
When u are in abroad, first spend some time, a lot of time, figuring out how their culture and mannerisms are. Only after you are confident of doing what romans do, open your mouth to voice your opinion or start a conversation. Otherwise you are bound to be despised.
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