IndianMaze

Having flown on more than 2,500 flights in India and overseas, there is one thing that has amazed me. The first thing that Indians (irrespective of gender, age, regionality and presumable religiosity as well) ask for the flight steward is a glass of water followed by .... another glass of water. I find it so different even in the meetings held across the globe, it is Indians who are more likely to go for water (still and unflavoured) than their western couterparts. Also interesting is the way Indians (including me) drink water - never sipping but kind of gulping. One could say that this could be because we live in warm weather but that is not so. This habit is equally prevalent in the hill states of India. Yes, they would drink more warm water and even tea than normal water but the amount of still unflavoured water consumption is many times over any French or German. No wonder India's bottled water business is the largest in volume terms globally. I must hasten to add that t...

It has been bugging me that I tend to observe a lot in others but what about the Indian in me? Am I any significantly different from what I see in others? Having worked globally and been educated in some of the best colleges, have I become a glbal person? As is usual with Indians - answer is middle of the road - yes and no. I have developed habits at work which are more global than typical Indian. But it is non work environment where my DNA rules and rules like crazy. High inertia is one. It takes me forever to move in my personal domain. Things can take its own sweet course. Make do with alternatives (buying vegetables is a pain so do with lentils, making chapatis is a problem, make do with bread and so on). Want to write a lot but family takes priority on holidays (work eats half of holidays anyways). Work is the identity of Indian diaspora. We work not only for self but as a symbol of what we are in the eyes of society. In a nutshell, I am like a (coco)nut. Two faces - international...