Fachhochschule Mainz University of Applied Sciences

Business Studies faculty paper. But then, the
Business School faculty of the University of
Applied Sciences in Mainz teaches many courses
on advertising, marketing, psychology, creativity
and of course foreign languages for students
of business and commercial law. Therefore,
maybe we should pay more attention to poetry
and the way it can transport feelings and ideas
in a powerful and efficient way.
Back in Brussels, we had a six hour wait, which
was plenty of time to think about all the events
of the past week. My colleagues and the other
conference participants from London, Germany
and India will probably understand many of
the references made in the poem, but for those
of you who were not there, or have never
(yet!) had the chance to visit India, let me
explain…
“Three and a half hours ahead, or fifty years
behind?”
International jet-setters are used to adjusting
their watches as they fly from one time zone to
another, but I have never before experienced
a something and a half hour difference! After
much discussion and examination of flight
schedules etc. we finally
agreed, yes, Madras is
definitely three and a half
hours ahead of Frankfurt.
But why fifty years
behind? Many of the
buildings, banks and
offices which we visited
reminded me of England
or America in the 1950s,
(apart from the computer
screens on the desks).
Old buildings, with wooden
panelling. Small electric
heaters or fans, large
office spaces divided by
metal grids.
By the way, my memories of the fifties are not
really personal ones, but based on films and
TV programmes!
“Standing still, moving forward, never in a
line”
This is my impression of the discrepancies such
as mentioned above – old-fashioned organisations
and design alongside modern technology.
For example, women and children building
ditches by the road, more or less by hand, so
that internet cables can be installed. It also
refers to moving through the streets, either by
foot, car or rickshaw. Crossing roads requires
new strategies, pedestrians must group together
and flow between the rickshaws, bicycles,
cars and oxen! The only traffic rule seems to
be that there are no traffic rules, the street is
dominated by the sound of cars and electronic
rickshaws horning and one day I saw a blind
man walking calmly along the road as if it were
Jahrbuch Wirtschaftswissenschaften | FH Mainz | 2002
the safest place on earth! India – a land of
incomprehensible contrasts!
“How much will it cost to get there? How
long will it take? We’ll wait until you’re finished,
right here at the gate”
This refers to the whole system of rickshaw
transport. First you must find out what the
‘going rate’ is in order to barter your price.
But there is so much information which is
unavailable to tourists, like one-way systems,
road-works, rush hour times, religious holidays
and processions which need to be taken into
account to make a realistic calculation. I found
that when I often thought the rickshaw drivers
were making things up in order to trick us, it
usually turned out to be true.
“Waiting for the western man, One foot in
the East”
Once agreement is reached, your rickshaw
driver will then try to adopt you for the rest
of your trip. They take a personal interest in
your lives, and will even greet you days later.
They will usually wait for you for the return
trip, too.
“Time is on the left
hand, with the other
one we eat”
For many westerners, it
is not just the spicy food
which requires getting
used to, but also learning
to eat without cutlery,
and only touching the
food with your right hand.
(This is especially difficult
for lefties!). If you want
to eat where Indians eat,
(which is to be highly
recommended) you also
have to learn to drink
without touching the rim
of the cup. Obviously, for
hygienic reasons, the right hand is saved for
food, the left hand being for other ‘dirtier’
tasks. This made me think about the fact that
we wear our time-keepers, our watches on
our left hand. This makes our western time
obsessions seem much less praise-worthy. Our
punctuality phobias are placed on the ‘dirty
and unpleasant’ hand.
“For our humble contributions and your
distinguished presence”
illustrates the fascination Indian English had
for me as a language teacher. India has a
population of one billion people – one in six
earthlings live in India. In India English is
a first, second and foreign language for its
inhabitants. All of them who have gone through
some formal education and most of the citydwellers
all speak English at least as a second
language, although British or American Eng-
| Auslandsbeziehungen | 31
lish speakers may sometimes have great difficulty
understanding their pronunciation. English
is the common language across the subcontinent,
even though India has over twenty
official languages. India has solved the crosscultural
language problem a lot more efficiently
than the European Union, without losing its
regional languages or identities. However, the
English spoken varies not only in intonation
and melody from British English, it is the
expressions and phrases used which kept me
constantly fascinated. The word ‘humble’, for
example was constantly being used to praise
and flatter people. And everyone at the conference
was ‘distinguished’! But soon I did feel
‘humble’, especially when experiencing the
amazing hospitality and kindness of our Indian
hosts at Loyola college, and by the generosity
and friendliness of everyone we met. Wouldn’t
it be nice if more Westerners treated foreigners
with the same kind of openness and respect???
“Slow, fast, tranquil, fleeting – what time is
the six o’clock meeting?”
The Indian speakers at the meeting often made
reference to the notorious unpunctuality of
Indians. The phrase ‘what time is the six o’clock
meeting’ was used as an amusing example of
this by one of the speakers at the conference.
However, my experience of Indian time-keeping
was that the Indians were no less ‘unpunctual’
(despite their constant references to this) than
Germans are ‘punctual’ in real life!
Finally, I must thank Mr. Lawrence Surendra,
a UN consultant, for his wonderful conference
contribution, which included his story about
“You have the clocks, we have the time”.
The story referred to a Nepalese man who
landed in Geneva for a conference on his first
trip to Europe and saw nothing but shops
selling clocks and watches, and people and
traffic rushing about as he emerged from the
train station. We were very pleased to show
Mr. Surendra around Mainz on a return visit
he made here in June 2002 to evaluate the
programme.
So, I hope you enjoyed learning about my
‘Indian Time’ and that it will inspire you to
include some time for India in your lives.
Thank you, Prof. Scharnbacher and the FH
Mainz, Prof. Jayaraj and Loyola College, Chennai,
Beate Wengler and the South Bank University
and the European Commission for organising
the conference and enabling me to participate
in it. In order to make this experience
worthwhile for all concerned, I shall try to
encourage future student exchanges between
Europe and India. Indian development depends
on close contact with the west, but I suspect
Europeans can benefit from Indian experience
even more! Δ