Many of you are living as an expat away from home and each expat life has its own dimensions. Here I am going to share with you an article about my experience in India. Also it was originally printed 10 years ago it is still valid in many of the key aspects of today.

Experience as an Expatriate in India

Despite talented people, and a vibrant corporate sector, India may remain a developing country if the focus of development does not shift from a “political” to an “economic” view point.

Exotic, Unique and Diverse!! That is the image I had of India, prior to my arriving to this colorful country. An image further enhanced by the writing of Hemingway titled” India, the country of thousand Gods, Religions and languages”. And each passing day, the perception I came with has grown stronger. India and its people have the unique ability to carry with them the past, the present and the future. The old India coexists and blends in beautifully with the present modern India. And like the land, every aspect of Indian culture, is an expression of the unending process of assimilation and absorption.

And this is an extremely interesting to experience to witness.

Initially on arrival, the place was a bit overwhelming with the cultural diversity, different accents and even the business terminology was not entirely common to what is used worldwide. But gradually it became easier to understand and relate as people went out of their way to explain and were helpful. Adapting to India initially took around 6 months. After the settling-in period, it’s been a great learning experience, something one wouldn’t want to miss.

I realize that we are expanding our vocabulary a little further and we carry the word “innovation” into our list of favorites.

Two different meanings are attributed to the word “innovation”:

1) Revolutionary Innovation

2) Evolutionary Innovation

The word “revolutionary” here is favorable, it defines the companies as institutions that shape the future. In the future, there will be companies that can develop evolutionary services and products.
The importance of evolutionary innovation is, of course, undeniable, but the type of innovation we need today as a country is more of a revolutionary nature, because in the process of the development of humanity, if we ever want to put forward our ambitions, we must first implement our revolutionary ideas and strategies to reach to the point of creating evolutionary products and solutions. For example, iPod and the touchscreen technology developed by Apple has gone through an evolutionary development first as a phone (iPhone), then as a tablet (iPad).

But we realize that revolutionary innovation requires patience and right timing. We need to wait for it. A creative environment must be formed. In this process, we must support experimental studies and creative ideas and demonstrate more tolerant management in case of errors and losses. If we can succeed in ensuring these, we will be able to carry out more revolutionary innovations in our country as well.