Sense
Senses were the commonality distilled from our cross-cultural discussions of China and India within our cohort. The noise, smell, and taste all flooded our senses from the very moment we entered our perspective countries. The intensity, volume, and foreignness of it all overwhelmed us and even made us a little dizzy. Our centers were altered, our familiarities erased and as warned all of our senses were on overload. And just when we were getting slightly accustomed to our new surroundings, we were whisked away to a new city that had its own slightly different nuances that tasseled our senses all over again. We, as Fox MBA students, are expected to dig deeper to find truly meaningful nuggets of information through analysis. To do so, we each had to critically analyze all of our immersion opportunities as well as ourselves. Having our senses overloaded allowed us to be acutely aware of small details that may have escaped our notice if we were too comfortable with our surroundings.
The sensory assault, aside from being uncomfortable and for many of us unfamiliar, allowed us to have a heightened sense of awareness. This allowed us to be very perceptive and notice opportunities that may have been overlooked if our senses were not on full alert. For example, in the Chinese culture drinking with your co-workers is an expected ritual where as in India this practice is much more muted. This and many other small cultural miniscuities could mean the difference between a wealth of networking possibilities and opportunities or forever being known as gwello (or gwai lo which means foreigner or outsider). Another example came from our sense of smell. Amidst our travels, the smell of raw fecalities was constantly ever-present, specifically outside the major cities. In both countries, you would not blink twice when men and women would use the open street as their restroom. These two emerging countries, each with its own impressive growth rates, still have tremendous opportunities in the area of infrastructure. The last example comes from the sense of sight. Traffic is vast and with no clear lanes, it is a chaotic scene of all various vehicles. With the two largest populations in the world, China and India’s transportation needs are growing at an astronomical rate. The number of rickshaws, scooters, bicycles, commercial and consumer vehicles are mind blowing. All of these methods of transportation need supportive services both up and down the value chain.
Blessed with the opportunity of visiting China previously, it was very important for me to keep an open mind when talking to the China cohort. However, seeing China through their eyes (through their stories, pictures, and blogs) and experiencing India on my own provided me with a new, unique outlook of sense.