Blog

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Cultural Differences Between India and the West

In today’s blog, published in 2022, I want to share a podcast where Hugo Messer (Founder of multiple companies) and I discussed cultural differences between India and the West in 2016. At the time of this podcast, Hugo hosted this under the banner of Bridge Global based in Kochi, India. I appreciate Hugo for giving […]

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#stayathome Hashtag in Different Languages

As we are in quarantine or lockdown and some are using the hashtag stayathome (stay at home), I thought to post on Facebook to ask my friends to post this hash tag in different languages. So, this information is crowdsourced!! Apologize in advance for any mistakes as I am not fluent in any other language beside English […]

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Cross-Cultural Skills Resolve Conflicts In Daily Life

Did you know cross-cultural skills are helpful for understanding abroad and at home? When I say ‘at home’ I do not only mean in your own country of origin but literally at home– in your home among your family and friends. How can this be so? Well, let’s take a look at three cross-cultural skills: […]

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Learn by Doing – How to Broach Delicate Topics

The third tip in a series of tips on How to Broach Delicate Topics is to:   Use Hands-on demos:    Hands on demos and role plays are great tools to use for training programs where there is more time to do role plays and dos and don’t sessions. Some demos I have used in previous training […]

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Uncomfortable Discussions – Ways To Start Talking

Not every situation is easy to talk about. Especially when getting used to another culture and facing culture shock, we encounter so many different things that catch us off guard. Things we thought we knew about suddenly don’t make sense anymore. Some things are easy to talk about; while others are not so easy to […]

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Culture Shock Lessons from ET: The Extra-Terrestrial

“An alien from outer space lands on another planet.” That’s how many of us expats and foreigners feel when in another country – it’s like an out–of-body experience. So many things are different, and we have to relearn all the things we thought we knew … all over again! Life in another country, in many […]

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Downsides of Adapting to a New Culture

“Culture shock may never end!” This encouraging remark is a summation of statements I have heard from immigrants to the US from various parts of the world, including my parents who both have lived in the US for more than 50 years and still don’t feel completely American despite their best attempts at raising my […]

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Cultural Misunderstandings: USA and India

If we were to sit and count possible cultural misunderstandings between the USA and India, we’d understand that there is a vast chasm of diverse mindsets and values between us. In this blog, I’d like to explore a few of the common cultural differences between the US and India. I do have a bit of […]

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Common Names in Kerala, India

Have you ever wondered what are the common given names in India, especially in Kerala? Well, the names in this word cloud below were compiled based on interactions I have had with almost 4,000 professionals throughout India, 90% of them living in or hailing from Kerala.  This list details how many times particular names or […]

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How Real is Culture Shock?

Rather than point you in the direction of academics like Bruce La Brack, David Pollock, Ruth Van Reken, Lynne Mitchell or the reputed training programs given by the Peace Corps, I will try to answer the question “Is culture shock real?” based on my own experience and reading.Everyday people leave one place to go to […]

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