Culture Training

“You’ll learn a lot in this field,” this was one of the first and oft repeated comment I heard when I first entered the field of Instructional Design. It did not take long for me to realise that it was not an idle boast of passionate Instructional Designers. Since the job involves reading and pruning your work, incorporating client feedback which translates to more reading and pruning till the whole course is polished to perfection, you imbibe and retain at least a portion of the information in the dark recesses of unused grey cells in your brain.

The greatest benefit was that now I could take part in conversations ranging from topics as diverse as investing in the stock market to fashion fundas with a know all attitude, though I had to take enough care not to go into fine details as that would blow my know it all façade.

One of the most interesting courses that came my way was the culture series for a multinational company with branches all over the world. My only regret was that it was not accompanied by an all expenses paid trip to these sixteen countries, which I feel, would have helped me do a much better job. But then you can’t have it all, I guess, and I had to be content with a virtual tour to some of the most fascinating countries in the world.

Delving deep into the way of life and culture of different races threw up many interesting facts, though most of all, it reinforced the similarities between people across countries in spite of the inherent differences in culture and history.

I was surprised to learn that taking shoes off before entering homes is not only practised in Asian countries but also in countries like Morocco and Denmark, while it is ok in some countries to leave some food on the plate to indicate your appreciation. Punctuality, I learnt is an issue never to be taken lightly if you are in Europe. German precision dictates arriving on the dot since coming in a bit early or late is a strict no-no, while in France, being fashionably late means being late by about 10 to 15 minutes, not, an hour or two as is practised in our country.

Researching the cuisines of the world was a fun experience… searches threw up stunning food images (and recipes which were copied on the sly). I think the productivity in the office dipped a bit those days since most of my colleagues abandoned work and surrounded my workstation, mesmerised by the lip smacking images flitting across the screen. They were only keen to take a welcome break from the monotony of tech manuals and compliance issues. A friend demanded, ‘How come you always get included in teams that develop such interesting courses?”

Visiting the tourist destinations of different countries threw up the marvels of nature etched on earth as also the beautiful creations brought to shape by the combination of artistic brilliance and physical acumen of humans. The stunning fjords and glaciers in the Scandinavian countries and picture perfect landscapes of Europe held the team spell bound. Morocco wriggled itself to the ‘Ten Places to Visit in my Lifetime’ list, even as I debated whether to expand the list to fifty.

Visiting Hercule Poirot’s Belgium, Freud’s Austria, the land of roses, Luxembourg, opened out vistas of learning about the history, architecture, lifestyles of people in these mesmerising lands. The best times to visit various countries, the climatic patterns, the time zones, architectural and art styles, no more confusion as to the meaning of a Pavillion house in France or a Mansion in Great Britain.

The walk into the rich history of India brought back memories of history classes in school and helped connect with long forgotten details of our incident ridden past… the Aryan arrival, transformation of Ashoka, the birth of the independence movement in India, the brave souls who fought and laid out their lives for the sake of a free India. The multimedia team had a great time putting together the course especially when they were asked to view movies and choose best footage to go with the course.

As the course ended, I was asked to name the country I enjoyed writing about the most, I did not have to think twice and at the risk of being unoriginal I must resort to Poet Iqbal’s immortal words, “Sare Jahan se Achcha Hindustan Hamara” (Better than the entire world, is our India).

(Fehmida Zakeer is Instructional Designer at C2 Workshop)

Comments

[sanjeevani]

Great writing Fehmida, I really enjoyed reading it. And I do love your style!