Hey Professor
Richardson,
Last week's lecture (Jan
2010) about different cultures was very interesting. I was reading the
India section under the Mother tongue Marketing and I agree with most of
what is said there. I would like to add the fact that India and Pakistan
are arch rivals over there predominantly due to historical separation conflicts
in the past and various battles for the control of the very beautiful land
bordering the two nations (Jammu and Kashmir). For example when I talk
to my grandparents in India about how I have Pakistani friends they would
give me advice and ask me not to get very close with them because they
could be like terrorists. However, It is interesting how even though the
rivalry is very intense in the two countries once one is out of their homeland
for example Canada or UK they do gel and become close together (Unlike
the Koreans and Japanese example from class). The word Desi refers to people
of origin from both these countries and from other south East Asian countries
such as Bangladesh, Burma etc.
Another important point
I would like to add is the importance of cricket in the Indian culture.
Cricket is a religion in India the whole nation comes to stop (What Hockey
is to Canada, Cricket is to India). "The country comes to a stop when a
cricket match is being played - the roads are deserted, parties and weddings
are postponed, operations in hospitals are rescheduled, parliament goes
in for early closing." (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/3734038.stm).
It is even more heated when India faces Pakistan. It is the form of modern
day war between the two nations. It is important that one knows the importance
of the game in the country literally a billion people watch it and follow
it from rich to the poor from scholars to politicians.
Here is an interesting fact
about bollywood: Each year, more movies are produced in India, where the
moving image industry is referred to as Bollywood, than in Hollywood. About
1000 movies are released annually in India, about twice the output of Hollywood.
Bollywood movies often are quite long; 3 hours or more of dancing and singing
around love as the main plot - although kissing is almost never shown on
screen (This fact is changing with the westernization of a lot of movies
targeted to people in cities). Every day, some 14 million Indian people
queue for a movie, with more than 4 billion movie tickets sold annually,
compared to 3 billion for Hollywood movies worldwide.
I would also like to elaborate
on the language topic in India. Hindi is the second language in India and
is spoken/understood by most parts of India except for a few states in
the south. The local languages too are very important in the terms of marketing
in different regions.
Moreover, I found a very
interesting article about how India used to have a poor image as a land
for international business and how with certain reforms it is growing considerably.
The article talks about the various risks faced by foreign companies and
talks about the changes in Indian economics and environment over the last
couple of decades. ( http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1038/is_n5_v39/ai_18736469/)
Lastly, regarding I would
like to attach an ad regarding the very deep, different and elegant culture
India has. The short two minute video titled incredible India targets tourism
in India and sums up various cultural aspects of the nation. Very interesting
to watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNWeBVBqo2c&feature=related
Lastly, adding to what my
colleague said class regarding how Mcdonalds have catered to the crowd
in India with more veggie burgers and more chicken Burgers ( no beef because
in India cow is regarded as a holy animal, and no bacon because Pork is
intolerable to Muslims) . However, if you look at Mcdonalds in France,
Germany, Italy, Spain and other European nations they serve beer and other
local foods this shows how and why Mcdonalds is successful internationally.
I hope you find all this
interesting as much as I enjoyed researching it.
Thank you.
Best Regards,
Ashok S