Efficiency

Q. How many Indians does it take to change a light bulb?
A. I don’t know.

Though I am sure if one needed changing and I were to phone the office manager to report the situation, then she would pass my message to the relevant executive, who would then start the assessment process by ordering the handyman to inspect said inoperational bulb.

Once the report had been filed, the second stage assessment would then hopefully result in a confirmation message to procurement to proceed with the purchase of a light bulb.

Once the bulb had been purchased and the receipts thrice carbon copied, an instruction to install would be issued to the handyman, who would then likely arrive with his Junior and have the whole process overseen by a senior level company executive.

It is highly likely that at this stage the present party would realise the purchased bulb does not match the socket fitting.

The process would then be repeated.

Please note, this systematic process applies equally to making a cup of tea, getting a glass of water, or even purchasing a cellphone.

Indeed, it took 2x drivers, 1x CFO, 1x HR Executive, an Office Manager and myself to procure a Blackberry handset from the Vodafone shop.

Efficiency is most certainly not in the Indian lexicon.