Recently, I have been hiring for various positions in my company. The process of hiring and interviewing is completely different but even that is not as surprising as what I had the opportunity to experience…
I had hired someone to join as a Telecaller(ISP) to join on a certain date. Everything seemed fine for the first two hours of her arrival. After two hours, she came in and told me that her mother-in-law had an accident and was in the hospital and that she needed to leave immediately. She would call me tomorrow and update me. I thought this was odd but things happen.
Well, the next morning, I get a call from her father ( again, very odd) saying that she needed to stay with her mother-in-law and would join the following Monday. I agreed. Monday morning arrives and no sign of the absconded telecaller. I called, only to have her mother answer the phone saying that she was out of town at a cousin’s wedding and will be back on Tuesday. She will be able to work on Wednesday…
I was beginning to think that I ran a charity organization that allowed an extremely flexible schedule versus a training company. I said I would see her on Wednesday and hung up. Come Wednesday morning and no telecaller again ( no surprise). So I called and again, her father answers the phone and I hear an excuse or a reason that I had never heard before to explain why she is not at work….“Madam, she will not be coming to work today as it is a very inauspicious day to start work.” I explained to him that this was a job and not a date for marriage…to which he replies, undeterred, “This is what our caste dictates madam, what to do”. (said in a thick Indian accent, of course)… I was speechless!!!
Living in a country that is progressing at such a rapid rate that even your office boy (peon) has a cell phone that is 4 times more advanced than yours and housewives go to bars and drink with their husbands, the caste system of India is very much alive!!! It was confusing to me why this telecaller even applied for a job since her life was so dictated by her father and her husband that she did not even answer her own phone. Her life and the lives of a very large percentage of the population of India was ruled by this caste system.
Here is a link( and there are several more) to more info on caste systems in India – and these are very real and exist today:
http://www.indianchild.com/caste_system_in_india.htm
Will write some more on the subject in a later blog…for now, read and be amazed that some parts of the world outside of the US live in a manner that you could never imagine being your way of life!!
