FIVE, SIX

It has been a few months since the transition of management of my company from it's American upper management to Indian has been complete. Our company has been acquired by a big Indian owned conglomerate. The employees of the company though, who mostly are Filipinos, have not grown accustomed to seeing Indians from the management.

It seemed this is also true the other way around-- on my way home from work early this morning, I happened to share the elevator with an Indian national. I smiled at him and he seemed undecided whether to smile back or not. When we reached the ground floor, it was only then he smiled and asked for me to go first.

The truth is that I have always been fascinated by India and it's people since I was young. You probably can blame it to such stories as Jungle Book and Secret Garden. Indians are known for their perseverance and also as hardworkers. We have a neighboring family who are full-blooded Indians but have been living here in the Philippines for several years already. Some two years ago, their home was ravaged by fire, leaving them nothing but the clothes on their back and a few thousand Pesos of savings in a bank account. They have to start from scratch all over again, and it amazes me to see that in just two years the family is almost back to their former glory. All because they pooled their efforts. If only Filipinos have the same determination.

Most Filipinos only know Indians as the people who are in the lending business fondly called five-six-- simply, the system is called five-six from the example that if you borrow five pesos you will pay six pesos for it (I wonder why not instead one-two, three-four, or even nine-ten?). These people, or any Indian for that matter, are called by Filipinos as "Bumbay", apparently with reference to Bombay or Mumbai. The word "Bumbay" has become synonymous for Filipinos to being strict and always business-like.

These people at the office are alot more different. They are from the educated and professional lot of their country. Some of my colleagues fear of what could be the the outcome of apparent move by the company to replace people from the former management with those from their country. I understand the move, not only for the fact that the new owners of the company now are Indians, but also for that Indians have been in the BPO business longer than any other country in Asia. I'm not saying the former American management then are not experienced in this industry. It should be taken into consideration that India still is considered the number one in this industry. The Philippines certainly can use their expertise to further expand the BPO business here.

The so-called colonial mentality of Filipinos could be the culprit why most employees here in our company prefer the former American management then. Filipinos indeed are more accustomed to the American culture than Indian culture. However, we may be forgetting that their presence here may also be a culture shock to them. Yes, we do have alot in common as countries-- the humid and warm weather, the love for spicy foods, the song and dance numbers in locally produced movies. But then it may be startling for them to see our fenced highways, the presence of mall and fastfood in just about every corner, and the staggering number of gay people (discreet or screaming out loud) in the Filipino workplace (hahahahaha!).

I'm sure it's not just me-- I do love Indians, and as a matter of fact I am a big fan of M. Night; and well, yeah, Kumar Patel of Harold and Kumar fame (potentially also I may love Slumdog Millionaire with so much buzz about it, but I have yet to see it). I love their perseverance, steadfast faith to their religion, and let's just say everything that Mahatma personified. They said in every Indian lives a little Mahatma, so what's not to love there? Mother Teresa couldn't possibly be wrong, could she? My opinion is that if Filipinos are to emulate a particular race, it should be none other than Indians.

India is bullish about its future as a developed country. It has strategically positioned itself in the technology world, in basically subcategories like BPO that are largely unexplored before, and emerged as a stronghold for talents and skills that are required in the global community. Philippines have only been in the business for several years and could certainly learn from India. With the acquisition of our company by the bigger conglomerate, I sort of am having a vision of the two countries helping out each other-- with India providing the knowhow, and the Philippines augmenting the need for talents and skills.

The decision of the management to sell the company was largely due to the bleak forecast for the US and global economy in the coming years. Our CEO then must have known best to have decided about it. The conglomerate certainly is at a better position to absorb any impact of the global crisis to the operation of the company until everything gets better. The name of the subsidiary of the conglomerate, true to itself, swooped in to protect the company and the thousands it employs. The economics is that it is better to lose managment of the company (and get compensated for it), than have thousands of people lose their jobs (insert here the warming "aaaaaahhhhh").

All these said and done, I think the Philippines should look at Indian BPO industry not as a competitor, but rather a partner with whom we can grow and have a song and dance number with (with M. Night directing).