Manju 原来在印度 Bangalore 的华为工作，后来在2002年10月被调到华为深圳总部。下面是他对那里的一些初步印象。

Friday, November 01, 2002
Chinese food for thought

It’s around 2 weeks since i came to china, yet i don’t feel much of a difference really. Here’s my schedule….. get up at 8 in the morning, get ready to work by 8:30 and leave for office. I reach the office at around 9 and then leave the office in the evening at 9pm. Reach home by 9:15 and chat with all the other indians close by, sometimes go to the sports club or watch television or read books…. some how i sleep by around 11:30 or 12. Yesterday, i read someone’s blog which spoke of how boring others think about this guy’s life. If you’ve read my daily schedule, you would realise that mine’s the most boring life. I’ve no regrets….. but am working to improve.

If you’ve been to MTRs in bangalore ( i donno about other places) and have lunch or dinner, you’ll be bogged by the varieties of food they offer. If you think that is too much, you should come to huawei’s headquarters here in shenzhen. The variety of food they offer is so much that you’ll be spellbound. I’m not a good connoisseur of food. But all i can say is i’m thunder struck by the variety of food here. It’s like looking at the rangolis on the streets in india on a day of festival. They are so colorful. One advantage of being here is, everyday you look at these varieties of foods, you tend to think of those festivals in india. So, everyday’s like a festival here.

The variety of food range from fish, crabs, prawns, mutton, beef ………… sweet potato, green leaves, various kinds of cereals, bitter gourd, pumpkin, all kinds of gourds and nuts and vegetables you can think of ………. then, noodles, rice, various kinds of soups………… fruits such as pumpkin, orange, apple etc……………. cool drinks like coke, pepsi, miranda………………. milk, yogurt and others………. Though i’m yet to see someone eating a dog, cat, snake or lizard……

Its just so amazing to look at these varieties of food. Though i’m skeptical of eating them( atleast the chineese varieties). But what i’ve observed is that chineese have a liking for raw food. Everyone’s plate is filled with different varieties…… i enjoy just looking at them. I wonder what’s the policy of this country and hence this company when it comes to eating. The fact is that the company allows you to take home various kinds of fruits and flavored for free……… yes for free.

Here is a developing country ( i must say quite developed ) spending so much on food for free….. Frankly, i donno how it is in other companies………. Is this a result of economic policies of the state? No idea. May be the government is increasing consumer expenditure by asking companies to provide food ……. i donno for sure……… But whatever it is, the walk to the other end of the canteen which fits in more than a thousand people at once is never too long as i relish the colorful dishes on everyone’s table……………………

Its like holi everyday……..

Thursday, November 14, 2002
Work like soldiers.

What do you think one would mean when he/she advises you to work like soldiers? Work very hard like donkeys without raising your head? Work without questioning the policies? Work without analyzing the problem? Work very hard…….rework again from the beginning if any problems are found. The notion here seems to include all of these.

The company stipulates very strict security measures involving limit on practically everything from mail passwords to system BIOS passwords or screen saver password. One who doesn’t follow these…………….. But the fact that these security measures are hardly provide security has been hoodwinked. Nobody’s prepared to discuss and analyze the pros and cons of these security measures. All that matters is strict implementation of these measures. Yes, we were told to follow the orders rather “work like soldiers”. This is ……. you know what it is.

Does following one’s orders without analyzing it work?? Here, the mountains and hills are virtually erased and cities are cultivated like crops. It hardly takes ten to twenty years here to build a city like bangalore rather much bigger than bangalore. Dams have been built in a few years. Why does it take such a less time? Yes, everyone here seem to work like soldiers, just follow strict orders. That’s it!

For someone like me, who’s argued on almost every petty issue with all my friends in the college this is a bitter pill to swallow, leave alone digesting. In college, we’ve had altercations on almost every silly and petty issue. I still remember the time when we argued for more than 2 hours after the internals on whether to go to a dhaba or a theater or watch movie. Even if we decided on one of these, the location…. which dhaba? which theater? which movie? etc always lead to major arguments. It was this that made one of my friend to remark, “If everyone here is given a knife each and locked into a room, the next day all will be lying in a pool of blood”.

I don’t say one should always fight, but having discussions and arguments leads to the understanding of other person’s perceptions and his view of the problem. This is what ultimately leads to a broader understanding of the subject and hence the problem. The more you argue over petty things the more enlightened you’ll be.

This is just one glimpse of the actual work culture in here. More to come later……………