In 2011 Business Standard asked Indian companies how they found their staff. “We hire almost 30% of our lateral talent acquisition through our employee referral programme,” said Raghavendra K, head of human resources at Infosys BPO. At iGATE Patni, Mahesh Guru said that 24 percent of the previous year’s hires had come through referrals.
Jugaad
In rural Punjab, a jugaad is a vehicle built from what is at hand. One kind bolts a farm trailer to a diesel engine of the kind that drives water pumps. Another, in Moga, fixes a 10 horsepower irrigation pump engine to the front of a wooden cart. It carries about 40 people.
The word means a workaround. In 2017 the Oxford English Dictionary added it: “A flexible approach to problem-solving that uses limited resources in an innovative way.”
Jugaad Innovation
In 2012 Navi Radjou, Jaideep Prabhu and Simone Ahuja published Jugaad Innovation: Think Frugal, Be Flexible, Generate Breakthrough Growth. The book took the everyday Hindi word for an improvised solution and offered it to managers as a method.
Cheaper Than a Movie
India’s Mars Orbiter Mission, Mangalyaan, was launched on November 5, 2013. It entered orbit around Mars on September 24, 2014, on its first attempt.
The mission was known for its low budget. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that it had cost less than the Hollywood film Gravity.
A Rocket on a Bicycle
On November 21, 1963, India launched its first rocket, an American-made Nike-Apache, from Thumba, a coastal village in Kerala. The scientists worked out of a church. Its prayer hall became the first laboratory, and the bishop’s house became the office.
Rocket parts and payloads were carried to the launch pad by bullock cart and by bicycle.
One Lakh Rupees
In January 2008, at the Auto Expo in New Delhi, Tata Motors unveiled the Nano. It was priced at one lakh rupees, about 2,500 dollars.
Ratan Tata later said the car had been hurt by its label as a cheap car. In 2019 Tata Motors produced no Nanos and sold one.
The Vocabulary of Making Do
Chalta hai. It goes. It will do. Said of a half-baked solution that is accepted anyway.
Chaltaa kaam. A makeshift or temporary arrangement, according to the Rekhta dictionary.
Zara add-just karo. Adjust a little. A columnist in The Week described the habit of adjusting as “our accommodative spirit towards a less-than-perfect solution.”
Essential Repeat
“From 2020, CBSE has replaced the term FAIL with ESSENTIAL REPEAT.” This is from the frequently asked questions of the Central Board of Secondary Education, which sets school-leaving exams for much of India.
A student who fails the theory paper now receives RT, Repeat in Theory, instead of FT, Fail in Theory.
Jaan-Pehchaan
Jaan-pehchaan means knowing people and being known by them. A study by Berger, Barnes, Konwar, Singh and colleagues surveyed managers at more than 300 companies in India.
It describes three parts of the practice: pehchaan, recognition, len-den, give and take, and bharosa, trust. Together they shaped how satisfied companies were with their business relationships and how long they planned to keep them.
The Head Bobble
In India a side-to-side movement of the head often answers a question. Wikipedia’s article on the head bobble says that “most frequently it means yes, or is used to indicate understanding.” It can also take the place of a thank-you.
The meaning depends on context. “An unenthusiastic head bobble can be a polite way of declining something without saying no directly.”