My Boeing Days
Blog 4 of 10
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A Global Team at Boeing
This story goes back to the early 80’s. Our group was truly international. The team members came from Switzerland, Greece, Japan, Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Sweden, and the United States. I was the sole representative from India. Our group was filled with fascinating personalities, each worthy of their own blog post. My early days at Boeing reminded me of the great writer Vyasa's words about his epic Mahabharata: "You will not find any character outside of those I have portrayed in Mahabharata." Our group was a living example of all such characters.
Max: The Curious Engineer
Max was one such ‘intriguing’
engineer. Max stood out among us
with his blonde beard, golden glasses, curly hair, and a perpetually quizzical
expression. He was kind-hearted
and helpful, yet naive about the world beyond his experiences and somewhat
gullible. I had come from a world far away for Max. To Max, India was magical, mysterious, and
mesmerizing, straight out of the pages of The Jungle Book, where Mowgli might
have been a real boy. As expected, Max was intensely curious about India.
An Unofficial Ambassador for India
Max frequently approached me with questions about my homeland. I reminded myself that every Indian in America serves as an unofficial ambassador. My behavior, for better or worse, would likely be seen as representative of all Indians. So, I strived to answer all questions politely, even when they verged on the offensive side.
His initial questions ranged from the significance of the bindi to Indian women, Indian eating habits, snake charmers, and offering milk to snakes. One day, he asked about the cows being sacred in India. I calmly explained that while all animals are respected, cows hold a special place in rural households, much like dogs in American homes.
Elephants in Bombay: Max's Perceptions and Curiosity
Max's curiosity was not getting over. One day Max came to me and asked,” Vinay, is it true that you have elephants in Bombay?” - it was still not called Mumbai those days. I got a bit irritated by his question but I could not show it on my face. Here I was trying hard to be polite hoping that someday Max would start understanding the wonderful place that I came from. Despite all the efforts, Max was going back to square one. I decided that he was beyond the change of opinion. The best I could do was to be witty. I decided to go on rambling.
Imagination Going Wild with Humor
“Max”, I began, “I am
glad you asked. Oh, how I miss Bombay! Life was wonderful during my childhood!
During summer breaks, our pastime was to go out to a nearby lake. We had many buffalos over there. We'd ride on their backs as they took
refreshing dips in the water. Oh! That felt so good in hot weather! Then we
used to go around the lake on the back of buffaloes. After hours of doing this, we used to sit
on the back of an elephant. Then our
favorite place was to go to the Gateway of India. The elephant used to walk
slowly all the way to the arch. After roaming there for a while, we used to be
back on the elephant’s back and come home before dusk”.
Reflecting on Cultural Misconceptions
Max was mesmerized. He was listening to every word of it. “Oh, I see”, said Max. As he walked away from my desk, he surely had many more questions on his mind. But we had to get back to work. As I returned to work, I felt a mix of amusement and sympathy for Max.
Photo Credit: Final assembly of Boeing 737 airplane (1975).jpg
Image cropped from the 1975 Boeing annual report.
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