We have noticed that Indians love to abbreviate things. For example, let's say your phone number is 555-0044. You would dictate your number to another person as "triple 5, double zero, double 4." Also note that you cannot indicate a "0" as "oh" - it must be "zero." Otherwise, you'll get blank stares, like the one I got yesterday in the library when I started to read off my student ID as "six-oh-nine..." in order to return one of my course readers.
The class names at ISB illustrate this love of abbreviation as well. Microfinance = "MFIN" Managing Complex Projects = "MGCP" The first term, I kept getting confused between all the short names! I even accidentally sent my MHPI group an email entitled "MKTS project breakdown." Haha! At Berkeley, we just call the classes what they are: "Power and Politics."
While not an abbreviation, I've also noted this useful habit. When calling a taxi, if the car is waiting for you in the parking lot, the driver will give you the last 4 digits of the license plate so you know who to look for in the sea of cars. The first time the 4 digits were given to me, I confusedly wrote them down and then immediately turned to my fellow ISB Indian classmate who was thankfully sitting next to me to ask: "What does this mean??"
Finally, on another topic, the exchange student from South Africa, Brigitte, told us how she learned about the American phrase "lucked out." She had originally thought it meant bad luck, or down on your luck, when it's actually the opposite. So when her American roommate Kelly told her that she felt she had "lucked out" on the random roommate selection, Brigitte thought, "Geez, thanks a lot!" Funny :)
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