Indian Stretchable Time (IST)
IST stands for Indian Standard Time but should be renamed to “Indian Stretchable Time“. When I am in Sweden it drives me crazy when deadlines are not met by Indians, be it guests that don’t show up on time for dinner or an expected delivery is pushed forward. It’s like the Indian word “kal” which means both yesterday and tomorrow. At least the Spanish word “mañana” means tomorrow.
At the same time the Indian flexi time is a great relief when I am in India on a private visit. I sort of get back to old habits and know that everything will be delayed and automatically adjust to it. On one occasion time played a vital role. It was on my wedding day. The priest threatened us that the church door will be locked if I do not arrive on time. This got my whole family in a frenzy to get me at the church in time 
Remember that even the Indian Stretchable Time applies while doing business in India. When in Rome, do as the Romans do?
would like to disagree . If this blog had come 10-12 yrs ago, would have made sense.
but i guess the new india, since a decade, has changed by leaps and bounds. I would keep the govt. sector out of this, as that area needs restucturing a bit. But that’s a case in many countries’ govt. sectors.
indians wouldn’t have been able to make such huge progress in the last decade had they not met deadlines or messed up work due to quality.
so in it’s entirety, guess the comments are a bit harsh to some extent.
I recognize the above very well from my work in Brazil. And I totally agree on the two sides of that coin; it is extremely annoying to have to wait for people without a sense for time and repeated project delays, but it is also very relaxing to let go of the swedish puncyuality that actually takes a lot of energy to live up to…
Hi Pritesh
Thank you for the reply. Yes, I agree that India has made progress and with the current scenario in India I would love to move to India and live there. The working condition and social life in general in India has gotten better. But there is for e.g often multiple levels of hierarchy to make decisions which is time consuming and leads to delays…
Regards /Rita