Sunday, July 6, 2008

Miscellaneous Reflections of India

There are a lot of different things I’ve observed and learned about the culture and country so far that didn’t really happen on a specific day. Here are some of the things I’ve learned:
• Indians are very expressive, touchy, feely, people, -- as long as they are the same caste. They don’t typically bottle up their emotions, they express them freely, especially within the family.
• There are no real words for ‘please, sorry, excuse me’ They don’t say anything. They show respect through certain gestures and body language. For example when someone bumps into you, they don’t stop and say “excuse me”. They don’t say “Bless you” if someone sneezes. The absence of these phrases is considered normal. This is difficult for me because I constantly find myself saying excuse me, or pardon me, when I am trying to get by someone, which is difficult in itself because there are so many people everywhere. I thank all the store owners. That is my culture. It appears that they are somewhat accustomed to visitors from other countries because they just smile and nod. They know what it means and that is respected.
• Indian Culture is very family oriented. The Father is the head of the family. Children are not socialized to be independent, like in the west, they are trained to obey their parents, and that their parents know what is best for them. What a concept !!!!

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