21 American habits I lost in India
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21 American habits I lost in India
Had to share…….
True comments about India. This is my motherland, and I am proud of it.
21 American habits I lost in India
by Rachel Rueckert
1. Expecting things immediately.
I come from a microwave culture with expressions like “time is money.” In India, I learned to wait. If someone said it would be thirty minutes for a table, I assumed it would be a few hours. If someone said they would meet me at three, I showed up with a book to read. Patience, I was shocked to discover, is a learnable virtue.
2. Panicking when there’s no toilet paper.
Millions of people in the world live without toilet paper and rely on their hands, buckets of water, and soap. It took me a few attempts, but the new routine may be even cleaner than the way we do it in the West.
3. Complaining about how complicated American weddings are.
A year’s worth of planning for an American day-long wedding ceremony doesn’t come close to the complex processes and rituals Indian couples and families go through. Most ceremonies last for days and include several celebrations leading up to the actual wedding. There are families who save for decades to throw the best wedding party.
4. being afraid to wear florescent colours.
My favourite colour is yellow, which isn’t often flattering in US fashion. But in India I can wear a bright banana yellow salware kameeze with a matching sparkly dupatta and fit right in with the vivid saffron, indigo, purple, and lime-green saris women wear every day.
5. Being offended by invasive questions.
People never got tired of asking “How much money do you make?”, “Why don’t you have children?”, “How much do you weigh?” I also became perfectly comfortable discussing bowel movements with friends.
6. Thinking the “third floor” is literally on the third floor of a building. It took me a few awkward visits to local stores to realize that what I assumed was the first floor is called the “ground floor.” The “first floor” is actually on the next level up.
7. Being used to bad customer service.
Customer service is good — almost too good in India. I felt uncomfortable having a napkin spread out on my lap for me or having my glass refilled every time I took a swig of water. I think the security guard at my apartment stood up to greet me every single time I passed by.
8. Making lump assumptions about India rather than recognizing the differences that separate each state and region.
India is the largest democracy in the world with hundreds of languages separating different cultures, religious beliefs, and traditions. Even something as stereotypical as Bollywood doesn’t apply to a large chunk of India where Hindi is not primarily spoken. Each state could be a different country.
9. Eating with utensils.
Few things were more satisfying than squishing dal and rice between my fingers. Eating with my hand instead of a fork made it easier to mix satisfying flavours without tasting any intrusive hints of metal.
10. Waiting for cars to stop before I cross the street.
If I’d waited for vehicles to give me the right-of-way I would never have crossed the road in this lifetime. My world changed when an Indian friend taught me to use what she called “the hand of God.” If I stuck out my hand with my palm facing traffic and walked with confidence into the street, the cars magically stopped.
11. Gawking at a family of five squished on a motorbike.
In India you’ll see families balanced on a scooter as frequently as you’ll see cows wandering the roads. Eventually I stopped staring and believed what I was seeing.
12. Thinking worship had to be done in silence.
Temples are often filled with songs, chanted pujas, bells, and chatter. There is a place for quiet meditation, but don’t plan on sleeping well if there’s a religious festival going on at the local Hindu temple.
13. Cringing at the smell of sewage and garbage heaps.
All countries have challenges and India is faced with the massive task of dealing with public waste for over a billion people. I couldn’t escape the smells and walked through a few sewage rivers in the road, but I tried not to forget the good scents too. Few aromas compare to jasmine flowers, incense, and tandoori ovens.
14. Thinking I had any idea what Indian food tasted like.
The majority of the world’s spices originate from India. I used to think chicken tikka masala, naan, and mango lassi found in American restaurants were good representations of tasty Indian food. The cuisine varies drastically depending on the state, but no matter the dish it will explode your expectations and taste buds. The world would be a lot better if I could find decent dosa, pickled mango, chicken biryani, curd, or any Andhra food served up on a banana leaf in the US.
15. Putting up with fake fruit juice.
Boxed orange juices packed with artificial sugars lost all appeal once I tasted fresh-squeezed guava and mango juice in the mornings. No matter the season, there is always real juice on hand.
16. Insisting on personal space.
If I could move sideways, backwards, or forwards on a bus, then the vehicle was not at capacity. People cram together when they eat or stand in lines. I got used to moving shoulder-to-shoulder when I visited the city.
17. Expecting set prices.
Haggling is a part of everyday shopping, even when some places claim to have set prices. Often I got deals for less than half the sticker price.
18. Doing lots of planning and traveling to visit something old or historical.
In India, if you go in any direction long enough you’ll see an artefact or building that’s at least 500 years old. India is steeped in history and has preserved much of its ancient culture. You’ll never see it all here.
19. Being suspicious when someone stares at me.
Foreigners stand out in India, and staring is not considered rude. Most looks, from both men and women, come from a place of friendly curiosity.
20. Pretending I understood the word spicy.
I thought I had a high spice tolerance before visiting India, but it’s all relative. I found there is only really spicy, kill-me-now-spicy, and I’ll-be-on-the-toilet-for-weeks spicy.
21. Believing my worldview was best.
India stretched my mind and burst my understanding of how I thought the world worked. As I watched women bathe in the Ganges River, Tibetan monk’s chant prayers, rickshaw drivers swerve through traffic, and arranged marriages blossom into positive relationships, I ditched the notion that my cultural paradigm had all the right answers.
—
Good naration 
Different colors and religions of people resideing in India peacefully.
Welcome to India
appreciate the time you took to write such an amazing post 
Calling Friend
@hese wrote:
Calling Friend
@B@R_0_0_D bhai, I want to vote this thread up. But can you first assure me that you will not fill this thread with other irrelevant “things” later on like you usually do? As long as you keep this thread about the America-India culture shock, I am ok.
Ha. Ha. Nako baba..
Even the dimers who have been abroad can add their experience. !
@B@R_0_0_D wrote:
Ha. Ha. Nako baba..
Even the dimers who have been abroad can ads their experience. !
Ek baat batao veerjee
We apn de desh di tareef kardi ya buraai
Samjh ni aaya kuch
Oh ki dassa, Sade pind hor India di burai to asse kadii karii nahi I
Siway twade kuch dostan di. Tareef assi kade karii ni jandi..
Ki karan..
Jhoth. Bolna. Sikhya hi nahi, wahe guru ji kaul.
Very well expressed, always a fan of your posts barood bhai
@yogeshgemini wrote:
Very well expressed, always a fan of your posts barood bhai
Saar,
Its just pasted from email and not my language.
Thanks anyway and its nice to see u after long time.
Bengaluru Special 💁
*If you throw a stone
randomly in Bangalore,
chances are,
it will hit a dog or a
software engineer.
While the dog may or
may not have a strap
around his neck,
the software engineer
will definitely have one. 😜
- “A guy who was
hunting
house in Bangalore.
Meets old lady who
is potential landlord.
Conversation goes thus:
Old lady:
Where do you work, son?
Guy : I work in Infosys.
Old lady: Oh,
that bus company! Sorry,
we rent only to
good IT people.
It would appear that
Infosys operates
more buses
than BMTC in Bangalore”
- Bangalore, where
PG is
the first business
and IT, the second.
*
- If a Bangalorean stops
at a traffic light,
others behind him
stop too because
The others
conclude that
he has spotted a
policeman that they
themselves have not.
*bangalore is the
only city where
distance is
measured in
units of time.
*Rickhsaw driver,
grocery seller and
common shop keeper
thinks that you earn
atleast 1 lakh p/month
if you are in IT sector.
- Out of every 100 software engineers in Bangalore,
90 are utterly frustrated
and rest have a gf/bf.
- Bus drivers use horns instead of brakes
- I quote : Bangalore:
The City where more people know Java than kannada".
- Universal answer in Bangalore is
“Adjust maadi” 😜😜😜
Power cuts are the only time the whole family assembles together and members speak to each other. Seeing this, BESCOM has decided to have a tagline called “Connecting people by disconnecting power” 😀😆😆😂😂😂👌😜
“I was sad I had no no shoes. Then I saw a man who had no feet at all. Happy became I again” The Gulistan of Sa’di
But with me things are in reverse “I was happy though I had no feet. Then I saw a man who had shoes.” and now my heart bleeds in utter jealousy.
I was happy living in India because I was convinced that our India was ‘sara Jeham se Accha’ – the greatest culture on earth and flowing with milk and honey. Then I took to travelling abroad – I have now visited some 33 countries. It was Europe that I visited first and I returned home dejected at seeing the yawning and unbridgeable gap between them and us in all facets of life. Then I went East to China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore etc hoping to get some solace if they were more undeveloped than the West. However I returned home again totally dejected at seeing how they had advanced. The only consolation was I got was from Philippines which seemed as backward as we are. But this consolation too had a dark lining when I learned from the internet that the Philippines is slightly more developed than we are.
I had visited Beijing and Shanghai some eight years ago just before the Olympics were held there in Beijing and had found them cities matching the advanced nations in well dressed people, clean surroundings and sound infrastructure. Then I heard frequent reports that though the cities of China were advanced things were not so rosy in rural China. So decided to visit rural China, hoping to see some misery and deprivation. Accordingly I set out for China on 14th Oct. But my hopes were totally dashed up to see that the provincial towns of China were also far ahead of us in every facet of life clean sanitized surroundings, sound infrastructure and well dressed people – even those selling fish are better attired than the average middle-class Indian – . To rub salt into my wounds there was a report at the time I was there, that the Chinese PM was visiting England and in one of the agreements between China and England, China was going to supply high-speed trains to England where which invented trains. Yes – in China people are well dressed and clean and live in clean surroundings with roads being cleaned continuously thorugh the day. They have modern cars and the buses are all posh looking especially when compared to our ramshackle boxes we call buses. Their trains which are far more comfortable and sleekly designed than any in the West and whoosh past long distances at at a blistering 300 km per hour. I was totally crestfallen at this unexpected turn of events – the prosperity even in 8rural China. My only consolation came from reports that China had more deaths from smoking than any other country in the world had and their incidents of marriage-break ups and divorces were going through the roof. Another point of solace to the burning jealousy in me was that in spite of markets overflowing with foodstuff of every kind, the people look under-nourished and emaciated with flat chested and flat bottomed women and men bent forward and backward like an elongated S or the integration sign in calculus. But this point of consolation was applicable only to the older generation and so likely to be short-lived. The teenagers and the people in their twenties are more robust and sturdy and the new-generation girls are much better-endowed than their mothers.
To sum it up, my visit to China was a total failure and I am now like the fish who jumped from the frying pan into the fire. The yawning gap between China and India is unbridgeable in the near future. To make matters worse, they also have as rich a tradition, heritage and culture as we have. So I cannot brag to them about our unmatched heritage or culture.
In his work ‘Revolutionary wealth’ Alvin Toffler states that Asia was far ahead of the West in bygone days in all facets of life. Came the Industrial revolution, and the West surged ahead leaving Asia gasping behind boasting about their rich heritage and culture to no purpose and making us the laughing stock of the advanced nations. But now according to Toffler Asia is all set to regain its past glory with China, Korea, Japan and the Asian tigers surging ahead fast to match and even overtake the West in prosperity and development. But I am afraid that the South Asian countries are going to drag Asia down in overtaking the West with India proving more of deadweight because of its sheer size.
The long and the short of it is that I deeply regret wasting so much money travelling abroad only to lose my happiness however fancy it may have been. I guess I will now have to visit some war-torn famished nation in Africa or elsewhere to regain my happiness before I started travelling abroad. I hope I will not be throwing away good money after bad in taking to more travel8888.
I used to snore away8-10 hours a day in blissful ignorance of the world outside and trusting in the ‘Sara Jeha Se Achcha’ myth touted by our succeeding propaganda departments. But with every sojourn abroad, I have lost more and more of my sleep and now after my visit to China and Hong Kong I am a 8sleepless wreck. My only hope now lies in out PM NaMo, and as I walk around and toss sleepless in bws. . If that also does not work out I will go in for an euthanasia even if I have to sell my kidney for it.88
—
Xavier William
'Is this your husband?' the Lord asked.
Yes,' cried the seamstress.
The Lord was furious. 'You lied! That is an untruth!' < I>
The seamstress replied, 'Oh, forgive me, my Lord. It is a misunderstanding.
You see, if I had said 'no' to George Clooney, you would have come up with Brad Pitt.
Then if I said 'no' to him, you would have come up with my husband. Had I then said 'yes,' you would have given me all three. Lord, I'm not in the best of health and would not be able to take care of all three husbands, so THAT'S why I said 'yes' to George Clooney.'
And so the Lord let her keep him.
_
The moral of this story is: _
Whenever a woman lies, it's for a good and honorable reason, and in the best interest of others. That's our story, and we're sticking to it.
@DealSeeker wrote:
@B@R_0_0_D bhai, I want to vote this thread up. But can you first assure me that you will not fill this thread with other irrelevant “things” later on like you usually do? As long as you keep this thread about the America-India culture shock, I am ok.
@B@R_0_0_D wrote:
Ha. Ha. Nako baba..
Even the dimers who have been abroad can add their experience. !
#SMH
@B@R_0_0_D wrote:
bq. When a Woman Lies!
One day, when a seamstress was sewing while sitting close to a river, her thimble fell into the river. When she cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, ‘My dear child, why are you crying?’ The seamstress replied that her thimble had fallen into the water and that she needed it to help her husband in making a living for their family.The Lord dipped His hand into the water and pulled up a golden thimble set with sapphires…
‘Is this your thimble?’ the Lord asked.
The seamstress replied, ‘No.’
The Lord again dipped into the river. He held out a golden thimble studded with rubies.
‘Is this your thimble?’ the Lord asked. Again, the seamstress replied, ‘No.’
The Lord reached down again and came up with a leather thimble.
‘Is this your thimble?’ the Lord asked. The seamstress replied, ‘Yes.’ The Lord was pleased with the woman’s honesty and gave her all three thimbles to keep, and the seamstress went home happy.
Some years later, the seamstress was walking with her husband along the riverbank, and her husband fell into the river and disappeared under the water. When she cried out, the Lord again appeared and asked her, ‘Why are you crying?’
‘Oh Lord, my husband has fallen into the river!’
The Lord went down into the water and came up with George Clooney.
‘Is this your husband?’ the Lord asked.
Yes,’ cried the seamstress.
The Lord was furious. ‘You lied! That is an untruth!’ < I>
The seamstress replied, ‘Oh, forgive me, my Lord. It is a misunderstanding.
You see, if I had said ’no’ to George Clooney, you would have come up with Brad Pitt.
Then if I said ‘no’ to him, you would have come up with my husband. Had I then said ‘yes,’ you would have given me all three. Lord, I’m not in the best of health and would not be able to take care of all three husbands, so THAT’S why I said ‘yes’ to George Clooney.’
And so the Lord let her keep him.
_
The moral of this story is: _
Whenever a woman lies, it’s for a good and honorable reason, and in the best interest of others. That’s our story, and we’re sticking to it.
One of the reason y i Hate lord for not displaying my pic.
Oh,wait..wait.
As an optimist I forgot that my pic is in the dreams of every beautiful lady 
Most people know three things about Bill Gates:
He’s the richest man in America (second-richest in the world right now).
He co-founded one of the most successful tech companies of all time in Microsoft.
He’s an extremely generous philanthropist through the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation.
But there are a lot of things about Gates you probably didn’t know.
1. As a young teenager at Lakeside Prep School, Gates wrote his first computer program on a General Electric computer.
It was a version of tic-tac-toe, where you could play against the computer.
2. Once his school realized Gates’ proclivities for coding, they let him write the school’s computer program for scheduling students in classes.
He even slyly altered the code so he was placed in classes with a “disproportionate number of interesting girls.”
3. Like many other successful tech entrepreneurs, Gates was a college dropout.
He left Harvard University in 1975 to fully devote himself to Microsoft.
4. Gates was once arrested in New Mexico, in 1977.
He was driving without a license and ran a red light.
5. He used to fly coach until 1997.
Now, he has his own plane. He calls that his “big splurge.”
6. One of Gates’ biggest splurges, besides his plane, was the Codex Leicester, a collection of writings by Leonardo da Vinci.
He acquired the codex at a 1994 auction for $30.8 million.
7. Despite his immense wealth, Gates says his kids will only inherit $10 million each.
It’s just a fraction of his $81.1 billion net worth. “Leaving kids massive amounts of money is not a favor to them,” he says.
8. Gates doesn’t know any foreign languages.
That, he says, is his biggest regret in life thus far.
9. Gates says if Microsoft hadn’t worked out, he probably would’ve been a researcher for artificial intelligence.
But, despite his deep interest in AI, Gates says he is “in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence.” That camp also includes notable leaders in science in technology, including Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk.
10. His favorite band? Weezer.
He also calls U2 a “favorite,” and says he’s still “waiting for Spinal tap to go back on tour.”
__.
You can retire to Phoenix, Arizona where…
1. You are willing to park 3 blocks away from your destination because you found shade.
2. You’ve experienced condensation on your ass from the hot water in the toilet bowl.
3. You can drive for 4 hours in one direction and never leave town.
4. You have over 100 recipes for Mexican food.
5. You know that “dry heat” is comparable to what hits you in the face when you open your oven door.
6. The 4 seasons are: tolerable, hot, really hot, and ARE YOU KIDDING ME??
OR
You can retire to California where…
1. You make over $450,000 and you still can’t afford to buy a house.
2. The fastest part of your commute is going down your driveway.
3. You know how to eat an artichoke.
4. You drive your rented Mercedes to your neighborhood block party.
5. When someone asks you how far something is,
you tell them how long it will take to get there rather than how many miles away it is.
6. The 4 seasons are: Fire, Flood, Mud, and Drought.
OR
You can retire to New York City where…
1. You say “the city” and expect everyone to know you mean Manhattan .
2. You can get into a four-hour argument about how to get from Columbus
Circle to Battery Park, but can’t find Wisconsin on a map.
3. You think Central Park is “nature.”
4. You believe that being able to swear at people in
their own language makes you multi-lingual.
5. You’ve worn out a car horn. (IF you have a car).
6. You think eye contact is an act of aggression.
OR
You can retire to Minnesota where…
1. You only have three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup ..
2. Halloween costumes have to fit over parkas.
3. You have seventeen recipes for casserole.
4. Sexy lingerie is anything flannel with less than eight buttons.
5. The four seasons are: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road repair.
6. The highest level of criticism is "He is different, she is different or It was different!
OR
You can retire to The Deep South where…
1. You can rent a movie and buy bait in the same store.
2. “Y’all” is singular and “all y’all” is plural.
3. “He needed killin” is a valid defense.
4. Everyone has 2 first names: Billy Bob, Jimmy Bob, Joe Bob, Betty Jean, Mary Beth, etc.
5. Everywhere is either: “in yonder,” “over yonder” or “out yonder”.
OR
You can retire to Colorado where…
1. You carry your $3,000 mountain bike atop your $500 car.
2. You tell your husband to pick up Granola on his way home, so he stops at the day care center.
3. A pass does not involve a football or dating.
4. The top of your head is bald, but you still have a pony tail.
OR
You can retire to Nebraska where…
1. You’ve never met any celebrities, but the mayor knows your name.
2. Your idea of a traffic jam is three cars waiting to pass a tractor.
3. You have had to switch from “heat” to “A/C” on the same day.
4. You end sentences with a preposition: “Where’s my coat at”.
OR
FINALLY You can retire to Florida where…
1. You eat dinner at 3:15 in the afternoon.
2. All purchases include a coupon of some kind — even houses and cars.
3. Everyone can recommend an excellent cardiologist, dermatologist,
proctologist, podiatrist, or orthopedist.
4. Road construction never ends anywhere in the state.
5. Cars in front of you often appear to be driven by headless people.
-——
बड़े बड़े रेस्तराँ में पकवानो के नाम ‘अंग्रेजी’ में रखकर यह साबित किया जाता है क़ि " जब तक हम जैसे समझदार बेवकूफ रहेंगे ये होशियार कभी भूखे नहीं मरेंगे…अब देखिये कुछ डिश के नाम
रोसेटो अल्जफर्नो :और ये डिश है भात और लाल साग मिला हुआ..दाम 375 रूपये।
नाचोस विथ सालसा..यह है नमकीन खस्ता..कच्चे टमाटर की चटनी के साथ दाम 195 रूपये..अब खस्ता और टमाटर चटनी बोलने से कोई 195 रूपये तो नहीं देगा न..“कच्चे टमाटर की चटनी के साथ खस्ता खा रहा हूँ” बोलने में शर्म आती है.
सिनोमिना सुफले : सूजी का हलवा है दाम 175…
चावल के मांड़ को भी ‘राइस सूप विथ लेमन ग्रास’ बोलकर 150 में परोस देते है और ये कूल ड्यूड बड़े इतरा कर बोलते हैं "I am having rice soup with NACHOS WITH SALSA….LOL!!! "अब यह कोई थोड़े ही बोलेगा क़ि माँड़ पी रहें हैं खस्ता के साथ।
एक डिश है ‘इन्चीलाडा’…ये सब्जी से भरे हुए पराठा को कहते हैं…200 रूपये का..
‘सतुआ’ बोलोगे तो लोग गंवार बोल बड़ी हीन दृष्टि से देखेंगे लेकिन ‘Gram juice with pepper’ बोलने से स्टैंडर्ड बढ़ जायेगा..
कुकर में उबला हुआ 5 रूपया के भुट्टे को 50 रूपया में ‘स्वीट कॉर्न’ बोलकर बेच देते हैं और लोग भी शान से खाते हैं….अंग्रेजी और अंग्रेज़ियत के आधुनिक गुलाम.
Ending support to high-income customers: LPG subsidy cut off to 7 lakh consumers
Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow...
@Rockstar