marekggg
23.05.26, 19:13
Abhishek Panicker
Post Graduate Diploma in Banking, Ness Wadia College of Commerce (Graduated 2018)Updated 9y
What could be a culture shock for an Indian when he/she gets out of the country?
1)This one happened to me in London :
We were traveling with a family of five. We boarded a tube towards Paddington and there was 4 seats vacant which were occupied by my mother, father, sister and brother in law. I was the only person who was standing in that compartment. We were all tired after the day long trip.
A man in his 50s got up to alight at his destination. As he was moving towards the entrance, he patted on my shoulder and said
“hey buddy, that seat is vacant now you are free to sit on that seat.”
I was quite surprised by seeing his kindness. This has never happened to me when I travel in a bus in Pune, my home city . So this experience was a first one for me.
2)We had strangers in bus-station start conversing with us when they knew that we were tourists. And many have positive opinions on India!!
3) A waiter in a restaurant pulled chairs for us.
4) You will constantly hear people say “Sorry” and “Thank you”.
5) There are self-billing kiosks in some supermarkets (like Tesco) where you have to scan the Barcode, swipe the credit /debit cards and print the receipt all by yourself.
6) People travel with dogs and bicycle in the tube. I saw one man (who was not a security guard) with a German Shepherd in the Tower of London Museum!
7) People stand in a straight line on an escalator in London. They stand on the right hand side of the escalator and leave the left hand side of the escalator for other people who are in a hurry and can't afford to wait till the escalator reaches its threshold.
8) In Indian mini markets, we mostly find eatables like chocolates, masalas, chips, ice creams etc. and also some toiletries. But in London you will find wine being sold along with these items.
9) The diversity is amazing. In London you will see people from various countries. The same holds true in New York. You will see people of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Lebanese, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Caribbean, Filipinos, Russians, Eritreans, Somalis, Moroccans, Kenyans, Australians, Maoris etc.
10) People have patience. I remember in London and Dubai we were unloading some shopping items from the taxi and there were two vehicles behind the taxi waiting for us to finish with the task. But none of the drivers honked horns at us and were patient enough to wait.
11) In the UK, it is a must to wear the seat belt when you sit in the rear seat of a car. In India, seat belt is only worn by those who sit in front seats.
12) In Saudi Arabia, every woman irrespective of her religion must wear an Abaya while stepping out of her residence/hotel /guest house. This rule also applies to those women who are working as expats there. But covering the face and head is not compulsory.
13) Most of the people in USA, UK, Canada and Australia have multiple ancestry because inter racial marriages is most common in these countries . A child in the USA will have a mother who may have German and Irish ancestry. And the father of the child may have Jewish ancestry.
14) In India, Sunday is the day where markets are bustling with people. But in London, what I found is that almost everything (except a few restaurants) are shut. But this does not hold true to tourists spots. The bustling place where I stayed was so quiet at 11 am on a Sunday, I thought that as if I had come to a ghost town!
