Differences

India is a big country with people having so many languages, culture, food habits, dressing style, complexion and celebrations. Being from such a country, I could not find many cultural differences in America. The main differences I felt were only due to the difference in human character. Of course there are some differences. It will be foolish to judge whether these differences are good or bad, as these are just differences only. People are similar everywhere and they have many things in common too.

I knew earlier that the social and academic lives in the US are very different from those in India. The freedom of the young generation to live separately from their parents and the free interaction of students and teachers are very rare in my country.

I found an interesting difference; Students in US do their internship with local politicians and a selected few even get the opportunity to work in the White House as well. But in India, I’ve never heard of students doing their internships with politicians. And I’m not sure whether they get permission from the academic authority, even if anyone wishes to do so. Perhaps Indians don’t accept politics as a systematic profession. And do we consider it as public service, which can be accomplished only by dedicated human beings?

Americans show good manners always. They follow the queue in public places. They keep the door open for the next person, which is very rare in my country. Americans believe in strong family relationships and they put photographs of their family members in offices. But in our country normally people do not exhibit such photos in offices. Apart from Christmas; soccer, football, Halloween and New Year are the biggest celebrations for Americans, not religious ceremonies as in my country.

Bus drivers often wish us “good day.” I can’t even imagine saying “thank you” to a bus driver in my country. Drivers obey all the road rules without failure, which is not that true in my country. Proper instructions are always given to people with signs. Visitors are not confused what to do and what not to do. The important thing is that people obey all these instructions unlike in my country, where if it is marked ‘stick no posters’ on a wall, posters in the entire district will be pasted over there.

Even in the midst of all the technological advancements, a researcher still needs to carry a bunch of keys with him. I always wonder why they don’t find an alternative instead of carrying many keys. Perhaps they don’t find it difficult to carry so many keys.