No Smiles Please we are Indian
The heading is derived from a book called No Sex Please we are Indians ..it created a flutter in the media in the 90 s.. but that s all the similarity there is.
Many years back, when I first started working I had occasions to visit Bombay and Bombay hotels and building had lifts/ elevators. To my surprise and amusement , I noted that if one entered a lift which already had some westerners, they smiled at the new entrants (thus I simultaneously increased my knowledge, while becoming upwardly mobile) . At first their smiles caught me so off-guard that I looked blankly at them and maintained an I-did-not-notice-that look. Those people must have wondered if they had body odour ! But after repeated such incidents and on comparing notes with others I found that it was a Eurpoean custom which meant to convey I acknowledge your presence as a human being and an equal .
Well , the not-so-slow learner that I am.. not only did I start reciprocating with a smile., I even went to the extent of initiating one ! Truly braveheart stuff.
But, I noticed that Indians in India (unless long time NRI s) rarely smiled at each other in lifts, me included. We get in, we make sure we look impassive and hold our breaths till its time to get out.
Later when I traveled to phoren I noticed that it was not only in lifts, but on numerous occasions that people, complete strangers, smiled at each other. In offices, for instance, they would smile and wish you a good morning or evening etc. This is especially true for Europe.
So now I have a split upwardly-mobile personality. Euope Smile. India No Smile.
But but but.. even in Europe when two Indians come across each other in a lift they will NOT smile !!
I have always wondered why we behave differently. Not that we should ape everything that Europeans do, but there are certainly good things we can learn. I have also come across articles explaining similar Indian behaviour (large population/ crowding, large number of poor people ,and an acknowledgement may encourage them to ask for a favour.. something like we never make eye-contact with beggars on the street in India)
The heading is derived from a book called No Sex Please we are Indians ..it created a flutter in the media in the 90 s.. but that s all the similarity there is.
Many years back, when I first started working I had occasions to visit Bombay and Bombay hotels and building had lifts/ elevators. To my surprise and amusement , I noted that if one entered a lift which already had some westerners, they smiled at the new entrants (thus I simultaneously increased my knowledge, while becoming upwardly mobile) . At first their smiles caught me so off-guard that I looked blankly at them and maintained an I-did-not-notice-that look. Those people must have wondered if they had body odour ! But after repeated such incidents and on comparing notes with others I found that it was a Eurpoean custom which meant to convey I acknowledge your presence as a human being and an equal .
Well , the not-so-slow learner that I am.. not only did I start reciprocating with a smile., I even went to the extent of initiating one ! Truly braveheart stuff.
But, I noticed that Indians in India (unless long time NRI s) rarely smiled at each other in lifts, me included. We get in, we make sure we look impassive and hold our breaths till its time to get out.
Later when I traveled to phoren I noticed that it was not only in lifts, but on numerous occasions that people, complete strangers, smiled at each other. In offices, for instance, they would smile and wish you a good morning or evening etc. This is especially true for Europe.
So now I have a split upwardly-mobile personality. Euope Smile. India No Smile.
But but but.. even in Europe when two Indians come across each other in a lift they will NOT smile !!
I have always wondered why we behave differently. Not that we should ape everything that Europeans do, but there are certainly good things we can learn. I have also come across articles explaining similar Indian behaviour (large population/ crowding, large number of poor people ,and an acknowledgement may encourage them to ask for a favour.. something like we never make eye-contact with beggars on the street in India)
No comments:
Post a Comment