Culture Learning

            There are several major differences between U.S. and Indian culture, as expected, seeing as how Western and Eastern cultures tend to vary greatly. Upon arrival at IIT-Kanpur’s campus, the graduate student that the Office of International Relations assigned us gave us our first warning in a major difference between Indian and American cultures.

            “Indian people hate being alone. We are very personable and have no concept of personal space or boundaries. We can be very touchy and love engaging in conversation. We do not understand the concept of ‘alone time’ and do not like being alone. We like being with friends and family all the time. Most people from the West will find this very unnerving, but just know that it is something that is completely normal here,” he warned us at our first meeting.

            And his warning was not unfounded. Although southern states pride themselves on “Southern Hospitality and friendliness” and there are certainly plenty of Americans who can be engaging and personable with strangers, this is taken to a completely new level in India. Our fellow Indian students wasted no time in throwing us in big hugs and wrapping their arms around us as they took “selfies” or had a friend take a picture with us before we could even realize what was going on. In the U.S. most of this would be seen as rude and impolite, but in India everyone (for the most part) interacts with each other in this way. In fact most friends will casually hold hands or interlock arms as they walk together, both boys with boys, girls with girls, and boys with girls. In the U.S. this is a sign of affection that is almost exclusively held to couples.

            I personally did not find the displays of affection difficult to deal with, but more so the frequency of them. I thought even the most outgoing of people still prefer at least a little bit of down time to themselves, but in Indian culture this is not true. If you are with a group of Indians and try to stray off alone to rest and relax, they will quickly come and drag you back into the fray.

            Another noticeable cultural difference the laid back nature of Indian culture compared to American culture. Our intern group coined a term “Indian time” to describe this difference. In the U.S. punctuality and timeliness is of the utmost importance in all aspects of life, from school life to the professional world. Vince Lombardi, the Hall of Fame Green Bay Packers coach, always preached that if you were on time you were late, and on time was really fifteen minutes early. This famously became known as “Lombardi time” which is the standard in most of the U.S. today, especially if you want to succeed in the professional world.

            Compared to this in India, time is very laid back. Most people attribute it to the intense summer heats and monsoon rains, which often cause delays in things, but we noticed that even in good weather things tend to run at least fifteen minutes behind schedule and usually much later than that. When we asked the Indian students and people that we were with they stated that this was normal, and that we should get used to it. They acted as if it was casual and nonchalant for everything to be unpunctual; they seemed to simply not care.

            These are two cultural differences amongst many that I noticed during my three months living in India.