Our (not so) Unique Indian Culture

I was recently travelling to Bangalore by flight. I was standing in the queue to board the aircraft when a gentleman with his family tried to break into the queue. He did it very smoothly- avoiding eye contact and acting very casual as if breaking the queue was a perfectly normal thing to do. When I objected, and asked him to go to the back of the queue, he looked at me, seeming offended and surprised that I was making a fuss over this. I was yet again experiencing a uniquely Indian trait of jumping queues.

Jumping red lights, maneuvering the vehicle to extreme left lane even when one needs to turn right, not allowing a faster vehicle to overtake, using ‘open air toilets’, pushing and rushing into a bus or train that has just arrived eve if a woman or an elderly person is waiting ahead…… are a few of many other Indian traits we experience in our daily life. And this list goes on and on….

I was always wonder why we act the way we do…What makes us do these foolhardy acts? These become glaringly obvious as unique to our culture when we leave the soils of our motherland. Whether we travel east or west, we observe people exhibit much more cultured behavior. I am not even discussing about deeper ulcers like corruption and poverty, I am talking about the day to day behavior of common Indian citizens, you and me.

Is it the lack of education? I think not- as most of the people who jump queues and brazenly violate traffic rules are well educated respectful members of the society. Is it ignorance- nope- we all know that jumping queues is wrong, yet we do it.

So what can be done to reverse these unique Indian traits? It is easy to get exasperated at the enormity of the task- we think, “Oh! There are so many defaulters, what can I do?” Each one says so and joins the crowd. We become desensitized to this chronic malady and become either defaulters or silent observers. But, we have to start somewhere- How will we become a developed nation as long as we split saliva at random on the newly built roads and swank multi-storeyed buildings? Each one of us has to act- to set an example- and hope that in time enough momentum will be gathered to reverse this trend of not so unique Indian behavior.

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• what is so unique about indians
• what makes the indian culture so unique

Tags: old indian culture, our indian culture, the indian culture, what is indian culture