An acquaintance of mine picked me up from the airport in New York. He let me stay in his house for two days before I moved to my own accommodation.
First impression :
The first thing that caught my attention is uniformity, continuity, patterns, grids and lanes. Everything seemed like I suddenly fell into an engineering drawing. Roads were straight and smooth with gentle curves, houses were built in neat grids, vehicles strictly moved in their lanes and even the people formed proper queues. This was in stark contrast to India which is a lot like modern art, haphazard yet functional. I really liked it in the first few days and I almost stopped noticing it now.
Cultural shock :
"A condition of confusion and anxiety affecting a person suddenly exposed to an alien culture"
The people here have a strange habit of greeting random people with a short "Hey ! How you doing ?" or "Hey ! Hows it going ?" and many other courtesies. I was very aware of this etiquette and I thoroughly disliked the idea of being greeted by a complete stranger. I thought it should be no big deal and I will be able to handle it. In reality it was thoroughly disorienting. One evening a guy was jogging on the pavement. As he passed by me he threw a quick "Hey man ! Hows it going ?" and by the time I thought of a reply he was a couple of feet behind me. I was a little offended by his indifference only to quickly realize that its all "etiquette". Later I realized that this habit of greeting strangers is in fact awesome. It breaks the verbal ice and its easy to approach people for help or making friends. I think this habit deserves a post of its own. People hold doors open for people behind them. Thank You is frequently heard.
Classroom :
White women are routinely* depicted as sleazy and promiscuous in Bollywood and Tollywood. This is ridiculous and false. There are promiscuous people everywhere. People here highly regard their freedom of personal choice. So if a person chooses to be promiscuous its a matter of choice. I did notice that there are very few women in engineering just like back at home.
Here comes the ugly part of USA. Lets say you want to buy water. After walking a few hundred meters you may finally reach the water aisle. Now begins the actual hardship. There will be a dozen or more varieties of water. I may be exaggerating a little but take a look below.
"Give respect and take respect"
The Professor respects you and treats you like a person. You don't have to stand up when he/she walks in, you don't have to call him/her sir/mam, you don't need their permission to walk out of the classroom or eat in the classroom or even sleep in the classroom. They are here to teach you and interact with you. All this comes with a price, the student is expected to keep calm and pay attention as long as he's in the classroom. This is a real classroom. Real transfer of knowledge and is only possible when both sides respect each other. I think its very hard to replicate this in India due to professors with infinite ego and a lot of the students giving 0 fucks about their field of study.
Respect :
Janitor : "A person employed in an apartment house, office building, school, etc., to clean the public areas, remove garbage, and do minor repairs; caretaker"
This is one thing I love the most about the culture of the USA, Respect. Nobody gets treated like shit. The Department chair will treat the Janitor just like anybody else. There is a great value for humans in general. This is in stark contrast to India where people look down on the less fortunate and treat people like shit. This probably stems from our huge population and caste system. We are a long way from this checkpoint.
Women :
White women are routinely* depicted as sleazy and promiscuous in Bollywood and Tollywood. This is ridiculous and false. There are promiscuous people everywhere. People here highly regard their freedom of personal choice. So if a person chooses to be promiscuous its a matter of choice. I did notice that there are very few women in engineering just like back at home.
* My knowledge of Indian cinema is very poor. So correct me if I'm wrong.
Super Markets :
Here comes the ugly part of USA. Lets say you want to buy water. After walking a few hundred meters you may finally reach the water aisle. Now begins the actual hardship. There will be a dozen or more varieties of water. I may be exaggerating a little but take a look below.
Meat is never butchered in front of you, instead it is cleaned, processed and packed in a very aesthetic way. So it would be no surprise if you ask a kid where meat comes from and he/she replies that its from the supermarket.
I have nothing else to write as of now. Will be back soon with something more.
*** This is by no means intended to be holistic. I wrote a fraction of what I perceived, which is a fraction of what can be perceived.
