Culture Shock: India and US

After a semester of graduate studies with summer holidays for the next two months, I’ve got to be kidding if I said I am busy. So thought I could reflect on the changes I’ve seen over the last few months. The major one was moving from India to US just like my fellow Indian folks who come as a whooping bunch here to do their post-graduation. Now that that is said, let me take you through the (funny) differences which exist between United States and India or probably the rest of the world.

The moment you land here, there is a very good chance of you getting robbed legally and/or killed in the highway. Even before you step out of the airport, you would at least be five dollars lesser than when you were sitting in the plane eating the free boiled rice with bread and cheese as side dish. The airport authority expects you to pay them three dollars in cash/card for the miserable trolley they provide. Then when you insert a dollar coin into the pay phone and dial a number which is not answered, don’t be surprised if your coin doesn’t come back. For anything you buy, there would be a thousand page ‘terms and conditions’ and you get robbed because you missed reading a tiny clause. Believe it or not, every passenger flying into any city in US pays at least 30 $ as 9/11 security fee in his flight ticket!! (I thought the WTC attack happened seven years ago). Robbing doesn’t end there. It goes on and on until you get back in the plane and fly back home.

When the whole world drives on the left side of the road, Americans think they drive the right way: They drive on the right. But ‘right’ went wrong for me and almost got me killed when I tried to cross the road after I saw no vehicle coming from my right. When everyone writes date in dd-mm-yyyy format, Americans think it is fun to be different or like to cause confusion and hence write in mm-dd-yyyy format. When your full name is written as first name and then the last name everywhere, this part of the globe uses last name first and then the first name. Kilometers are miles, kilograms are pounds, liters are gallons or ounces, yours sincerely is sincerely yours…. What is next in the series of confusion? Dads are Moms and Moms are Dads??

Fuel is cheaper than water or milk. Fuel on an average had increased from 3.50 $ to 4 $ mark per gallon (3.78 liters) and I find it so hard to see America weep over it, when the rest of the world pays about half their salary on fuel but still manages to smile.

The best part about US studies is: Bits during examinations are legal. In fact, you can take your entire book to the examination.

America might be better known as 'United States' but you can see the states united only in the country's name. Each state acts like it is a country by itself. The taxes are different for each state. Driver’s License in one state is not valid in another state. For a particular crime, the law in one state can sentence you with 20 years imprisonment whereas in a different state, you might get fried in an electric chair.

I think the Americans have always found difficulty in coining a name. What is a country comprised of? Answer: Many Cities. Further each city is comprised of so many areas. But in this country, they conveniently removed the ‘r’ from country and called city as ‘County’ and then didn’t know how to name the area and hence called it City. Colleges are called schools here. If you are still not convinced that Americans are finding trouble in coinage, take the example of New York or Washington. They had exploited all the words they know of and hence had to use them for both the state and city name. This only reminds me of ‘Number 6, Dubai Kuruku Sandhu, Dubai Main Road, Dubai !‘.Need more proof? Americans pronounce the word ‘Patrol’ as ‘Petrol’. So to avoid any trouble, they decided to call petrol as Gasoline or in short, Gas. I really wonder what the Senators have decided to keep for the actual word ‘Gas’.

One concerning aspect anyone would definitely notice in US is the toilets. The water-level inside the porcelain is just two inches below your buttocks unlike the porcelains in the rest of the world. Many times I’ve accidentally touched the water-level while trying to use the toilet paper for cleaning after defecation. I am pretty sure it would have happened to many people out there. I guess the food input equals fecal output and hence the need of so much water inside the porcelain.

Things people like about US are the technology, frankness, efficiency and timeliness. From car seat adjustment to toll bridge sensor to GPS system to just absolutely any gadget, technology is unprecedented and on the forefront. As far as I’ve seen, most of the Americans prefer someone who is open – be it telling the truth or be it showing off the naked body. The railway gates automatically closes just ten seconds before the train passes and begins to open even before the last compartment has moved away. Everyone sticks to the clock and I really wonder how every watch has been beautifully synchronized to the rest of them. In India, each television channel differs from the rest of them at least by a minute.

Americans love to live their life King Size. What is not big with them – Gas guzzling sports cars and limousines, Roads, Houses, Plasma TV’s, Refrigerators, Units of measurement, Water level in Toilets, Coffee cups, Meals, Paunches, Boobs and what not. For the conservative sect of people in the society, I am sorry but I couldn’t afford not to notice the last one or act like I never thought of that. Every one owns a car and one must really be living on the streets to not have a car. There is so much opportunity for lucrative jobs and better career prospects which adds up to make America the Dreamland.

In spite of all the amazing stuff present here, you will only feel it is a beautiful jail you got into. Deep down you will always crave to be in your very own hometown, go out to dine, beach and movie, fight but still co-exist with near and dear ones and ride bikes or small cars at breakneck speeds without getting caught with the local cops. There are definitely certain things that money can’t buy, for everything else there is MasterCard and (US) Visa.