Being a world traveler allows someone to visit different countries and experience different cultures and traditions. Such is because someone gets to interact with people from diverse cultures that are different from your own. Having traveled to India and experienced their cultural practices and norms, one can tell how different they are from a more westernized culture. The disparities span from greeting, gestures, dressing, and public relations, where India has set cultural rules on handling these aspects. However, it is essential to share experiences with family and friends to know what to expect from India even though they have not visited the country yet.
When greeting people, the Indians must use the Namaste where they hold their palms together, and their fingers point to the chin as a sign of respect. All the society members use this greeting though individuals from the opposite sex mostly use it. Men and women are not allowed to touch each other, especially in public places, and therefore the Namaste greeting is much recommended. For westernized visitors, shaking hands in the form of respect and can be done with anybody. Doing so could seem like a form of respect to the people, but Indian interprets it as rude, especially to women. Hugging someone is very common in western culture and can be done everywhere, especially with close friends and family. However, in India, that is considered as touching each other and is inappropriate to do so. Additionally, Indians are expressive though they interpret waving used by different cultures to indicate hello or goodbye as a rude signal of telling someone to go away.
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Indians are so welcoming and warm to everyone, including the visitors. Indians are so willing to drop anything and help strangers find their direction, which is very uncommon in my home culture. More so, India invites people to their homes for meals and saying no is regarded as rude even if you are a stranger to them. During the stay, the host of servants serves the visitor with plenty of meals and eats first. The visitor is not allowed to say no to any food. Still, it is courteous to taste and leave the food since in the Indian traditions leaving food on the plates is acceptable contrarily to other cultures where fair to serve what you can finish. Moreover, the visitor cannot lead a helping hand to the hosts' servants since disrespecting them. Visiting the host kitchen is taboo since fire is sacred according to Indian culture, and therefore a visitor could pollute it.
Indian also invites public members to functions such as weddings, and here people interact with each other. If you need an introduction, the invitees must wait until the host introduces them since they are some cultural protocol to be followed. During these interactions, the Indians tend to ask very intimates questions that can upset the person being asked. Such problems include: whether you are married, the amount you earn, your address, among others. When asked these questions, one must answer since this is one of their way of knowing someone. Such can be considered inappropriate and require to remain private by other cultures and especially to strangers.
Moreover, in more westernized cultures, one can bring money as gifts in ceremonies as a form of appreciation. In India, giving cash as a gift is regarded as an insult to the hosts. Therefore, one has to be precise in what gift to give.
However, in the home culture, wearing short dresses and shorts is acceptable and regarded as fashionable. One can wear any clothing as long as it is decent and respectable, but in Indian, proper means wearing clothes covering oneself without exposing the shoulders. Indian men are not allowed to wear shorts even on a hot day but wear sarongs. Nevertheless, India can tolerate other people dressing styles, mostly foreigners, given that they don't wear clothes with holes or go shirtless in public.
