It's my first week in USA and I am not moving out as much as I would like to still I guess I have enough content to make a post about first hand experience of my visit. Note that much of this might will change later on as I face more of US.
I have been visiting to NY for business reasons. If I have to draw parallel I would say that NY is like Mumbai however there is vast difference between two cities.
Before coming to US, I had much doubts and I was circumspect about the people here and their respective behavior, So I am going to in a way answer my own doubts I had earlier.
There are stereotyping which is very much prevalent. Indian, Chinese, Italian, Mexicans etc. there are stereotypes about each and all. However It's difficult to stereotype American, for the simple reason that for generations now different people are staying in America and have become Americans and it's really difficult to put them in a single thread.
For example When I reached at JFK airport the lady who was synchronizing the lines for Visa verification looked South American, The officer who did the visa verification seemed some European guy and the one who was there for custom goods verification was Chinese person (It's difficult for me to differentiate between Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese)
Since there are different orientation people as part of america, defining American is next to impossible. However still if I have to define, I would put few point which I feel more or less is applicable to most of US people.
First thing which I feel is US people does not like to be hesitant, They believe in putting their point even if they are not very sure about it. Even if they are hesitant about something they would prefer to expose that. In other words If a US person does not know what others are talking about he would like to let you know rather than silently pretend that he knows.
US people are consciously nice and in the same way consciously rude in few cases. With consciously I mean being nicer to you is a conscious effort by them, It might not be their natural behavior to nice but they might have adapted to be nice.
Coming from India, one vast difference is that we Indians and same would be applicable to other developing countries that we have a culture to 'manage' and 'co-operate'. In a place meant for 3 people sitting, 5 people can manage or co-operate. Much of it is due to (over)population and underdeveloped infrastructure. But bottom line is in US people don't have this idea of 'managing' even if there is shortage of resources.
Consumerism and Commercialization has got into the bones of US, Almost everything has a business viewpoint. At the end of the day you have to sell something to someone, it might be an idea or a product or whatever, only condition is that the means should be fair.
Fashion is other noticeable thing, To maintain the spirit of fashion, people seems to be going at length, the dressing, the tattoos, weird piercing, unconventional clothing. To be true I am enjoying it. I don't think it would keep amusing me for long and then it might just become meaningless.
Rules are rules and not guidelines. Again in India we take rules as suggestions and we use our brains to modify those rules in such a manner that it is beneficial. Traffic is maintained mostly when there is traffic police. Not that people are scared of traffic police but because they don't want to pay fine or bribe. In US on the other hand rules are much to do with discipline.
P.S. - I like the way when after the signal to cross the road for pedestrian is turned on, people from the both side of road walk toward the other end in such a manner that it gives an impression for a moment that two sets of people are running to meet their loved ones since they were separated long ago.
To be continued...................
I have been visiting to NY for business reasons. If I have to draw parallel I would say that NY is like Mumbai however there is vast difference between two cities.
Before coming to US, I had much doubts and I was circumspect about the people here and their respective behavior, So I am going to in a way answer my own doubts I had earlier.
There are stereotyping which is very much prevalent. Indian, Chinese, Italian, Mexicans etc. there are stereotypes about each and all. However It's difficult to stereotype American, for the simple reason that for generations now different people are staying in America and have become Americans and it's really difficult to put them in a single thread.
For example When I reached at JFK airport the lady who was synchronizing the lines for Visa verification looked South American, The officer who did the visa verification seemed some European guy and the one who was there for custom goods verification was Chinese person (It's difficult for me to differentiate between Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese)
Since there are different orientation people as part of america, defining American is next to impossible. However still if I have to define, I would put few point which I feel more or less is applicable to most of US people.
First thing which I feel is US people does not like to be hesitant, They believe in putting their point even if they are not very sure about it. Even if they are hesitant about something they would prefer to expose that. In other words If a US person does not know what others are talking about he would like to let you know rather than silently pretend that he knows.
US people are consciously nice and in the same way consciously rude in few cases. With consciously I mean being nicer to you is a conscious effort by them, It might not be their natural behavior to nice but they might have adapted to be nice.
Coming from India, one vast difference is that we Indians and same would be applicable to other developing countries that we have a culture to 'manage' and 'co-operate'. In a place meant for 3 people sitting, 5 people can manage or co-operate. Much of it is due to (over)population and underdeveloped infrastructure. But bottom line is in US people don't have this idea of 'managing' even if there is shortage of resources.
Consumerism and Commercialization has got into the bones of US, Almost everything has a business viewpoint. At the end of the day you have to sell something to someone, it might be an idea or a product or whatever, only condition is that the means should be fair.
Fashion is other noticeable thing, To maintain the spirit of fashion, people seems to be going at length, the dressing, the tattoos, weird piercing, unconventional clothing. To be true I am enjoying it. I don't think it would keep amusing me for long and then it might just become meaningless.
Rules are rules and not guidelines. Again in India we take rules as suggestions and we use our brains to modify those rules in such a manner that it is beneficial. Traffic is maintained mostly when there is traffic police. Not that people are scared of traffic police but because they don't want to pay fine or bribe. In US on the other hand rules are much to do with discipline.
P.S. - I like the way when after the signal to cross the road for pedestrian is turned on, people from the both side of road walk toward the other end in such a manner that it gives an impression for a moment that two sets of people are running to meet their loved ones since they were separated long ago.
To be continued...................
