Holding the Door Open for Others:
This is something which everybody used to do. If you're coming out of a meeting, or if you're in a supermarket, or if you're in a train, the people ahead of you will always hold the door open and it is just basic courtesy to make sure that you do the same for the person who might be following you.
Whereas we Indians hardly care who is behind us and just slam the door on their face.
Giving respect to other people who are of lower income group
Foreigners give extreme respect to other people who may not be earning as much as they do. You might see a CEO of big multinational talking humbly to a taxi driver or a cleaner or to a cashier at the super market.
We Indians, don't really care.
Greeting Strangers
People, more often, greet others. If you walk into an elevator, people would smile and greet you with a 'Good Morning' or a 'Good Evening'.
I remember visiting the Hog Veluwe National Park in The Netherlands. We took the bicycles and started on the cycling trail, an approximately 18 kms. We were wished, a 'Hi' or a 'Hello' by almost every person who came in from the opposite direction. For me as an Indian, this was weird but then I enjoyed it and replied back as well :)
Something like this can also be difficult in India, where you find people everywhere :) and you might just tire yourself to exhaustion by greeting others.
Cycling - Quintessentially Dutch
Dutch people are good at cycles and everything related to them. (they call them bikes though)
Cycling is there in the blood of every Dutch national. You'll find a 3 year old kid to a 80 year old grandma easily riding bicycles. In our country, people riding bicycles are looked down upon.
Here is a snapshot of the bicycle parking lot at the Amsterdam Central Station.Oh by the way, this is just one side of it.
If you think carrying groceries on a bicycle is little difficult. Think again !!
How would you carry toddlers on a bicycle ? Like this !!
Or may be...
It is not like you will find only one or two such 'different' bicycles. Cycles with different variations are as ubiquitous as Maruti cars in India.
Now if you need to visit a different city ? No problem. You can take your bicycles on to the trains too.
Ok now planning to have a mini-party. How about this ? This is a 13 seater bicycle :) . I am not really sure if it is still a bicycle though. I believe its called a 'Cycling Limo'.
Following Rules
A perfectly synchronized lane driving would be a common sight in most of the other nations. People would also maintain a certain distance from the vehicle ahead of them.
We in India know, how it is really like here. Don't we.
Cleaning Up the mess you cause
I believe, this is something Japanese are very famous for. Any event or any party that are part of - they celebrate. But once the celebrations are done, they make sure that they clean up the mess that they caused to.
We, in India, do not really blink an eye before throwing something on to the roads.
Here is a picture of the Japanese fans cleaning up after a group game at the FIFA World Cup'14.
911
The number 911 is synonymous with emergency services in the United States of America. Most of the Indians are aware about it as well thanks to the films and television series.
911 is a direct number and based on the nature of emergency the task of responding to the emergency is directed to either Fire, Police or Ambulance or more than one of them.
In India, we however, hardly use these numbers. Partly because of ignorance and partly because when we really are in an emergency, we do cannot really recall which number is for what.
In a state of complete panic and shock, you need to remember which service you want to call and in some cases, which city you're in also matters.
Police: 100, Fire: 101, Ambulance: 102, Chennai Traffic Police: 103, Delhi Traffic Police: 1095, Kolkata Traffic Police: 1073, Bangalore Traffic Police: 108
This is something which everybody used to do. If you're coming out of a meeting, or if you're in a supermarket, or if you're in a train, the people ahead of you will always hold the door open and it is just basic courtesy to make sure that you do the same for the person who might be following you.
Whereas we Indians hardly care who is behind us and just slam the door on their face.
Foreigners give extreme respect to other people who may not be earning as much as they do. You might see a CEO of big multinational talking humbly to a taxi driver or a cleaner or to a cashier at the super market.
We Indians, don't really care.
Greeting Strangers
People, more often, greet others. If you walk into an elevator, people would smile and greet you with a 'Good Morning' or a 'Good Evening'.
I remember visiting the Hog Veluwe National Park in The Netherlands. We took the bicycles and started on the cycling trail, an approximately 18 kms. We were wished, a 'Hi' or a 'Hello' by almost every person who came in from the opposite direction. For me as an Indian, this was weird but then I enjoyed it and replied back as well :)
Something like this can also be difficult in India, where you find people everywhere :) and you might just tire yourself to exhaustion by greeting others.
Cycling - Quintessentially Dutch
Dutch people are good at cycles and everything related to them. (they call them bikes though)
Cycling is there in the blood of every Dutch national. You'll find a 3 year old kid to a 80 year old grandma easily riding bicycles. In our country, people riding bicycles are looked down upon.
Here is a snapshot of the bicycle parking lot at the Amsterdam Central Station.Oh by the way, this is just one side of it.
If you think carrying groceries on a bicycle is little difficult. Think again !!
How would you carry toddlers on a bicycle ? Like this !!
Or may be...
It is not like you will find only one or two such 'different' bicycles. Cycles with different variations are as ubiquitous as Maruti cars in India.
Now if you need to visit a different city ? No problem. You can take your bicycles on to the trains too.
Ok now planning to have a mini-party. How about this ? This is a 13 seater bicycle :) . I am not really sure if it is still a bicycle though. I believe its called a 'Cycling Limo'.
Following Rules
A perfectly synchronized lane driving would be a common sight in most of the other nations. People would also maintain a certain distance from the vehicle ahead of them.
We in India know, how it is really like here. Don't we.
Cleaning Up the mess you cause
I believe, this is something Japanese are very famous for. Any event or any party that are part of - they celebrate. But once the celebrations are done, they make sure that they clean up the mess that they caused to.
We, in India, do not really blink an eye before throwing something on to the roads.
Here is a picture of the Japanese fans cleaning up after a group game at the FIFA World Cup'14.
911
The number 911 is synonymous with emergency services in the United States of America. Most of the Indians are aware about it as well thanks to the films and television series.
911 is a direct number and based on the nature of emergency the task of responding to the emergency is directed to either Fire, Police or Ambulance or more than one of them.
In India, we however, hardly use these numbers. Partly because of ignorance and partly because when we really are in an emergency, we do cannot really recall which number is for what.
In a state of complete panic and shock, you need to remember which service you want to call and in some cases, which city you're in also matters.
Police: 100, Fire: 101, Ambulance: 102, Chennai Traffic Police: 103, Delhi Traffic Police: 1095, Kolkata Traffic Police: 1073, Bangalore Traffic Police: 108
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