India: a country with 1.3 billion people, with different culture, religion, language, traditions that changes in every state of this country is surely a diverse nation. Each individual, each group has its own habits.
I made a note of few of these habits and thought to pen them down. So here are a few...
Ganpati Bappa....
I live in one of the metropolitan cities of India: Mumbai. As a Mumbaikar (habitant of Mumbai) it is very common to take the local train every morning to work. The train carries thousands of people to work on it's every single trip. If you have an eye of an observer, this is the best place you'll have material to write on. After I board the train every morning for work, at the next stop is a temple adjacent to the station. A group of men on this local pray to the elephant god by shouting at the top of their voice, "Ganpati Bappa..." and the rest of the local train completing their sentence with "Morya!"
Now in India, you stand in the middle of the street and shout "Ganpati Bappa", rest assure because you are going to get "Morya" back. Or you shout "Jo bole so nihal.." you will hear "sat sri akal"
There is this one other ritual I find peculiar that only Indians follow, I believe. Before taking a long trip, we again pray to god at the top of our voice, just so that our ride ahead is smooth. Or may be we don't trust the driver.
At the end of the day I think Indians are true believers of god.
Keys...
We love sharing everything with our neighbors. What I love about our country is we know who are our neighbors. We interact with them on a daily basis. We share our happiness and sorrows with them. We also trust them blindly. I don't think anywhere outside India does any family give their house keys to their neighbors. Usually people hide their spare keys either in their garden or behind the letterbox. But Indians give their house keys to their neighbors. Just in case you have forgotten your keys, you knock at your neighbor's door and there you are they will hand you your spare keys. Or if you live abroad and own a house in India, usually the keys to your house will be with the neighbors.
Food...
Each state has it's own staple food with ample of assortments on the plate to choose from. If you're a guest to any Indian household, you'll never walk home without eating anything. You at least have a cup of tea. If you are an invitee for lunch or dinner you eat more than required. In India, when you are at the dining table and when you are about to finish with your meal, your host will ask you if you would want to have more, which is quite normal anywhere in the world. But as a guest you do not say yes immediately to that question, you wait for them to ask you once again and then you could say yes or no as per your wish. 'Agraha' as Maharashtrians call it.
Now you know what to do the next time you're in India and hosted by an Indian family !
Tuesdays and Saturdays...
Coming back to god and food, each Indian god has his own day. And each Indian family has their "family god". As per the days we decide what food to eat. Few Indians choose not to eat chicken on Tuesdays and Saturdays because it is their "family god's day". My family prefers not eating eggs on Saturdays.
I don't see any logic to it but well that is how it works here...
The list is just endless. But we are who we are. And we love what we do.
P.S: I wrote this article after having observed people for quite a few months now and noting down their habits.
