What surprised you about the US when you first got here?
The first thing I remember is the restrooms.. Seriously. When I got off the plane and entered the airport bathroom I was shocked by the restroom stalls. Such an advanced society and they can't afford doors on the bathroom stalls? Or walls for that matter? Open at the top and open at the bottom, not to mention the generous cracks on either side of the door. It was several weeks before I was comfortable in those drafty, un-private, peekaboo loos. I really didn't understand it.. don't Americans put a much higher value on privacy and personal space than Indians? And yet they are fine with the exposed bathrooms.. and what about the fragile apartment buildings where one can hear every movement in the flat above? How is that acceptable? My first apartment, on the first day, the downstairs neighbours came up to complain about the noise I made *walking* in the apartment! I felt like I was living in a Bombay chawl.
I grew up watching American movies and American TV shows. So I thought I knew everything about the US. I wasn't expecting culture shock, I wasn't expecting to be dazzled by high tech gadgets, I wasn't expecting to be shocked by loose morals.
Well mostly it turned out exactly as I'd expected. There were the skyscrapers, the suit clad purposeful businessmen, the fancy appliances, and the loose morals. Pretty much as I'd expected.
But even so there were a few surprises. Like the tank tops. My first summer at my American university, I was genuinely puzzled. All the girls wore spaghetti strapped tops, you know, tops with very thin straps. So thin that most of the time the underlying bra strap showed through. But the surprising part was that no one attempted to hide them. They didn't opt for more discreet underwear, they deliberately flaunted the bra strap as a contrast to the spaghetti strap - often with a contrasting color. I honestly didn't get it - its not like there's something seductive about it, I could have understood that (ref. loose morals). But this was just - sloppy. Who walks around with their underwear showing??
Apparently, American college girls... and boys! Have you seen those boys with pants pulled half way down their hips, underwear showing? I wonder how many of those boys have accidents with that arrangement.. its gravity defying!
What else? Oh yes, the fat people! You see, the people in Hollywood movies and American sitcoms are all thin and beautiful. The people on the streets and in the malls - different story. I realised that I had never understood what fat really meant. These were not just protruding bellies or wide hips, these people were fat! limited mobility fat, circus freak fat! Buy an extra airplane ticket fat! But the funniest part - the fat people are usually the poor ones.. Really. The poor people eat at cheap fast food joints all their lives, and are too busy to get exercise. Exercise is the privilege of the rich, healthy diet food is the privilege of the rich. You know you're in a rich country when its the poor people who overeat!
Of course, the most common thing we hear about Westerners in India is their loose moral standards. All that part was fine enough, divorce rate at 50% (or whatever), lots of unwed mothers.. all as expected. The liberal society didn't surprise me at all - what caught me off guard is - how conservative America is. I've been here several years now, and I understand the nuances of religious and social politics - the culture war as its been called. But I had never in my life dreamed that in this day and age, any developed country would have public arguments about abortion and evolution.
Evolution?? Of course, I understand things better now. I understand the conflict between science and religion. This isn't a modern conflict, it's been raging since Darwin postulated his theory. It is based in fear, the fear of the unknown, the longing for safe, comfortable ideas.
I understand it, but I don't have to like it. And I am happy, that whatever Indians may do in the name of religion, they don't question science. Most Indians are far too pragmatic to let their religious beliefs get in the way of reality.
Oh well, here I go again - back to my pet topic: American politics. Time to wrap up this entry. Maybe I will go into the whole Hindu vs Christian, religion vs scince, spirituality vs faith thing next time. Certainly a topic close to my heart. Oh, and definitely one about Hillary's presidential bid. And maybe the media. Anyway, today's post was supposed to be about apolitical culture shock moments..
Suffice to say that you can never take any place for granted. The real America turned out to be a very different place from the Hollywood America.
The first thing I remember is the restrooms.. Seriously. When I got off the plane and entered the airport bathroom I was shocked by the restroom stalls. Such an advanced society and they can't afford doors on the bathroom stalls? Or walls for that matter? Open at the top and open at the bottom, not to mention the generous cracks on either side of the door. It was several weeks before I was comfortable in those drafty, un-private, peekaboo loos. I really didn't understand it.. don't Americans put a much higher value on privacy and personal space than Indians? And yet they are fine with the exposed bathrooms.. and what about the fragile apartment buildings where one can hear every movement in the flat above? How is that acceptable? My first apartment, on the first day, the downstairs neighbours came up to complain about the noise I made *walking* in the apartment! I felt like I was living in a Bombay chawl.
I grew up watching American movies and American TV shows. So I thought I knew everything about the US. I wasn't expecting culture shock, I wasn't expecting to be dazzled by high tech gadgets, I wasn't expecting to be shocked by loose morals.
Well mostly it turned out exactly as I'd expected. There were the skyscrapers, the suit clad purposeful businessmen, the fancy appliances, and the loose morals. Pretty much as I'd expected.
But even so there were a few surprises. Like the tank tops. My first summer at my American university, I was genuinely puzzled. All the girls wore spaghetti strapped tops, you know, tops with very thin straps. So thin that most of the time the underlying bra strap showed through. But the surprising part was that no one attempted to hide them. They didn't opt for more discreet underwear, they deliberately flaunted the bra strap as a contrast to the spaghetti strap - often with a contrasting color. I honestly didn't get it - its not like there's something seductive about it, I could have understood that (ref. loose morals). But this was just - sloppy. Who walks around with their underwear showing??
Apparently, American college girls... and boys! Have you seen those boys with pants pulled half way down their hips, underwear showing? I wonder how many of those boys have accidents with that arrangement.. its gravity defying!
What else? Oh yes, the fat people! You see, the people in Hollywood movies and American sitcoms are all thin and beautiful. The people on the streets and in the malls - different story. I realised that I had never understood what fat really meant. These were not just protruding bellies or wide hips, these people were fat! limited mobility fat, circus freak fat! Buy an extra airplane ticket fat! But the funniest part - the fat people are usually the poor ones.. Really. The poor people eat at cheap fast food joints all their lives, and are too busy to get exercise. Exercise is the privilege of the rich, healthy diet food is the privilege of the rich. You know you're in a rich country when its the poor people who overeat!
Of course, the most common thing we hear about Westerners in India is their loose moral standards. All that part was fine enough, divorce rate at 50% (or whatever), lots of unwed mothers.. all as expected. The liberal society didn't surprise me at all - what caught me off guard is - how conservative America is. I've been here several years now, and I understand the nuances of religious and social politics - the culture war as its been called. But I had never in my life dreamed that in this day and age, any developed country would have public arguments about abortion and evolution.
Evolution?? Of course, I understand things better now. I understand the conflict between science and religion. This isn't a modern conflict, it's been raging since Darwin postulated his theory. It is based in fear, the fear of the unknown, the longing for safe, comfortable ideas.
I understand it, but I don't have to like it. And I am happy, that whatever Indians may do in the name of religion, they don't question science. Most Indians are far too pragmatic to let their religious beliefs get in the way of reality.
Oh well, here I go again - back to my pet topic: American politics. Time to wrap up this entry. Maybe I will go into the whole Hindu vs Christian, religion vs scince, spirituality vs faith thing next time. Certainly a topic close to my heart. Oh, and definitely one about Hillary's presidential bid. And maybe the media. Anyway, today's post was supposed to be about apolitical culture shock moments..
Suffice to say that you can never take any place for granted. The real America turned out to be a very different place from the Hollywood America.
No comments:
Post a Comment