Here is a blog for those of you who like to learn about cultural sensitivities and differences. India is different!!! Very different from America. In everyway. This includes food, dress, language, and body language. The spoken language is Telegu in the South and Hindi in the North, but for where we are it is mostly Telegu. The women wear outfits called Saris and Punjabis instead of jeans or anything modern. Everything is very colorful, including the buildings, and nearly everyone sleeps on the floor. Oh yeah, and they bobble bobble. You might be asking yourself what this is. I know I was the first 24 hours I was here.
The morning I arrived in India I was tired. We had just gotten through with a 10 hour flight from Cape Town with a 2 hour layover in Dubai followed by a 3 hour flight into Hydrabad. We were on about our 24th hour without sleep and we still had a 7 hour bus ride ahead of us. All I wanted to do was sleep, and I was so tired I was in that mode where everything around you is happening so fast that you can’t keep up with it. I felt like everything around me was in fast forward or maybe I was just operating in slow motion. Anyway, as I was getting off the plane and was in the hallway of the international arrivals terminal there was a man, a security guard I presume, scurrying us along to hurry and get through customs. As we were trying to fill out all of our forms and make sure everyone was accounted for we responded that we were trying to hurry and he starts bobbing his head shoulder to shoulder. My first thought was, “rude!”
Then, as I was going through the customs line I gave the lady at the counter my customs form which had information on where I was staying, what I was bringing into the country, etc. As she was looking over the form she asks me if all 47 of us coming through are staying at the address I had provided. Knowing that we had had a difficult time getting our Visas approved in the first place and that they look down on missionaries coming into the country I nervously responded yes and that it was a friend of ours. Once again, I get the bobble. Head side to side, shoulder to shoulder. At this point in time I was thinking that two people had already been rude to me, and was wondering if India was really a good idea.
Anyways I get through customs and into the main part of the airport and the contact who was assigned to pick us up is waiting for us. She suggests that we eat in the food court before we leave. So we go into the food court and I see KFC, McDonalds, a Chinese Food place, and an Indian food place. Being my first time in India I wanted to try something cultural and new and so I went up to the Indian food place where I proceeded to have the most awkward, confusing, and what I thought to be rude conversation I have had overseas. As I looked over the menu and in the display case there were a few things that looked good and a few things I didn’t quite trust. I asked him about the samosas and once again, the head bobble. Anything I asked him was followed and full of this bobbling that just really left me perplexed, thinking that he didn’t like what I was saying or suggesting. See in the states, when you put your head side to side it means that you are in disagreement. Ya know, you cock your head to the side and go, “eh, not so sure about that!”
Anyways, I was beginning to think that the entire country of India was just full of rude people. Then, we arrived in Andhra Pradesh and had our orientation, where I learned what this head bobbling was all about. See, when they do this thing with their heads (and it’s literally shoulder to shoulder) it means “okay… yeah… I agree.” So as I grasped this it hit me that all these people were just being nice and actually agreeing with me when I thought I was being badly mistreated. Glad I got that one cleared up quickly. Haha.
The other body language differences I have learned here have also been very intriguing. So here is a list of body language differences in India for future racers or just anyone who is interested. Maybe it will spare someone else the confusion I have experienced along the way here.
| Motion: | Interpretation: |
| Head “bobbling” side to side | Yes, okay, I agree |
| Hand flat, all fingers together, rotating palm up and down | No thank you |
| Eye contact with a male that is older than you | Flirting (this has been difficult) |
| Showing someone the bottom of your foot | Disrespect |
| Stepping over people | Rude, not culturally sound |
| Eating with left hand | Gross (they wipe with this hand) |
