I had a pretty good discussion (and a bottle of wiskey) about Indian culture with an artist named Ram Baboo (living in Agra). He seems to be pretty famous as he has students all over the world including Germany therefore he has been in Europe almost 20 times.
He was complaining about the difficulties in communication in Europe. That nobody talks openly. That people sit together waiting for the bus or so and don’t talk. That it is complicated to find friends. He hopes this will change soon as both cultures become more alike.
I told him I bloody hell hope that this is not changing. What does “friend” mean in India? Almost nothing. When you talk to somebody for 15min in the train and you exchange addresses, he will say that we are friends. People show you address books to prove they have friends abroad. It means nothing. Family is everything here friendships are just random encounters.
And after some time in India you will really appreciate sitting at a bus stop and don’t have to answer question about marriage and salary. You learn to miss being alone here.
der fox 🙂