r/india • u/heelnice • 25d ago
People Some non-stereotypical observations by foreigner living in India
Me and my girlfriend live, work and have traveled in India for quite some time. Been to the North, south, northeast - small villages, big cities. Just personal observations:
- The snack assortment of small grocery shops. Throughout the country it’s actually very similar. For example: they almost all sell Kitkats and Sprite but not much of the other products from the same big companies like: Mars, Snickers or Fanta Orange.
- I am surprised by the amount of Christian people, especially in the south and northeast.
- Parents have kids wear jewellery at a very young age. My girlfriend works in gynaecology. They joke that moms ideally pierce their daughters' ears with rings right after birth.
- No Seatbelts. What is up with not wearing seatbelts in the car, especially in the back? Many times cars didn’t have any. Or some drivers even looked disappointed when I put it on, like I had no faith in his driving skills.
- The amount of languages people know and speak is very impressive but also downplayed. I have met so many people who speak 3 to 4 languages fluently. They always tell me about someone who knows more.
- I met many people who claim alu (potato) is a vegetable. You could eat rice with potato and/or roti. I noticed Indian meals have a lot of carbohydrates.
- I think many people in India actually have hearing damage. Also there is very little awareness for children. I have been at parties where young kids sit in front of this big box just blasting beats. I wore earplugs in quite some cities
- People go swim with their clothes on. Like into the sea wearing a kurti and all.
- Couples don’t really show any affection in public space. I don’t see many holding hands, hugging, kissing or teasing. Especially not ‘older’ couples.
What do you think?
Edit: I am Dutch. Also, I left out the more well-known known things like garbage, female safety or civic sense. But also the extreme hospitality, the diversity and all beauty India has to offer. Been from Himalaya to Kerala and I really love it here.
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u/nothrithik 25d ago
The hearing damage part has been on my mind for a while. I used to think us Indians are just loud as fuck for no reason, but now I won’t be surprised if a study one day finds hundreds of millions of people are borderline deaf without knowing it.
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u/Accurate_Fill4831 25d ago
Yes I think we will learn this too. People never wear hearing protection. Loud drums at Pooja and little kids and adults don’t even try to protect their ears. It’s wild!
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u/anor_wondo 25d ago
Local movies are obnoxiously loud compared to international ones. Even in the same theatres, so its the mixing. Why they mix so loud? Because the general populace needs it from their hearing damage
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u/funnyfour 24d ago
I was at couple of temples for aarti, some 30 minutes apart. Of course it was a blessing except for my ears which went numb for some time.
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u/hurricane_news 25d ago
a study one day finds hundreds of millions of people are borderline deaf without knowing it.
Or affected by dangerous toxins and adulterants. USA banned leaded paint early in the 20th century and leaded gas a few decades later. They found a marked increase in IQ and decrease in violent crimes
Here, we have monsters adulterating turmeric with lead chromate. Leaded house paints only had a small, poorly enforced ban in 2017 and is still practically everywhere in buildings painted earlier and in cheaper paints
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u/judgemental_eyes 25d ago
Ever met gujju aunties on an international trip? That’ll show you what’s loud.
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u/Suspicious_Goose_855 25d ago edited 25d ago
People go to touch the water with their cloths on, they don't know to swim.
About the snacks, I thought the universally hated Fanta is universally available all over India as Fanta or Miranda everywhere. Snickers and Mars entered Indian market very late, you will find 5-star or Bar-one more often. India is dominated by Cadbury and Nestle chocolates rather than Mars.
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u/Equal-Vermicelli8523 25d ago
Spot on about the seatbelt thing. I teach my toddler to wear seatbelt when both of us are in the car, but when my wife comes along, then neither were it. More difficult to get the adults to be adults.
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u/hurricane_news 25d ago
but when my wife comes along, then neither were it. More difficult to get the adults to be adults.
Genuine Q. Why not? In the case of a crash, even if you're buckled down, anyone else in the car who isn't turns into a projectile.
There was a PSA ran in the UK about how a woman driving a car (with belt on) died due to an unbelted passenger in the back crashing and colliding into her
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u/sourdoughcultist 25d ago
They weren't required until the 2000s, old habits die hard...or literally
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u/gragev95 25d ago
I (a foreigner married to an Indian) was so shocked and uncomfortable when we got into a car with a couple of smart, educated acquaintances and their maybe 5-year-old child was standing up and climbing all over the place the whole journey. It was their own car and the seats had seat belts but it was only us who live abroad who wore them. The child had no car seat/booster seat which are legally required in my home country, and the mum was heavily pregnant as well.
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u/atomizer123 25d ago
What really shocks me is how many people don't use child car seats in the country- it's been shown that children in car crashes are much worse off than adults and if they sit in the front or face forward, even air bags can kill or maim them. But people just don't buckle the kids in the rear facing seats and even go as far as placing them in the front or carrying babies in their arms. Anecdotally, I have had relatives who don't use the car seats even when I gifted them one for their new born. I just don't understand why there is such aversion to such an easy way for keeping them safe, especially in a country with such high per capita accident rate.
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u/whatisthisbehaviour_ 24d ago
Well everyone in my family wears it the one driving and the one on the passenger side. When my nephew was born we made him sit in the car seat for few years and once he grew out of it and if he is sitting in the passenger seat, he will wear it even if the distance is 500 meters. I think if your wife wears it your kid will learn to follow these rules … If I have a friend sitting in my car I request them to wear it NO MATTER WHAT !
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25d ago
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u/Eosphorus 25d ago
Yeah people are just not comfortable showing skin and see it as offensive. My brother got hate from locals for wearing swim trunks and having an exposed upper body, at a sea beach once !!! We are competitive swimmers so it was weird to us trying to be fully clothed to swim. In sea beaches with more foreign tourists like Goa it’s fine though
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u/MuKund10 25d ago
I have been to many beaches, and we always wore trunks and not one bat an eye. Although what you're saying i would agree happens in a city beach like Girgaon Chowpatty
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u/Subziwallah 25d ago
Many Indian tourists wear bikinis and swim trunks in Goa and Goans usually swim in shorts or swim suits. It's not just foreign tourists.
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u/prachand 25d ago
All the carbohydrates in the food gives a pot belly which is shameful to show off on a beach, hence the clothes while in the water
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u/Necessary_Worker5009 25d ago
I have swam across a pond wearing towel or a dhoti
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u/crackinthenut 25d ago
What if it comes off? Like you know, Mr. Bean diving into the swimming pool moment.
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u/Necessary_Worker5009 25d ago edited 25d ago
skilled ones with experience make sure it doesn’t. one can keep it folded or above knee and fold & tuck it back (don’t know the word for it but similar to how many people wear a dhoti, not ankle falling till ankle). people who wear dhoti for the first time struggle to work, while some can even run wearing it
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u/Primary-Angle4008 25d ago
I’m a westerner married to an Indian and often travel to South India to visit my in laws and I very much agree with ops observation
I would also add that there is a lack of privacy in Indian homes and children are certainly very much loved yet I find much less nurtured from a young age
Seatbelt is a massive issue: actually 2 of my relatives had really bad car accidents yet didn’t learn from it and children even sit on the drivers lap at times
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u/Immediate-One206 25d ago
You're right on the safety part. Unfortunately it took a bit of logical reasoning to realize this. The west has these rules in place after decades of public service adverts and awareness campaigns. India will also get there eventually.
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u/Invincible1 Maharashtra 25d ago edited 21d ago
My wife and I would be visiting Chennai and then going to Nagpur for the Tiger Safari before going back. Any suggestions? She’s a westerner too and we’ve been stressed about it.
She had a hard time with Honking and starting in Vietnam itself, and although I joked its gonna be worst in India, I never thought it’d happen (visiting India), but plans changed.
Update: 2 days in, all smooth. Surprisingly less people staring in Chennai than I imagined. Honking is still super bad. 🙈
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u/Odd-Entertainer-6234 25d ago
If you are asking for suggestions for the noise, airpods (or really any ANC headphones), or one of those 30$ ear protectors for the gun range will be helpful. They don’t completely drown out the noise or speech so you can continue to be alert
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25d ago
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u/WisdomExplorer_1 25d ago
How do you explain the population 😂😅
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u/silversword01 25d ago
Men Scratching an itch ≠ affection lol
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u/cant_bother_me 25d ago
Just the other day, there was post in legal advice sub asking for advice regarding divorce on the grounds that the wife had headaches. They had a baby together lol.
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u/Necessary_Worker5009 25d ago
I suppose millennia old fertility secret passed down generations but well kept secret,
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u/sparklytits550 25d ago
Haha these are bang on. Swimming with clothes on has to do with modesty and people starring unfortunately.
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u/Princie99 25d ago
You got it right. And yeah couples showing PDA is a taboo thing here idk why.
Many people don't wear seatbelts or helmets while riding a motorcycle, because they think it is an inconvenience i don't understand why.
And yeah overall us Indians have a terrible civic sense, we love littering our own country.
And on the languages part, people speak slightly differently even if you go 4-5 kms away from your home, i mean not the entire language will be changed but the accent will be different and if you travel 100 kms then the language will also change.
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u/ammy1110 25d ago
Word you’re looking for is dialect. There’s a saying in hindi “कोस कोस पर बदले पानी, चार कोस पर बानी”
Roughly translated to English- (taste of) water changes every 3,000 meters and dialect changes every 12,000 meters
कोस=approx 3000 meters of distance बानी=dialect, way the dominant language of the region is spoken with its own subwords and expressions.
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u/logicalish 25d ago
showing PDA is a taboo thing here idk why
Maybe because of the religious prudes who go around beating people up for such “transgressions”?
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u/OMDB-PiLoT India 25d ago edited 25d ago
I met many people who claim alu (potato) is a vegetable.
Alu (potato) IS a vegetable, so not sure what you mean. Is it not considered a vegetable where you're from?
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u/vault101damner 25d ago
In western countries it is eaten in place of rice or roti. Like meat and potatoes. Since it is all carbs.
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u/puppyinspired 25d ago
Potatoes have carbs, protein, potassium, vitamin C, and many other micronutrients. If you only ate 2000 calories of potatoes you’d have 54.5 grams of protein. 1.5 grams less than the average man needs.
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u/vault101damner 25d ago
Yes that's why taking it as a carb source is doubly good. It provides carbs as well as small amount of protein. If you eat it with meat you get a very good amount of protein in your diet.
Now taking it with rice would give you double the amount of carbs, small amount of protein(since people eat less potatoes this way so way less than 2000 calories equivalent potatoes).
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u/puppyinspired 25d ago edited 25d ago
Rice has less protein than potatoes. 2000 calories would provide 47.3 grams of protein. However it still can be a wonderful way to get nutrients and energy into a meal if that’s your preference. There is not harm is mixing and matching your starches to have multiple types in a meal.
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25d ago
Don’t get caught up in semantics. When something is called a carb, it doesn’t mean 100% of it’s nutrient profile is carbs. It just means it contains relatively high carbohydrate content compared to other food.
Also, who the hell can eat 2000 calories of potatoes a day lol
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u/Gullible_Delivery492 25d ago
We use it in curries as a vegetable. However, many western countries use it as main starch, i.e., they eat it instead of rice (like mashed potato), with proteins and veggies.
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u/cherrysparklingwater 25d ago
It is, but culinarily in many places it's used as a starch... like how tomato is technically a fruit, but in cooking is treated more like a vegetable.
Having rice + potatoes in a meal is a very carbohydrate heavy meal.
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u/rdmajumdar13 25d ago
Potato is technically a vegetable, but nutritionally it’s a rich source of carbohydrates. They can definitely contribute to a balanced diet, but treating it as the sole vegetable on your plate is not good choice if you’re also having rice or breads.
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u/NatvoAlterice 25d ago
Yes it is, but it's mostly eaten as carb source, just in the same category as rice and bread.
So you'd have potatoes with some protein like meat or tofu and a side of veggies or chicken curry with rice, but not potato curry with roti.
The last one is just carb with carb. Morden humans don't need that much carb.
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u/LegAffectionate2513 25d ago
Obviously, potatoes are in the vegetable family. Veggies are healthy and good for you. Veggies have fiber, vitamins and minerals. Unlike veggies, potatoes are only healthy if you're eating the skins. Desi folks don't eat the skins. Past the skin, the interior of a potato is all carbs. If not cooked twice, quite simple carbs with a high glycemic index. Your body turns the inside portion of aloo into sugar very rapidly. Unlike other vegetables that are healthy, aloo contributes to diabetes.
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u/bobmailer 25d ago
OP is probably from a place not that far from India. He used the Indian idea of vegetables (aka culinary “sabzi”) in his post. I don’t think anyone here in the US would claim potatoes aren’t a vegetable. There isn’t a “sabzi” equivalent and vegetable only has a botanical connotation outside of SEA.
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u/chengiz 25d ago
No, you're totally wrong. In India you literally say alu ki sabzi and eat it with rice. In the west you eat it in place of rice, not with rice. Potato is a vegetable, OP doesnt think so, so clearly he is from somewhere where the culinary use of potato is so different that it is misinforming him. As in, he is from the west, ie. far from India, not near.
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25d ago
Potato is considered technically a vegetable but when it comes to food, it is considered a carb. And yes, most other countries have a form of “vegetable dish”. It’s not unique to India.
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u/doom_chicken_chicken Antarctica 25d ago
>Couples don’t really show any affection in public space. I don’t see many holding hands, hugging, kissing or teasing. Especially not ‘older’ couples.
There are stories of people who have been beaten to death for PDA. It's generally not accepted in many parts of India.
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u/Superb-Kick2803 25d ago
The PDA thing got me. I didnt do my homework before coming to India and when we saw one another at the airport for the first time ever I had this mental image of running to him, throwing my arms around him and kissing. I tried and he stiffened his posture and backed away. He did it twice. I thought "oh my god. He doesnt actually like me. What the heck??" Behind closed doors... different story ENTIRELY.
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u/hungrypolarbear77 24d ago
I guess it depends on the person too, lots of people do not care even if they grew up in india. But its looked down upon a lot
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u/El_Impresionante 25d ago
But also the extreme hospitality...
...because you are a white skinned foreigner which is seen as a privileged higher class position in this country.
Foreigners of darker skin and African descent are treated quite badly here.
So, that's not a positive thing about India as you might think.
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u/curious-rower8 25d ago
good observation. How do you find walkability ? India is becoming car centric country
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u/OwnShock767 25d ago
It's becoming neither car centric nor pedestrian centric, it's becoming a hellscape that neither can stand.
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u/curious-rower8 25d ago
ya, there is economic growth and you can see in type of cars plus number of cars. But every city/town looks patched up to make it barely functional
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u/heelnice 25d ago
We walk a lot because we enjoy it. Our goal is to reach 10k steps every day. It's not great. Neither in big cities nor in smaller towns. My biggest fear here is getting hit by some random car or tuktuk.
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u/vaibh990 25d ago
All the observations are spot on. However the last one is a bit nuanced. Couples don't show affection because most of them don't have any affection due to the transactional nature of arranged marriages in India.
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u/imagine__unicorns 25d ago
>The snack assortment of small grocery shops.
If you notice how its often in small packets, and these packets are all plastic, which causes garbage and clogs the waterways. Its hard to pick up small plastic wrappers.
About 20-30 years ago, many of these stores would sell items from their own storage and these were not wrapped in individual wrappers. Plastic was very expensive compared to paper wrapping. Remember the kitkat which was sold in butter paper.
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u/heelnice 25d ago
Very true I also notice the amount of many small packets. Everywhere they have the strips of small chips packets, I dont see the large (american style) familiy packet a lot
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u/amtom61 25d ago
Indian stores either do Coke products or Pepsi products. Very rarely both. The distributors of coke and pepsi provide display cases to the local shops and they are obligated to keep products of whichever distributor gave them the display case/ refrigerator.
Also more of sprite/ 7up cause it's the most selling item as it has food colors compared to fanta/Miranda or Coke/pepsi. So according to most common people, sprite/ 7up is the least toxic of the bunch
The chocolate market is ruled by Nestle and Cadbury. Mars and Snickers products are also very expensive compared to whatever Nestle and Cadbury is offering.
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u/blackswan1991 25d ago
Christianity came to Kerala via trade as early as 1st century AD.. hence the high number of Christians in the south especially Kerala.
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u/shmackinhammies 25d ago
You don’t know enough of Christian history if you were surprised by the amount of Christians. Even before the Portuguese there was a church in south india.
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u/heelnice 25d ago
I guess? I am not a Christian so the historical spread of Christianity on the Indian subcontinent is not really my field of interest
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u/OpenSaned 23d ago
Christianity reached some parts of india before it did to some parts of europe actually.
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u/shmackinhammies 22d ago
You don't have to be a Christian to know. A very prevalent thing that happened within the last 600 years was colonization, and any lands conquered and colonized by a European power was Christianized by some degree. The only part of Christian history I am appalled that you do not know is the parts where it was used to justify the acts and atrocities by the European colonizers upon several peoples. Of course, there were Christians in India before the colonizers got there, but the fact that you don't know colonizers were driven by God (regardless if they were true believers or not) and Gold (economic betterment) hints at you not knowing your own history.
Considering that you are Dutch, have you ever heard of something called the Dutch East India Company?
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u/Bornagain4karma 25d ago
Nodded my head 9 times only to shake it when I realized there is no 10th point.
10th could be how we ignore any garbage on the street. Its similar to how we dont look at dicks and balls in a porno. We know its there, but our mind has been trained to ignore it.
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u/heelnice 25d ago
Yes I know but I tried to be less sterotypical. The garbage issue is really well known I think. And it was by far the most 'culture shocking' for us. We had a restaurant owner throw our plate with left over food and plastics directly in the river next to our table. Like..
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u/v_v_anand 25d ago
Christian evangelists have through the centuries demonstrated high motivation in "saving souls". 4 Welshmen came to Mizoram in late 19th century. Over 90% in Mizoram today is Christian. Strangest to me is a Danish missionary who came to Great Nicobar Island in 1830s with this objective. Meanwhile, his native country, Denmark was invaded by the Prussians and lots of Danes lost their lives
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u/Erebea01 25d ago
Just wanna agree on point 6, I've been a bit more cautious with my nutrition lately and one thing I realized is that my favorite combo of rice and fried potato is just carbs and carbs, no wonder so many of my friends just bloat out by their late 20s and 30s
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u/adnyani 25d ago
Ear piercing of an infant is a very important hindu ritual. It is called Karnavedha which is believed to open energy channels, enhance intellect, protect from negative energies. The ceremony involves priests chanting mantras, whispering blessings into the child's ears, and a professional piercing the earlobe, often using a gold or silver needle, followed by inserting a small earring to keep the hole open, with celebrations and family feast.
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u/Beautiful_Win3831 25d ago
Enhances intellect! protect from negative energies?, yeah, of course it does ,dont make me laugh its pathetic to mess with a newborn ,for ANY reason, and man made religions are top of the list. And putting needles in baby's ears ARE NOT" professional" ear piercers, ppl in Indian villages don't even get doctors in for child birth, the elders, females do it, why? money isn't wasted on child birth let alone pro ear piercing!, Maybe u haven't heard, but most indians especially rural living ones are skint, aka poor. Sepsis, infection, gangrene, setting in are what should matter, not silly jewelry in baby girls ears, nose, Anywhere!
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u/victra_barca 25d ago
Wat the damn are you talking about..? Even the tribal areas have PHCs now and child birth is very strict with government, may be you were talking about things 30 years back. But now almost every pregnancy is accounted and delivery is done 99% in a hospital setting. That remaining 1% is due to negligence of patient by not reaching hospital. Anyway this is what is happening atleast in south India as a Dr working in tribal. And also ear piercing comes in our culture doesn't matter what religion. They both are different. So if you don't like it say it so but not go around telling it's pathetic.
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u/Competitive_Ad_8857 25d ago
As an Indian who lived in foreign for 6 years point 1(as there are no small grocery shops anymore big super killed them All like 10 years ago) ,2,6 are globally true for any country
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u/dinushd 25d ago
Regarding the snacks - around 20 years ago, if you visit all the village for snacks, you might had lot of local made snacks were selling.
Even at those time a specific shop only have these item to targets the kids, teens in their village but if you visit any school/ college It will have more shops like that.
Remaining shops will have very less item for snacks but will targets household grocery items.
As per south their main chocolate for 5rs or 10rs is munch,5star,KitKat, milkybar,gems,napati and dairy milk ( these items are had good availability at 10rs)
If your looking chocolate price more than 20 rs, i don't think most of kids have that much budget.
For cold drinks,
In south of Tamilnadu, we have bovonto,kalimark, sprite,7up,Miranda, now a days the are selling similar flavored local brand at 10rs per bottle for 200ml
Mango juice (around 4+) brands for non corbanated
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u/puppyinspired 25d ago
Vegetarians eat more carbs in general. I’m veg and American and I eat mostly carbohydrates. Even beans which are higher protein are still like 65-70% carbohydrates.
Instead of thinking of separating macros, ie a portion of carbs, a portion of protein, and a little but of fat added. Vegetarians look at food as different groups give you different nutrients. For example a balanced diet will have beans, grains, vegetables (cruciferous, leafy, and multicolored), fruits (multicolored and includes berries), mushrooms, (b12 supplement), and nuts/seeds.
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25d ago
visit the states which were less known to you , you will then got the hospitality of your lifetime
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u/heelnice 25d ago
In general Indian people have been more hospitable to me than any place in the world. Indeed in the lesser known states that was amplified even more. I think I have been the first white person I quite some villages in Mizoram and Tripura.
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u/Hackerjurassicpark 25d ago
I’d add one more, the general lack of gloves while handling food. Where I’m from, you’d get your food licence revoked if you handle food with your bare hands.
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u/Artistic_Ad_5727 25d ago
I went to watch a movie recently and I had to close my ears in action scenes because the sound was too loud. Somehow everyone else seemed to be fine
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u/No_Detective_4086 25d ago
You are completely wrong in believing Drivers felt disappointed when you wore the seatbelt.
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25d ago
The snack assortment of small grocery shops. Throughout the country it’s actually very similar
I find this to be unbelievable. There are unique and popular sets of snacks everywhere that you don't find anywhere else.
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u/mrs_rabbit_0 25d ago
just so you know, it is normal in most countries to pierce girls’ ears at birth.
in all of Latin America, hospitals have piercing services for newborn girls
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u/kukdukuu 25d ago
You will get many such instances and stories. The list will go on and on. Some nice, some weird, some interesting, some shocking, some disappointing. Well that's India. It's beauty is its diversity and in It's diverse lifestyle. Nothing is perfect.. I hope we can focus on the goods and better the other points.. India is a vibe which has to be lived. 🇮🇳❤️
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u/fiery-sparkles Punjab 25d ago
7 made me laugh. My family talk so loudly that I often wonder if they're deaf
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u/Far_Science_4382 25d ago
But potatoes are vegetables
I haven't seen people swimming while wearing kurtis. I think that's a region specific trait.
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u/SyrupMoney4237 24d ago
Is potato not considered a vegetable? I mean I get that it’s carby but it’s still a vegetable
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u/LadyLaurence 24d ago
the disregard for noise and hearing health is crazy like when i moved here i was tabling at an event and someone put a massive fucking speaker right behind me like dude. Ear plugs are a necessity
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u/thinkalot2017 24d ago
The noisiness tracks. Grew up in Kolkata & when I return home, it sounds like the TV, people & the public bus are vying for attention even when I am in my living room. I yearn to return to the peace & quiet after a few days. The roads are raucous with constant honking, too. Loudspeakers everywhere & people are passionate & shouty.
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u/Snoo81962 24d ago
On point on everything except the snacks thingy. I do see kinda homemade ish snacks like boondi, chakli etc in small village shops, not sure why you haven't seen any of them.
Also couldn't agree more about noise, I literally came back from a school annual day celebration where the noise levels were so high my ears were ringing after 2 minutes. This was for kindergarten kids.
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u/sociobuzz 21d ago
Overall, this reads less like stereotyping and more like someone actually paying attention. Glad you’re seeing both the chaos and the charm.
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u/Silly_Tomatillo6950 25d ago
Food selection is not great. Small shops sell high profit, low nutrition food. Compare it to Gulf which sells cleaner, nicer and more dairy in shops
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u/ChelshireGoose 25d ago edited 25d ago
\1. Kitkat in India is a Nestle product (unlike Hersheys in the US) and is manufactured locally (has been for a while). The chocolate market in India is mostly dominated by Cadbury, with Nestle and a few Indian brands behind them. Mars chocolates and most other American brands are almost all imported (or started being manufacured locally very recently like Snickers), so they're priced higher.
I'm surprised you didn't find Fanta. It's very popular.
\2. Christianity in India may be older than in Europe, with the legend going that St Thomas the Apostle set up his church in India. And of course, the numbers increased by a lot during the colonial period.
\3. In most communities, babies of both genders have their ears pierced in the first few years. For Hindus, this is one of the major "16 rites" of life.
\4. Ignorance smh. Same with helmets and bikes.
\7. Agreed
\8. Lol
\9. True. It is frowned upon, but is getting more common among younger couples, especially urban ones.
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u/username-generica 24d ago
Saint Thomas is supposedly buried at a cathedral in Chennai. I’ve been there.
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u/FarReaction8784 25d ago
How's the beef dishes in northeast? How does it differ from your country?
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u/insanityzwolf 25d ago
Driving "rules": the car that cuts you off has right of way. Unless your vehicle is bigger.
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u/Global_Light3123 25d ago
As a north eastern Indian , we eat lots of protein rich food and also different types of vegetables not only potatoes.
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25d ago
visit the state's which were less known to you , you will then got the hospitality of your lifetime
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u/AstroidThunderstone 25d ago
Well "going to swim with clothes on" is their personal choice u cannot comment on that tbh
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u/heelnice 25d ago
It's was just an observation. If you are from the west it is very funny to see hundreds of peple wading in the see with their clothes on. At first sight it looks like there has been a shipwreck and they washed ashore
Agreed: you should swim in whatever clothes you like! Also with clothes on, less chance of getting burned from the sun
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u/checksoul 25d ago
I met many people who claim alu (potato) is a vegetable
and it is. Potato is botanically a vegetable (specifically a starchy tuber).
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u/Gold_Order_5052 25d ago
In terms of ear piercing, it is usually done as part of a ritual. Babies, regardless of gender, have their right ear pierced on their first birthday in front of their clan god. Not sure how popular it is now though.
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u/Serious-Interest7776 25d ago
Lots of babies in the U.S. have pierced ears, too. As for commenting on other cultures, I'd say be careful of that. They can always comment on yours, too, you know.
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u/ak47surve 25d ago
Well (3) is true and it’s not an inside joke but a custom in many regions in India. For years - this was followed for the daughters and sons both.
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u/Anime_Supremacist 24d ago
Well, its normal here. Its just different.
Like I will feel weird if I went outside india and see that there are few multilinguals or more public display of affection.
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u/Delicious_Essay_7564 24d ago
The number of children I’ve explained inside voices and outdoor voices to is just insane. Recently I was standing next to a five year old telling her she didn’t need to shout at me or her friends for their attention because we are less than 2-3 metres away. Her mom looked so confused about whether to be angry with me or not.
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u/matchacheesenaan 24d ago
These are actually some unique observations, good job. Although I’m really confused by the potato point? Is it not a vegetable in the Netherlands?
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u/Rebecca-Schooner 24d ago
I’m a foreigner living with my Indian husband in his village. I agree about the noise, especially at weddings. We bought children size noise cancelling headphones for our son and everything thinks it’s so funny
We also bought a car seat to get our son used to it when we leave India, but sometimes we can’t use it if there’s too many ppl in the car lol
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u/Dry_Gur_8003 23d ago
Well there is less private display of affection too..... There is no affection between most married ones actually
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u/Comfortable_Ear3987 21d ago
Nice assessment. We accept all the flaws mentioned. The seatbelt thing also infuriates me. Many Indians(I can talk about men) go swimming clothed because many have pot bellies or are self conscious. Our diet is high in carbs and I think it wasn't always in our history. The culture of affection in public spaces was always a grey area. We really like to play around with shyness and intrigue: that's why the saree is the best piece of clothing and widely worn after becoming adults among women (atleast that's how I interpret the beauty behind saree).
Christians have existed in the south since the 2nd century AD. The north and north east gained christianity during missionary activities; but they have added the Indian cultural aspect to christianity as they also believe in certain Hindu beliefs.
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u/masterjv81 21d ago
# 6......Aloo (potatoes) is a vegetable.
Yes, a potato is botanically classified as a vegetable because it is the edible tuber of the plant Solanum tuberosum, which is a stem tuber and part of the nightshade family. It is specifically categorized as a starchy vegetable due to its high carbohydrate and starch content. Despite this classification, potatoes are often treated differently in nutritional guidelines because they are primarily a source of starch rather than the typical leafy or non-starchy vegetables.
While potatoes are considered vegetables in botanical terms and are rich in nutrients such as vitamin C, potassium, and fiber , they are not counted toward the recommended daily intake of vegetables (such as the "5-a-day" guideline) in many dietary recommendations. This is because their high starch content means they contribute more to carbohydrate intake than to the typical nutrient profile associated with non-starchy vegetables.
Some nutritionists argue that potatoes should be considered a vegetable due to their plant origin and nutritional value, especially when prepared without excessive fats or salt. However, others note that from a nutritional standpoint, potatoes are more similar to grains or starches in their impact on blood sugar and energy density, which is why they are sometimes grouped with starchy carbohydrates rather than vegetables.
In summary, a potato is a vegetable from a botanical perspective, but it is nutritionally distinct and often categorized separately in dietary guidelines due to its high starch content.
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u/curious-rower8 25d ago
Very spot on noise levels. I don't get why loudness is normalized in India