1. Learn to drive on the right side of the road.
2. Learn to use Automatic transmission vehicles. Most of the vehicles in India are manual transmission. So, when an Indian rides on the US roads, when the vehicle slows down, he invariably presses his left leg (in India to press clutch to shift to a lower gear) and more often than not, his left leg is on the break and the car comes to a sudden halt.
3. Learn to drive on the freeway and navigate using GPS.
4. Learn to say 'There you go' in a lilting voice.
5. Learn to say 'Have a good one...' with a smile.
6. I will add a sixth one. Learn to smile and be pleasant. Every time I am back in India, I see grumpy, worried faces. We lack the ability to smile. I guess 5000 years of intensive philosophy of Karma, the Upanishads, the Vedas, Bhagavat Gita et al, has made us into these serious, morose group of people. At least we should learn to smile when we are in the US. No one in US will cheat you if you flash your smile. I saw so many Indians (including very pretty Indian ladies) in the US who had left their smiles back in India. Even in Niagara, when everyone around was smiling, laughing and generally enjoying themselves, the Indians stood out, unsmiling, serious, like a secret service agent at a White House Correspondent's dinner.
I have another planned post on why Indians do not smile....
No comments:
Post a Comment