The 5 "different"s in the previous paragraph stem from my own experience with intercultural communication. I used to associate intercultural communication and intercultural behaviour as something that occurs in a situation with people of different racial roots but I never thought that difference can exist within people of the same race. I always thought that I would face problems while communicating with people from China or people from France but little was I to know that I would face an intercultural scenario in India!
On my recent trip to India, I was faced with several intercultural scenarios and these scenarios taught me that intercultural behaviour happens everywhere. Given that I come from Singapore, my values and communication skills are very different from people in India. I believe that rubbish has to find its way to the dustbin, i.e. no littering. I believe in honesty and I have never thought of bribery as a way of getting things done. My beliefs placed me in a real awkward spot in India. When I was in India, I came across many instances when people littered. They threw their rubbish at their house entrance, they threw it at eating places, they threw it everywhere except the dustbin. And I used to complain loudly that rubbish was not to be thrown everywhere. Once when I was complaining, a guy who overheard me complain turned to me and scolded me for being petty. He told me off and asked me to keep my "high class" behaviour to myself. I was taken aback cause I felt that my behaviour was not "high class", it was being decent and appropriate. Since then, I have come to terms with the fact that people with different upbringings, and hence their cultural backgrounds(note: not racial), see things differently. And in different contexts, it would be more appropriate to adapt to the scenario than complain about it. As for me, I have started seeing littering as way of living in India and a no-no in Singapore.
