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.
Hi Saras
ReplyDeleteI like the way you started your post with the “5 different”s. it basically sums up everything about intercultural behavior. I can easily visualize your experience from the way you explained it in details.
In Singapore, littering is a crime; hence probably we were used to throw our litter into the dustbin. As a result, it becomes kind of natural. However, during your visit to India, you felt uncomfortable due to the fact that they were throwing their litter everywhere. On one hand, I guess littering is not a crime in India? On the other hand, probably the different cultures brought up in different ways resulted in such a norm. As you said that the guy told you off and asked you to keep your “high class” behavior to yourself. He probably would have stayed in India throughout his life; hence he knows that only the “high class” or wealthy families would carry out such a practice.
To me, India is a relatively big country; probably different parts of India are brought up differently due to the different cultures and traditions. It should not be surprising to see that the Indians in Singapore would have different cultural practices from the Indians who have stayed in India.
Cheers
Selena
I must say that I share your stand on littering and that it can do no good to any country because there is the imminent danger of disease and the spread of it when a people do not see the need to keep it's environment clean. They are actually endangering their own well-being.
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