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Indians activities have always been like relieving oneself in the open. Chewing and spitting betel leaves (paan) or tobacco or while cleaning the tongue making horrible sounds are some of the examples that Indians think make impact on others.
Spitting is a fallout of chewing betel leaves (paan) or tobacco. The activities bring immense pleasure to the person. One can notice his half closed eyes as his jaws work overtime trying to extract the maximum amount of juice from the basic ingredients.
EVERY MORNING I go through the Internet editions of six major newspapers to keep abreast on the current national and international news and augment the bank of my general knowledge. This morning I came across an interesting piece of news – it was in one of the southern newspapers and the subject was ‘Top 10 annoying office habits’. The list includes office drummers, foghorn voice, pod pong, key smashers, paid-for-nothing, snot funny, Lucifer’s lunch, ringtone hell, space invaders, and eau-de-underarm. These are from the West and meant specifically for those who work in office but, a few would be understood by some of us. Anyway, we Indians have unique habits of our own that we have carried forward from generations.
We are known for our crab mentality – jealousy is in our blood. Instead of trying to raise our level to that of our competitors, we delight in trying to lower or downplay their achievements so that, in comparison, we stand tall. It is certainly a lopsided logic, but something that we simply adore. This trait lies dormant in us and is not readily visible, but there are other visible traits that make us stand out in any crowd.
We love to litter the surroundings. We never seem to be able to locate the strategically positioned litter boxes; we just crumple the packet and throw it wherever convenient. The pathetic condition of railway platforms, bus stands, parks, multistorey buildings, and cinema halls are proof enough of our attitude. Similarly for spitting - this is another activity that can be seen irrespective of age or the social standing of the concerned person. Spitting is a fallout of chewing betel leaves (paan) or tobacco. The activities bring immense pleasure to the person. One can notice his half closed eyes as his jaws work overtime trying to extract the maximum amount of juice from the basic ingredients; but these create miseries for those around him. Same goes for those who stuff their noses with snuff and then sneeze and blow into the handkerchiefs.
Another typically Indian activity is that of relieving oneself in the open irrespective of gender. This is not confined to villages and places where the sanitation level is poor. Even in large cities, these are a common sight. There are public toilets but, cleanliness is not a priority for the authorities, the stink is revolting and people have no alternative but to go for the open.
Early morning cleaning of the tongue that gives rise to horrible sounds emanating from the gullet is one more habit that is meant for Indians only. (I have never resorted to this till now; neither do any of my family members – to remove the irritating sediment on the tongue, it is recommended to take fruits at dinner. They clear the bowels in the morning and prevent silt formation on the tongue).
Finally, when we sit down for meals, we chomp and slurp our food, burp and belch after meals, and make wonderful gulping noises as we drink a glass of water. We feel that our actions must be accompanied with some sort of noise to make an effect on others and prove to the world that we are Indians.
RSS 
Arpita also has rightly pointed out about unpunctuality. I can go on and on.......but need to cut down now.
That was hilarious, especially the first line. Take your own Prince of Kolkata for example. Picking his nose while on the cricket field is the most disgusting sight. And Akki boy has made the scratching habit fashionable (in Tashan). So, who do we punish? Educated men who are in the spotlight all the time and yet, have no sense of etiquette or the uneducated lot who are not sure if their habits are acceptable in India’s progressive society?
we say that our fellow citizens do this and that. Its not that they take pleasure in doing all this. Poverty and lack of education are the causal factors. I don’t quite believe that an Indian woman will relieve herself in public. She endures everything till she reaches privacy. India has undergone a lot of change in recent times and the behavior portrayed out here is done mostly amongst the illiterate and rural classes today. At other places of the country even the middle class is learning public etiquette. There is positive change and let us encourage it. Instead of being ashamed of them and labeling them as annoying I think its high time we educated our fellow countrymen on public etiquette and see the positive changes.
Eduction can change a country but etiquettes are a matter of personal inclination.
I fully agree with you when you quote Akshay Kumar and when Alpheus quoted Prince of Kol. Of course when people coming from elite cultures do such things it is disgusting and they should not be excused for that. But is it right for us to generalize this attitude to the general Indian public that does this out of ignorance and compelling circumstances? Its understandable that these habits are disgusting, but rather than our disgust these illiterates need a helping hand in learning good etiquette and it lies in our hands how we mould them.
Etiquettes are a matter of personal inclination for the elite guys. For example the ones you have quoted, but for the poor man it is more a matter of education and awareness building.
Try teaching an illiterate to be decent and he will hit back hard at you. It is not a matter of personal inclination for the elite but for every individual. It is a matter of choice, If you realize that some action of yours causes disgust in consensus you shouldn’t do it, its plain and simple.
Thank you so much for putting up this article. Its a soothing relief from all those chaos like global warming and Iraq and Israel stuff, and of course, those boring ”Hillary vs Obama” episodes.
And I really appreciate the participants too, for their oh-so-perfect comments!
However, I would like to append your article on the nose blowing part. Indians are so talented, they don’t actually need to stuff their nostrils with snuff to carry out that ace task. They just need to feel a slight twitching in their nose ...and they are ready to deliver their best...
And as you all might have noticed, the noise is not inferior in any way to the elephants blowing their trumpet, not to mention the ejected material finding its own choice of place to land...which can be anywhere or anything... sometimes even landing on the shoulders of any unsuspecting soul!!
Do you say that nothing can be achieved by awareness programs? School education, especially in the primary classes, should emphasize teaching good manners. It starts from there. Awareness programs in village as well as some urban and semi urban communities does help. An illiterate will not hit back if he is communicated things in an appropriate manner. They do most of the offensive stuff because they are unaware of the hygiene aspects. There are many NGOs conducting programs on such issues and awareness is creeping in and its just a matter of time.
@ everybody
I do agree that the topic of the article is interesting and different from many of the others. But somehow I do not agree with the tone in which it is said. Perhaps we are the only lot in the world who comment so very generously on our own people. Every country has its positive and negative aspects. But the difference between the others and us is that, even if there is a lacuna somewhere, the others put efforts in rectifying it without disparaging their own lot. But we are just complacent with pointing fingers at our own people. Its time we took a step ahead and tried rectifying the defects in whatever way we can.
I do not understand your defensive attitude. And perhaps, I must say that the elite class indulges into these habits more than often. And they have had their hygiene lessons in school right? Also, there are some sectors which have never seen school or education. How do we reform them? Through awareness? Who knows they might use the pamphlets or brochures for their nasty habits!
thanks for putting forward my point so well
@ mayuri
You are absolutely right in saying that it is the elite who are engaging in more annoying behavior despite their education. This is what I tired to convey previously. When a person who is educated about good etiquette and hygiene does this then there is no excuse for such a person. They are certainly a disgusting lot.
As Alpheus conveyed educational programs are not at all about pamphlets and brochures. Its more about talking out to people, understanding their stance, putting forward the educator’s viewpoints, weighing the pros and cons and then deciding upon a suitable course of action which usually consequents in adopting an educated approach towards any issue. In the case of annoying habits, like in other personality development programs quite a bit is being done this way. The change though slow is steady and its just a matter of time before the required goal is achieved.
Coming to my defensive attitude, I am not at all defensive about the disgusting habits mentioned here as such. They are very true and should never be indulged in as far as possible.
But I am defensive about our nation, our people. I don’t quite agree with the tone of the article. See the very first line starts with ‘Indian activities have always been like relieving oneself in the open’…sounds as though we Indians do nothing other than relieve ourselves in public 24X7. Looking at yet another line ‘We are known for our crab mentality-jelousy is in our blood’ I would like to ask are Indians the only jealous people in the world? Is the rest of the world populated with saints untouched by normal human weaknesses of character?
For that matter are we the only mortals on this earth who dig their noses in public? Going in line with Atul and Desh I would like to say that habits are a matter of personal preferences regardless of the culture. Then why tag something as Indian? For that matter if India is infested with people with nasty habits, then where do we (the so-called posh lot) belong? Aren’t we Indian too? Many of us tend to ridicule our own people in front of the world. We don’t accept the culture we are a part of and the culture we idealize does not accept us as a part of its own.
On the whole what I mean to convey is that it is agreed that many of our fellow country men do indulge in disgusting habits and for those who do this out of a genuine lack of education something can be done by viewing the problem objectively rather than demeaning our own selves.
