The Indian Curry

There are somethings very typical about the Indian people - the passion for cricket, the spicy food, civic sense, road ethics, the way we say yes and no by nodding our heads and how others don't understand if it is yes or no, the communal sensitivity, spirituality, reservation system, the caste system, bureaucracy games and what not. 

Only an Indian can understand another Indian.  The proof of that is how we are able to function not super efficiently but we are not doing too bad either.  Only Indians can drive on all the Indian roads because we understand our fellow Indian driver's psyche.  It is very rare that we see foreign drivers on our streets.  It is also true that if you can drive on the Indian roads you drive anywhere in the world.  We have a gift of understanding any system and adapt to it beautifully. You will always find Indians no matter which part of the world you travel to. The nodding of the head for a yes and no - we all do it and only we really understand whether the other fellow Indian is saying yes or no. We 'Realise' we do this only when we meet those don't understand it. Once when I travelled to Geneva a waiter asked me if I was Indian.  How did he know I asked, pat came the reply "Madam when I asked you if you wanted water you noded the 'Indian' way"!

We complain and crib about the government, the dirty politics and the scams, the education system, the traffic jams, unruly drivers etc. We have our own style of doing things and continue living through it all.  Lets take for example the inflation problem, if such an issue crops up in other countries (only referring to the developed nations) they would take some measures that would if not fully at least partially resolve the issue.  But as we are so accommodating we learn to adjust and work our way around it.  The reason India is the preferred option to be the country where most jobs are outsourced other than that it being cost effective is because we Indians blend so well.  Talk about the Indian English accent - there isn't one but many, as many as the languages. Just as the dialect of language changes every few miles so does the accent :)

We have a 'Jugaad' (the temp solution) for most problems ;). We complain about the system but we also know exactly how it functions (read under the table fixes). There is something about us - we blend in anything / everything easily and are open and receptive may it be culture, religion or way of life.  We are like the Indian spices  - it might taste different on its own or some are even tasteless but when they are tossed in to make a curry create a unique blend of different flavours.