How can you identify an INDIAN in a crowd of Western World?
1. Everything you eat is savored in garlic, onion and tomatoes.
2. You try and reuse gift wrappers, gift boxes, and of course aluminum foil.
3. You are always standing next to the two largest size suitcases at the Airport.
4. You arrive one or two hours late to a party - and think it's normal.
5. You peel the stamps off letters that the Postal Service missed to stamp.
6. You recycle Wedding Gifts, Birthday Gifts and Anniversary Gifts.
7. You name your children in rhythms (example, Sita & Gita, Ram & Shyam, Kamini & Shamini)
8. All your children have pet names, which sound nowhere close to their real names.
9. You take Indian snacks anywhere it says 'No Food Allowed.'
10. You talk for an hour at the front door when saying good bye.
11. You load up the family car with as many people as possible.
12. You always call an older person you never met before as Uncle or Aunty.
13. Your parents tell you not to care what your friends think, but they won't let you do certain things because what non-related ‘Uncles and Aunties' will think.
14. You buy and display crockery, which is never used, as it is for special occasions, which never happen.
15. You have a vinyl tablecloth on your kitchen table.
16. You use grocery bags to hold garbage.
17. You keep leftover food in your fridge in as many bowls as possible.
18. Your kitchen shelf is full of jars, varieties of bowls and plastic utensils (got free with purchase of other stuff)
19. You carry a stash of your own food whenever you travel (any car ride longer than 15 minutes).
20. You own a rice cooker or a pressure cooker.
21. You fight over who pays the dinner bill.
22. You live with your parents and you are 40 years old. (And they prefer it that way).
23. You don't use measuring cups when cooking.
24. You never learnt how to stand in a line.
25. You can travel only if there are at least 5 people to see you off or receive you whether you are traveling by bus, train or plane.
26. If she is NOT your daughter, you always take interest in knowing whose daughter has run with whose son and feel proud to spread it at a speed of light.
27. You only make long distance calls after 11pm
28. If you don't live at home, when your parents call they ask if you've eaten, even if it's midnight.
29. You use plastic to cover anything new in the house, whether it's the remote control, VCR, carpet or couch. 30. When your parents meet strangers and talk for a few minutes, you discover they're talking to a distant cousin.
31. Your parents don't realize phone connections to foreign countries have improved in the last two decades, and still scream at the top of their lungs when making foreign calls.
32. You have bed sheets on your sofas so as to keep them from getting dirty.
33. You would be embarrassed if you had less than 600 people at your wedding.
34. All your Tupperware is stained with food color.
35. You have drinking glasses made of steel.
36. You have mastered the art of bargaining in shopping.
37. In a restaurant or any Indian affairs it is common to see Indian young boys and girls play freely and unsupervised, where as you do not see kids of other nationality running around.
38. Indians talk with hand expressions loud and freely, not bothered by other people sitting close to you, not caring their privacy! Notice other nationalities talking to each other, very politely in a softer tone that we would not hear even a word!
And yet, proud to be an Indian.
You may send your comments.....
With blessings!
Madan Baba
Swamiji Sri Madanji Founder Panchvati Ashram
PO Box 222 (275 Anawanda Lake Road) Callicoon Center
New York 12724 (USA) Phone: 845-482-5811 Fax: 845-482-5073
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