Manners!

A few days back, I've read about the survey conducted by Readers Digest. That survey states Mumbai as the rudest city in the world :( That survey considered three good manners like whether people hold the door open for the person coming right behind them, whether they helped pick up papers dropped on a busy street and whether a shopkeeper said "thank you" when a purchase was made. Definitely these criteria are too western. So, I don't think we've anything to worry on this.

Anyhow, this made me think about the manners I learnt during my stay in Belgium.

The most important of them all is saying thanks to the person helping us anywhere & apologizing for any inconvenience we cause to others. This has a very positive impact everywhere, especially when I thank waiters, their face lits up immediately (Is it because it could be a hint for bigger tip? hope not.)

Next is holding the door open for the person coming right behind you. I couldn't follow this any more. In my company, tail gating is considered as an important security breach. So, we are encouraged to close the door, even if somebody is coming behind you.

Next is giving way to people coming in the opposite direction in a congested street. I tried to follow this in the initial days & soon I realized I am standing in the same place for a long time. So, alas, one more thing dropped totally!

One manners I really liked in Belgium is greeting even the strangers you come across. When you walk in a street, suddenly the person coming in the opposite direction will smile at you, will say "Good morning" and keep walking. Just imagine you trying the same thing in any of indian cities. I am sure the response won't be encouraging. So, I decided to try that only in a few selected places like elevators. Surprisingly, almost everybody responds positively. When someone wishes you with a warm smile, can you think of anything better to start a fresh day?

2/4 wheelers stopping for pedastrians to cross the road in zebra crossings. This is obsolutely impossible in India. If there is a zebra crossing, that means every minute a minimum of 2 people (in a few places, it could be as high as 20) will cross the road. So, if vehicles are going to stop for them, the traffic will never move. So, I think the current strategy, where considerable number of people gather in the road side & they demand vehicles to stop for crossing, is more practical.

Though I prefer to follow these manners, I would like to add a final word. In India, we give importance to the intention than the way it is done. There are lots of things we do to help people in different occassions. IMO, a bus driver stopping the bus in between two stops for a old man to get in and auto rickshaws giving free rides for delivery are more important than keeping the door open for a woman.