This happens only in India; Indians' idiosyncrasies

There are certain traits that we Indians carry around with ourselves. The typical Indian behaviour is commonly felt not only within the confines of the known lanes, but also standing at International Airports. We simply cannot shake off few habits that have been surprisingly passed on from generations together.

Let us take a look at some such exciting habits only unique to our ‘desi’ side of personality!

We are good at punctuality standards. Indians are known all over the world for one thing; arriving late on the scene always. Be it the board meetings, the reporting times at the airports, the railways stations or the marriages, we take a great pride in making a late entrée. The buses and trains come and go, but we are experts at cutting it too close, always ‘foot boarding’ against all the odds.

The great IST is so popular that, even the cops in Indian films come in at the last minute after the villain is properly thrashed by the Hero!!

We demonstrate a rather healthy appetite for bargaining; we are willing to bargain for the prices even for that one two rupee edge if that gives us a winning advantage. We are seen standing at the malls, branded stores, bangle stores, Kirana shops, street stores etc., yelling out our heartfelt quotes to the most unreasonable levels.

This is a true classic! We as Indians have upheld few legacies with great reverence; spitting the Paan comes in the first of the list. The spit marks of Paan at the shopping malls, office complexes and road side are so well known that even the Apna Bazaar outlets in United States see the marks in the parking lot. Yes, we have carried on our legacy to the West as well.

Violating traffic rules is our niche. We do not care for those stringent directions issued by the City Traffic Police; breaking the signal, overtaking from left, crossing the speed limits and speed racing are some of the favourite things we deign to indulge in. The great Indian traffic and its ever evolving traffic violation are known to the entire world; so much so that we even break rules while driving on the freeway of the Western countries!

Perhaps we are one of the select few democracies where the life savings of a parent is blown away on a single night in the name of wedding! The great fat Indian Weddings are known for lavish ceremony, designer clothes, exorbitant jewellery and fancy music programs; not to forget the huge guest list that includes some unforgettable names. Irrespective of the cast, background and the earning potential, we make the wedding a sacrosanct worthy of human sacrifices.

When we Indians travel abroad, we may or may not bring back gifts, but we make sure to flaunt it all with one thing – fake accent. Hardly are we gone away for a month to United States, we come home rolling the ‘R’s in our mouth for everything. We have mastered the art of imitating the western accents to full perfection, so much so that people will assume that we have lived there our whole life!

We may not be the achievers, but heck we are super proud of our celebrities – Sachin Tendulkar, SRK, Aamir Khan. M S Dhoni, Rajinikanth – we do not fail to do that eccentric and over the top idol worship wherever we go. Some of us even try and imitate these celebs that we so like, and make them stand taller and proud, literally!

We are good at fighting; be it for the seat in a bus or a seat into a medical college. We Indians will do Strikes, ‘Hartals’ and Hunger fasts to make sure our jobs get done. We will stay loyal to those whom we support and we are willing to venture into some extreme obsessive measures in the name of rights.

Indians and Bollywood are so much co related all over – that is perhaps we because we actively embrace the Bollywood style in our daily lives. We dress and talk like Bollywood celebrities. Colouring our hair blonde and straightening it to look like our favourite actors and actresses comes naturally to us. Some of us are fond of being called the lookalikes of stars, though we deny it. Bollywood films, music and dance – all rule us like no other!

We are the experts here; complaining is in our genes and we are not shy to express. We are always found to be complaining about almost anything – Politics, cricketers, celebrities, saints, policies and even our neighbours sometimes. We are willing to complain and sign the petition on the smallest of things, but unfortunately our legal system is far lethargic to bring in sync. The justice shall prevail, only ten years down the line!