I was waiting for the boarding call for my flight to Mumbai and since the flight was delayed I had nothing to do except wait and watch . There was an Indian family (guy , his son and his in-laws) sitting closeby and I watched in horror as the kid (probably 4 years old) put his fingers in his mouth , wipe it on his pants and put in new set of fingers again . Both his father and grand parents watched him and not even once did they stop him . No wonder they say we Indians lack mannerism - many parents don't consider it an important virtue to be taught . As this kid comes closer I notice his eyes surrounded by kajal - Indian eyeliner . Without it the kid looked cute , with it , like a mini ghost . Many cultures believe that it wards off the evil eye - I think it wards off any eye . Why do parents make their kids look so ugly ? I've seen adaptation of this where they apply black dots behind the ear or back of the head - serves the purpose . How nice it would be if we can mend such traditions based on the current times and locations . Finally as the boarding began, as expected the family únder my observation was as near to the boarding line as possible , something we Indians do a lot - ready to spring into a relay just waiting for the whistle .Being brought up in a crowded country and used to the transportation tricks for years , patience was never introduced in our blood . Even in places where there's ample space and people wait to let you go ahead of them we have to somehow barge in the line , brush past people or smuggle others along with us . That was not it , the worst part were the formalities being performed - touching feet of in-laws , forcing the kid to do so , consoling mother-in-law ... all right in the middle of the boarding line with people anxiously waiting to board the flight which was already delayed . It wasn't a vastu thing to be performed at that auspicious location and could have been done earlier too . When I met the parents at the Paris airport , I found out the guy works in Cognizant - unbelievable !!!
The connecting flight from Paris to Cincinnati had its own events . The uncle who sat in my row looked quite decent till the food and beverages service began . He ordered beer once , hid that can , ordered another , had whiskey with lunch and another bottle with snacks - looked as if he was filling up a well .. and all this just because its free !! When I looked around , a lot of parents seemed to be doing this - eating everything possible , men drinking as much as they could ... putting up such a poor image in front of others .
We have a long way to go and a lot to learn and improve in terms of manners , eating etiquette and public behaviour if we have to truly make our mark as a civilized culture .
