About Assumptions

We Germans and Europeans have many ideas about India: In India, we would have to sit on the roof of the train, the food is terribly spicy, the people are so poor, people drive like crazy, it's hot, loud, crowded, dirty and smelly... We were confronted with all these prejudices and ideas before we set off for India.

But Indians also have many interesting ideas and perceptions about Germans and Germany. And as in Germany, these ideas are rarely presented as questions, but rather as facts. Here is a collection of tasty "facts" about Germany:

Because it is always cold and rainy in Germany, we grow very little fruit and vegetables.
Germans also all eat low carb. This is because you can't buy rice in Germany.
You earn an incredible amount of money in Germany.
And now comes my favorite cliché: Germans are rude and very direct.

We are regularly amazed, amused and sometimes quite annoyed by the statements that Indians and Germans make about each other. And unfortunately, we don't always have the feeling that our counterparts are interested in reality but would like to keep their prejudices.

Many of these clichés come from extreme portrayals by the media or even acquaintances ("the son of the neighbor's grandmother's cousin"), which portray individual situations in a very one-dimensional way, but rarely reflect an overview of normal situations or everyday life.

We have never seen people sitting on the roof of a train in India, even though this certainly happens from time to time. We got to know Indians who don't like spicy food and traveled to a country where garbage is carelessly thrown on the ground and where it sometimes smells really disgusting, but where the spicy smell of curry from the neighbor's apartment makes our mouths water or incense sticks from a pooja smell pleasant. A country where the most beautiful flowers grow above the garbage and a variety of colorful butterflies fly through the air. A country in which we are always warmly welcomed, something that we Germans do not manage so easily.

We miss the variety of fresh organic fruit and vegetables from Germany and Europe, the many different types of potatoes and bread (carbohydrates) and the fresh air in the morning, the smell of rain on asphalt, the coolness of the night and, above all, nature, freedom and solitude, family and friends. We also miss the directness that Germans are accused of, which doesn't take long to interpret between the lines.

Incidentally, Indians are also sometimes extremely direct in some areas. For example, my running coach likes to point out a little belly or a few extra vacation kilos to everyone. And even if there is not such a strong ideal body image in India as in Germany, the other person's body is openly addressed. You look tired, you've lost weight, you've put on weight, you look ill, ... And it's not articulated as a question, but as a statement, so that you then have to justify yourself: no, I don't feel ill, I just haven't used make-up... This kind of behavior would be considered extremely offensive in Germany and I sometimes have to swallow hard.

A grain of truth or a change of perspective

And so some ideas come true and some are simply wrong and ignorant. And not everything is just bad, even if it turns out to be true. Here, too, it depends on your perspective. While other nations find Germans too direct, we find it very pleasant not to have to interpret and simply understand what is being said. If we find India loud and crowded, Indian colleagues traveling to Germany can't sleep because it's too quiet for them at night.

What we would like to see is a bit more openness and honest interest in the other country and the other culture. To be honest, it's not always easy for us, but we try very hard to open our eyes again and again. After all, that's what makes life exciting, what broadens our perspectives and allows us to learn something new every day.

I have deliberately not yet clarified the prejudice about rich Germans and poor Indians; there will be a separate report on this.

If you are curious about other differences in everyday life and culture, you should read why you are never alone in India - neither in public nor in private.