Hindu Culture

According to Merriam Webster website, culture is define as the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations, the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group. It includes thoughts, styles of communicating, ways of interacting, views on roles and relationships, values, practices, and customs. Culture is shaped by multiple influences, including race, ethnicity, nationality, language, and gender, but it also extends to socioeconomic status, physical and mental ability, sexual orientating, and occupation, among other factors. The purpose of this paper is to gain knowledge about a different culture other than my own. I choose the Asian Indian Culture.
Communication
East Indians from various regions are primarily differentiated by language. The Indian government recognizes 15 national languages. The main languages are Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu, and Guajarati. English, also an official language in India, is often the common medium of communication. Each of the languages has its own body of literature, and some are written in more than one script. Women do not look into the eyes of men, which would imply romantic interest, and this is considered forbidden. This is supported by Purnell and Paulanka (2003), and they add that “direct eye contact with elders and authority figures may be considered a sign of disrespect” (p. 86). Physical touch and contact are also unacceptable behaviors for showing affection (Purnell & Paulanka, 2003).
Family Roles and Organization Hindu families are well thought-out to be a close united family unit. Respect for elders is highly valued. Gender roles are very distinct. The man (the father and/or husband) is always considered the leader of household. The men provide hard, manual labor (working, yard work, etc) and give financially and the women supply household care. Hindu