A Comparison of American and Indian Cultures

As a human in America many things have become immune to my eyes. I see: cars, airplanes, brick houses, shoe stores, churches, iPods, cell phones, gps devices, every nationality, broken family’s, a place where anything goes as long as its beneficial for you as an individual, a governing state of mind; it’s all normal for my eyes. Indian culture has a totally different model compared to the American culture. Indian culture stems from family values. Unlike the American culture the Indian culture has a very strong family base. American families tend to break apart due to individual desires and goals. Indians will by pass anything that appears to have a short term or long term affect on their family. However, Americans families will individually make a decision that will separate their family forever and could careless about the impact of their decision. In the movie Siddhartha I observed some differences the Indian culture that we don’t share as Americans.

Dhoti is the traditional Indian clothing for men. It’s an unstitched garment that’s usually 5 yards long that’s tied around the waist and legs. For the Indian women Salwar Kamez is the traditional clothing; commonly known as a Punjabi suit. Men are identified by their turbans which are very significant in the lives of Indians; their identifying mark as Indians. American men and women wear a traditional style of dress is very modern and changes almost everyday. For casual dress mean wear jeans, khakis or some sort of pants and for tops men wear shirts, sweater and jackets as well as other forms of them. As for formal dress men wear suits, nice shirts, ties. Formally American women wear pants suits, blouses, dress suits, fancy dresses that are handmade and given a variety of colors. Casually American women wear shorts, dresses, jeans, sweaters, and these come in many different forms. Unlike Indians, Americans wear shoes of all kinds: gym shoes, running shoes, basketball shoes, dress shoes many different kinds.