Ever since Independence, we Indians have inculcated numerous western habits in our lives under the banner of “Westernization” or “Modernization”.

We have adapted the dressing style from jeans, t-shirts to miniskirts to hotshots.

From Beatles, Pink Floyd to Nickelback, Selena Gomez, Justin Beiber, Bryan Adams to Coldplay, they all have gained a big fan club here in India. The proof to this are the recent Coldplay and Justin Beiber concerts that were held in Mumbai. I’m myself a big fan of Chris Martin’s voice and I love the way Ryan Tedder makes me thump my feet at his song “Counting Stars”.

The youth is a die-hard fan of “Friends” series, we have watched it over and over again. GoT, Breaking Bad, Suits be the ones we wait desperately for.

The teenagers are so much inspired by the western lifestyle of “Party Hard” that we see them often imitating the same.

Well the list can go on.

Point to be spoken about, I had a session in my organization on “UK Culture Awareness”. Kudos to the trainer who gave a very informative session about it.

So here I have listed the points that impressed me, I plan to inculcate them in my “Self Culture” and I strongly believe if you do the same too, your life will be simple, happy and productive. And yes, you can always thank me for it *wink*

1. Smile
   The most wonderful expression of a human. It costs nothing but adds a million dollar value to your face. If you had been to UK or the US anytime, you would know that the people there give it away generously. Every person you have an eye contact with will give you a warm smile.But we sometimes be so self-absorbed or shy that we don’t consider to do this “Smile Act”.Smile costs nothing but gives so much to the other person and to us as well. So decide that from here on you will share your beautiful smile with the passerby.  T.C. It depends on which country you are in when giving off your smile. Some countries are reserved enough that they don’t encourage this. So have your caution in line‌⁣
2. Respect the people and the place
   Firstly speaking about the place, check any pictures of UK, the infrastructure, the roads. They are clean! So clean! The citizens of UK consider it to be their responsibility to keep their country clean. Also, the rules in the country are enforced such that you are bound to follow them.And about the people, one might be working at a reputed company or at a local pizza place, he may be a manager, a receptionist or a guard; the person has his/her own dignity and treats others also with equal dignity. They respect each and every person and the work they do. How awesome is that? What if we start doing that here too?
3. Being Private
   People in the UK are very careful of their words. They take care not to say anything offensive or something which may result in misunderstanding. Hence, conversations in the UK are mostly shorter and about general topics such as the weather, which is always popular and often used as an “icebreaker”.They highly value their privacy. After a couple of meetings and building a rapport, they might then open up to you.This is something I really appreciate. I too value my privacy and don’t like answering personal questions to someone I just got to know. And this is the reason I don’t ask any such questions in the first place (because of the counter question then LOL).People in India have this obvious habit of asking questions ranging from personal interests, family background and your income details to your future plans. Asking the relationship status, plans about marriage, family planning is common too. And if one avoids or denies to answer we suspect something fishy. Total nuisance!
   So respect every individual and do not take away their privacy.
4. Silence is Golden
   Well I don’t mean to get the gold but let’s at least hit the silver. Move your volume knob to moderate pitch and keep up to it.
   In UK, the people are soft spoken. While walking on the road and travelling in the bus you will be intrigued by the peace, you can read the book you want to, listen to your music. No need to raise the volume to cancel out the outside noise, which is so helpful. People stand in the queue and keep enough distance, they aren’t anxious and aren’t grumbling at all. This is completely opposite to the queues in India where we will tiptoe to have a glance of the start point of the queue.
   You won’t hear the honking of cars, you can cross the road without even thinking that this might be your last crossing of life as in India sometimes.
   So next time while in the queue, will you have some patience please? Don’t push the blame of your impatience on your horn.  And when in public, don’t scream over the phone and let the whole world know what you are up to with your wife.Great.
5. Dress Up! And Gear Up!UK is referred to as “Queen’s Country”. The citizens also walk the queen’s way of royal.Their pretentious way is just commendable. Be it, a cup of coffee or lunch or dinner, you will always find them elegantly dressed. Ok! Before you strike me with remarks or questions, let me make myself clear. I don’t mean you to dress for a party every time you step out of the house. What I mean is, always be fresh, clean and neatly dressed so that when someone else sees you they feel bright and pleasant
6. Time is precious
   Time is the most important thing. There are many quotes portraying what time can do to us, I need not assert more.And the people in UK are known for their punctuality. They are very particular about their meetings, may it be an official meeting, a lunch over to their place or a coffee at the local café. When they say “See you at 5pm”, well they mean 5pm and not the “5pm + 10mins” culture we follow.What a beautiful world would it will be here if we also start being punctual about our time? I can hear you saying that the system itself doesn’t follow time so why should we?
   Well, “change always starts from within”, M. K. Gandhi quoted this.  Your punctuality may bring a change in others too. If it doesn’t, then still fine, but at least this habit would surely help you in every aspect of your life; professional as well as personal.
   So see you at 5pm tomorrow for a coffee? *wink*

This is all about the awareness I had. How about you? Do you have something more to add? I would love to know. Or have you travelled to UK recently? Would be great to know your experience too! Let us know it all in comments below.