I Love India: reason # 72

No personal space.

I met a wonderful couple last night who live in LA and Mumbai. He mentioned how much more isolated he feels in America with the lack of human contact. In America, I can easily go an entire day without coming into physical contact with a human being. In India, I am literally lucky to go ten minutes without.

It's one more thing that makes me more at home here. People here have no silly compunctions about touching someone else. Why do Americans shy so much from physical contact? It seems unnatural to me.

PS: I got the nicest compliments from two different people at my friend's birthday party last night. One man said to his wife "We found another one of those Westerners who fits in here and is never going to leave." An older woman told me that "I think you are going to do very well here. you have just the right attitude for this place." I have to say, that's some of the nicest things I've heard since I got here.