Continued from last post...

If I were to maybe sum up US (only all that I have seen of it) in few words, I can shortlist a few contenders...

a) Keeping the door open for the person coming behind you
b) Multi cultural society ( generally accepting for all sects)
c) Skyscrapers
d) All types of cars ( not that there aren't in other places, but here U have almost All types of cars)

But I think if there is something that maybe represents the US as a society (again as much as I have seen), I would say it's their buses here. Not quite what people might expect, but I have truly not found anything as apt as this to portray the cukture that people have here...

It was my first day on the buses here, and I did not have my University ID as yet... we climb into the bus (here the tickets are sold by the driver himself) and move towards the driver. Here is more or less what the conversation was like...

Driver (D) : Good Morning!
Me (M) ( kinda taken aback coz I havent been wished by a bus driver in my life) : Good Morning! I don't have my University ID... what should I do?

D: Oh! in that case you would need to buy a ticket from me! I am sorry but I hope you make ur Univ ID quickly...
M: ok ... How much do I have to pay?
D : you can do with a Dollar.
M: thanks .. here ...
D : Thanks ! have a good day...

I don't know how educated that guy was.. I kinda think he should be at least a 12th pass...
but his manners pleasantly surprised me... people got on the bus.. and got off... usually people thanked the driver while getting off and he would wish them a good day... people here usually wish each other.. smile while crossing people (even if they don't know each other).... maybe this is because I am in a campus and things might be different in a city ( I wd go crazy if in New York every passing person starts wishing me! )

The buses here have a unique feature.. they 'kneel' by lowering the 'steps side' of the bus, for people with disability, old people or any one requiring a lower platform bus. Not that this is 'rocket science' but this is very demonstrative of the respect given to every human. There are special areas in the bus for prams and handicap people... and the bus kneels for all of them. (although we in India do have a 'viklang' seat but I never saw a 'viklang' sitting on them... viklangs in India either don't get on to buses, or they stand with everyone)

At a bus stop (wherever there is one) you can find either a time table pasted, or an electronic status display for buses and when they are expected... Honestly, it is only here that I have been 'made' to be punctual, and I have started to expect the same from others :P

To sum it all up, I think the major difference I found between this place and mine is the respect given to human life, and the quality expected from everyone. For the diversity of cultures here (which is far more extreme than the one in India) people are a lot more tolerant, in fact even welcoming of people from across the world. You can (at least usually) trust the person in front of you. There is an amicable environment.. conducive for people to.. grow... maybe innovate, invent, and all that ... ( does the bigger picture come across now?). And the thing which kinda pinches is that most of these things don't require much money! just a culture... I wish we could copy these things from them rather than their fashion, music, slangs, accent ... I think they create value... Lets copy them there if we need to... or rather, using a popular sentence 'Do your own thing'!