Lost in cultural gaps and how to navigate yourself .

I no more see myself as Indian culturally. It’s been 10 year since I have left India and it is my 4th country since then. I have lost my cultural identity and I have picked up values and learning from everywhere.

The first time, when I moved to Netherlands for my master, I was fresh out of the Owen. I was excited to meet new people and explore culture. Guess what? I found out that Dutch people are one of the most independent people in the world. If I have to meet someone, I have to take appointment in advance (whether its official purpose or social meeting) which was not the case in India.

You can visit any of your friend anytime and anywhere, no limitation. So, for the next two years I got to know about Dutch culture ‘Nothing’. The only observation I have come across we practical, respect privacy, and take appointment. Thanks to my friends from Africa, South America, and Asia I have survived Netherlands.

The next stop was Italy for my Ph.D. work. Completely opposite to the Dutch culture. They liked people from other place, culture, curious to know about me. If you like wine and food, you will able to make friends and able to integrate in the culture to some extent. Getting into Italian social life could be hard. You need to know someone, otherwise you will be part of the culture but from a distance. If you could learn Italian it would be easier.

Then final two stops were US and Ireland. Both the country share common language but still see many difference. Where US people are very superficial and shows their superiority; Irish are fun to interact and welcoming to other people.

All these experiences helped me to understand that there is always a cultural gaps and you could feel yourself lost specially when you are in trouble or lonely. But you can hack your way through these cultural gaps.

So, I am giving you my hack to survive culture gaps and some of the them are:

Exploring these hacks sometimes expose you to the vulnerability, show very real differences between the culture that my friend is the real insights for understanding and filling the cultural gaps.

This is particularly relevant today when world is becoming global but at the same time polarized. Increasing blended world seeking to bridge the cultural gaps.

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