Just a small post to say how things work here.
You need to push the button to cross the road.
People are courteous and expect the same from you.
Have the door open for the person immediately behind you (nice!)
Smile, be pleasant to everyone you meet. Throw a lot of “Hi” and “hello” to every one on street. People acknowledge. 
Exercise! You have too many good things and pure stuff to eat. So exercise !! ( I am bloating, so )
System, protocols makes things work smooth and clean.
Friday, Saturday and Sunday. These days, you see the cops more on the prowl and less with the donuts.
Vegetarian does not convey what you mean to say. Say “No meat, egg”.
Honesty, punctuality, cleanliness are very important. People generally do not touch things which does not belong to them ( I stay near the university, this is the culture here. May be different elsewhere).
People do not litter, and expect the same from others. You litter, you might find someone picking it up and giving it back to you with a smile and the words ” I think this belong to you” or something else to convey what they want. (Reside near the university, so may differ elsewhere)
kantha
December 28, 2008
hmm… how do you make our public act the same… we ape the west in so many things.. why not this?…
what if all these ‘good manners’ you mentioned above can be portrayed as something cool and developed-world-culutre here. will that have some effect?
again, when someone over there opens the door for you or greets you on the street.. do they really mean it or do they do it as a chore.. just coz everyone else is doing it and would be weird not to do so?
if so.. is it good to fake these things when you actually don’t care about the person?
why i’m being so skeptical is people who visit india from the west generally say that ppl are very friendly here (ok. that’s also prolly coz we give them spl treatment coz they are from ‘foreign’)
Supreeth Rajan
December 28, 2008
We as Indians have a lot more system, tradition and principles. The way we treat people and our guests is true from the heart. May be, we have changed a lot and we have a bigger population to deal with ! But what I talk is with the older India in mind.
Again, what I have experienced is in a university locality. The same might not apply to a busy place in NY.
Athithi dhevo bhava. I mean, we have it imbibed as a part of our daily life, our Hindu traditions and so many other things has made it a part of life and our system.
Unfortunately, everything seems to be fading in India. And this following of blind system seems more appeasing.
( I just Shakespeare in Love and haven’t reviewed this comment, sorry for the mistakes )