Premium

‘India has lowest per capita empathy’: Foreign traveller questions civic behaviour in Delhi, sparks online debate

In a Reddit thread titled “Indian etiquette,” the visitor, who had spent three days in Delhi, mentioned that while he was enjoying his trip overall, he was taken aback by what he perceived as a lack of manners in public spaces.

The Redditor also shared an uncomfortable bus experience, adding to the travel inconveniences in India

A foreign traveller visiting India recently sparked an online debate after sharing his observations about public etiquette in the country.

In a Reddit thread titled “Indian etiquette,” the visitor, who had spent three days in Delhi, mentioned that while he was enjoying his trip overall, he was taken aback by what he perceived as a lack of manners in public spaces.

He wrote, “Been in India for three days now, just in Delhi. Loved it so far (minus the flu I had), but one thing I’ve noticed that really frustrates me is the lack of etiquette. You’ll be standing in a queue and Indians will just jump straight past you even though you’ve been waiting five minutes. Then when you call it out, they look shocked as if they didn’t realise queueing was a thing.”

Story continues below this ad

The Redditor also shared an uncomfortable bus experience, describing how a fellow passenger reclined his seat so far back that it left him cramped — and became visibly annoyed when asked to adjust. “He looked so pissed off, and now keeps turning back to glare at me and mutter in Hindi,” he added.

Seeking perspective, the visitor asked whether such behaviour might be “a cultural thing” and sought tips on handling these situations without seeming rude. “Is this a cultural thing? How do folks deal with this? Indians are so friendly, wonderful people, but honestly their manners leave so much to be desired. Is there a best practice to deal with these situations? I don’t want to be impolite but I’m going to stand my ground as it’s not fair if people do this,” he wrote.

Check out the post:

Screenshot of the Reddit post

The post has since triggered a wider discussion about civic behaviour and social etiquette in India.

“You will meet some nice people. But India has some of the lowest per capita empathy and once you realise that everything else will make sense — not caring for queues, not caring for other passengers’ comfort, openly littering everywhere. People just don’t care about other people who are strangers,” wrote one user.

Story continues below this ad

Also Read | Woman auto-rickshaw driver helps stranded entrepreneur in Bengaluru, refuses to take extra fare: ‘We need more of them’

Another wrote, “India is a weird country. If you play the India game like an NPC, so will its people. You might be run over by someone with main character energy. You may be jumped in a queue or walked into, all without a second thought. But if you’re the main character, everyone will help you, empathise with you, talk to you like they’ve known you for ages. People actually go out of their way to help you if you have a bit of EQ and some manipulation skills.”

A third person commented, “Deal with it. Frankly I’ve faced similar or worse in the West so it’s not an India-specific problem. You can’t get into fights in foreign countries. In Vienna, people were among the rudest I’ve met in my whole life — I started missing India like anything. But what could I do? Just kept my mouth shut and dealt with it.”

Another user wrote, “I am an Indian, spent all my life in India, and that lack of etiquette is just a Delhi/Northern belt thing. Even I get extremely frustrated with the lack of civic sense whenever I travel to the Delhi-NCR region. Rest of the country is not at all like this!”