Kiss Your Personal Space Goodbye: South Asia

Planning a trip to South Asia will more than likely catch you in the middle of a rush hour situation where any notion you had have of what personal space should include will be thrown out at the next stop.  Not to be taken as an offensive gesture, rather personal space is somewhat of a western concept both in principle and practice and this will become all too clear once you board a local train or passenger boat.  Once the anxious claustrophobic sensations settle themselves and you wedge yourself comfortably into the crowd, the sway begins and you hold on for dear life.

The concept of personal space and social seclusion are very much apart of the western physchi where we are taught to keep our hands to ourselves and avoid eye contact.  The East however, is almost the stark contrast as populations embrace one another in away that encourages interdependency rather than isolation. It is a social norm for a stranger to grab hold of a woman’s baby if they are in a better position on the boat, or for  women to rest her heavy bags on another’s lap as she has a seat… just an acceptable social mannerism that is understood among fellow passengers.

So next time you jump on your local city buys, look around and observe the amount of space you have around you and think about its cultural context. It’s a pretty interesting behavioral pattern to take note of!

2010 Copyright, Jennifer Campos