Thread: Why do Indians never give precise directions?

This could be a topic for someone's blog ...

Ever asked any Indian for directions? The typical answer is:

Please take this road. After 100m you will come at a crossroads junction (chowk). The left road takes you to Ramnagar - please do not take that road. The road straight continues to Wellington College - you should not take this road either. Take the right turn which leads to .... etc.

Why couldn't the answer be:

Please take this road. After 100m you will come at a crossroads junction (chowk). Take the right turn which leads to .... etc.

I have my own views which I shall post later. Meanwhile please post and debate.

Because they really dont know where the place is...

coz they always try to show that they know all the directions and they just try to provide extra insight of same

Originally Posted by just4kix

This could be a topic for someone's blog ...

Ever asked any Indian for directions? The typical answer is:



Why couldn't the answer be:



I have my own views which I shall post later. Meanwhile please post and debate.

Cause India does nt have proper roads ?

Use GPS!

GPS would work well or even a map. My question instead is why men never want to ask for directions? My husband will never ask, he would rather travel extra 20 miles than ask, I guess it is a man thing?

However, I think that you have simply asked somebody that has no clue where the place is or is trying to confuse you

Well I must admit that when my husband will not ask I have to ask, but I have no problem asking, but yes I have seen women asking as you describe..
I mean what the big deal? Anybody can get lost..

LOL. Everyone is venturing off topic here. "Why a man does not ask for directions" could be another thread. Please do not go fftopic:

i think as above ppl said... here in India there are no proper roads n construction systematically.. which can be described or told simply as in abroad..

also i think abroad things are not so congested as much ere in India..

I know the way(road) but I get confused when someone asks me directions.

I really prefer to find my way but if nothing comes up then only i prefer to ask some one

Originally Posted by milan

i think as above ppl said... here in India there are no proper roads n construction systematically.. which can be described or told simply as in abroad..

also i think abroad things are not so congested as much ere in India..

What do you mean that there are no systematic roads? There are roads, all roads have names, etc. And this is not about India or abroad. Abroad also we get similar vague answers (from Indians).

Originally Posted by vishnus89

I know the way(road) but I get confused when someone asks me directions.

I am assuming that you know the way from point A to point B. You mean you get confused to answer this question? But why?

Originally Posted by Manish

I really prefer to find my way but if nothing comes up then only i prefer to ask some one

That is not what I asked.

All of you are completely off the topic. This is not about how often you feel like asking for directions, when you need to ask for directions or whether you feel shy about asking for directions.

I have often observed that Indian people are never to the point. This is a generalization that translates to everything they do. I am wondering whether the same thing is happening here.

I am often on interview panels. When I ask a question, I never get a striaght answer. One I asked a candidate - "How will you do this?". To my great annoyance he started with a lot of preamble on how the situation was arrived at in the first place and then he went on and on. I had to stop him midway.

OK. I will give an analogy. Let us say I ask someone, "how will you get married?". All I am expecting as an answer is, "I will fix a date, arrange for the ceremonial hall, decide the ceremonial procedure, decide the meals menu, send invites to relations and friends, ... etc. etc. and our full family shall be involved at each and every step". But I usually get an answer, describing how he was born, educated, employed, now eligible for marriage, ready to support the family, etc. What the hell, man! Give me a straight and to the point answer.

Originally Posted by just4kix

I am assuming that you know the way from point A to point B. You mean you get confused to answer this question? But why?

I usually remembers objects(eg:building, shops etc) I have seen when traveling from Point A to B. Not the proper way(road). So I know how to get to point B from A.But, if I want to tell a person how, first I need to imagine where I saw each object and create a Map in my mind. But there is no time for that so I will tell everything I know without filtering out the unnecessary details.

Also I get confused that "Is that the real way(road) I am telling him ?

thats what.. every road has a name .. everything can be described.. but ppl many times keep describing in their own way... (wo lal makan se do kadam age jao fir ek badi si building hogi... udhar se jo char raaste pade waha se kisi so puch lena).... now even tht red house must be having name.. than a big building n char raaste.... which he must not be knowing the name.. but the way!!>... so he describes the name....

whereas u go abroad... there comes big hoardings.. on top.. ppl know the roads by their name (mostly)... there i think even in a car u get GPS.. or u have it in pocket .. where it gives precise info.. i have not seen many ppl using GPS in india... and i doubt whether the info is so precise in India.. as its so much congested n maps must be so much complicated rather than in abroad....

i tried searching my house on google maps... still i was not able.. so irritating and complecated.. lol... thats INDIA..( i m not telling bad about our own country..INDIA.. but thts true about in here.. basically from bottom of my heart... i love india.. grateful to be Indian!!!)

I always ask for directions...
because no matter how hard i try i just cant remember routes.
My relatives say i just dont pay enough attention.

But i think its a serious problem...like directional dyslexia or something

I've no problem in asking... but its rare that I forget my way if I live in that city...

In India people answer like that cuz they are very helping... they want to let the other guy know the whole map of area... So if the guy who is going to Ravan Nagar right now, has to go to Ram Nagar in future, he won't need to ask again...

Originally Posted by vishnus89

Are you saying you don't have any sense of direction (like me). :confused1:

yeh seriously... n wacky maddy dont make fun of us, i seriously think its a disorder...

Originally Posted by smoothvibes

This is not offtopic

if a topic gives birth to something similar to topic then what are we supposed to do. :cursing:

If a topic gives rise to another topic, please raise a new thread. Do not hijack the main thread.

okay :sad:

I didn't noticed it before. But J4X are you saying only Indians are like that.

I noticed that.. but ddn't ask cuz it was... fftopic:

Originally Posted by itsmemad

I noticed that.. but ddn't ask cuz it was... fftopic:

You think it's because we don't know how to communicate well.

Originally Posted by vishnus89

You think it's because we don't know how to communicate right.

I don't know how people in other countries communicate... so can't really comment on that... J4X has gone abroad many times... perhaps hez in better position to compare & comment on it...

Originally Posted by vishnus89

I didn't noticed it before. But J4X are you saying only Indians are like that.

That is exactly what I am saying. Not all Indians may be like that but this is a general observation.

Whether in India or abroad, regardless whether there are clearly marked roads/buildings/landmarks or not, Indians are generally known to give vague answers.

We Indians suffer from a massive inferiority complex and thus there is a need to prove that we know a lot. The vagueness of answers come from (possibly) the fact that we try to give all the facts and figures regardless whether they are needed or not. We simply don't want to be caught on the wrong foot.

Also we aim to please all the time. We are afraid to say "no". Abroad if you go to a person and ask something, he will tell you the answer if he knows it, if not, he will tell you that he is not the right person and direct you to the proper person. On the contrary we try to go out of our way. Maybe it is our culture. But people do not expect you to know everything and do everything. But they do wish to know who knows about what they are asking and who will do what they are asking.

Once I heard a white colleague telling another white person - "When an Indian nods his head, please don't assume that he is agreeing. It simply means that he has heard you". This statement was extremely insulting and painful.

What made the statement painful was that it was made about my countrymen.

What made it more painful was that it was made by a guy who was not very competent. That particular guy was a classic Project Manager who delays taking all the decisions himself and would wait till decisions happened automatically. A weak and incompetent guy was calling us incompetent.

What made the statement most painful was it was true.

This is the reason why I was trying to bring some seriousness into the topic and tried to bring it back on track but my intentions were misunderstood. Many of you deleted your posts.

Most of you are young and forming your careers. This is exactly the type of behaviour change I am trying to bring.

Be precise. Be to the point. Don't say "Yes" when you mean "No". When you say "No", be assertive and not aggresive.

Being assertive is:

Mahatma Gandhi was fined some money for some crime that the British Judge thought he had commited (can't remember the cause). Mahatma Gandhi rose and told the Judge, "I have commited no crime. I shall not pay the fine". The Judge reduced the fine. Mahatma Gandhi rose again and repeated in a calm tone that he shall not pay the fine. This happened successively - the Judge reduced the fine and Mahatma Gandhi refused to pay the fine. At last the Judge dismissed the fine.

Being aggressive is: behaving like our babus "yeh kaam nahi ho sakata".

Originally Posted by just4kix

That is exactly what I am saying. Not all Indians may be like that but this is a general observation.

Whether in India or abroad, regardless whether there are clearly marked roads/buildings/landmarks or not, Indians are generally known to give vague answers.

Originally Posted by just4kix

We Indians suffer from a massive inferiority complex and thus there is a need to prove that we know a lot. The vagueness of answers come from (possibly) the fact that we try to give all the facts and figures regardless whether they are needed or not. We simply don't want to be caught on the wrong foot.

Also we aim to please all the time. We are afraid to say "no". Abroad if you go to a person and ask something, he will tell you the answer if he knows it, if not, he will tell you that he is not the right person and direct you to the proper person. On the contrary we try to go out of our way. Maybe it is our culture. But people do not expect you to know everything and do everything. But they do wish to know who knows about what they are asking and who will do what they are asking.

That might be the real reason, but we can't afford say no to any one. That will make us look like fools. Everyone thinks that way. People respect others who pretends to have knowledge. No one cares to find the truth. So only thing we can do in this situation is to pretend like we know everything.

Originally Posted by just4kix

Once I heard a white colleague telling another white person - "When an Indian nods his head, please don't assume that he is agreeing. It simply means that he has heard you". This statement was extremely insulting and painful.

What made the statement painful was that it was made about my countrymen.

What made it more painful was that it was made by a guy who was not very competent. That particular guy was a classic Project Manager who delays taking all the decisions himself and would wait till decisions happened automatically. A weak and incompetent guy was calling us incompetent.

What made the statement most painful was it was true.

I thought you must have a really good reason for starting this thread.

Originally Posted by just4kix

This is the reason why I was trying to bring some seriousness into the topic and tried to bring it back on track but my intentions were misunderstood. Many of you deleted your posts.

I never misunderstood your intentions. I removed some of my posts because I realized there was nothing useful in them. I do that all the time. I guess I also felt a little guilty for ignoring you when you were trying to say something serious.

Originally Posted by just4kix

Most of you are young and forming your careers. This is exactly the type of behaviour change I am trying to bring.

Be precise. Be to the point. Don't say "Yes" when you mean "No". When you say "No", be assertive and not aggresive.

You have done a very good job by that. But still its really not that easy to change the way we are, Is it ? I mean we kind of have our own rules set in our mind about how to do each things. Might be because of the culure we follow.

You think there is a way to change ourselves that easily ?