Well, seems like just yesterday I got off the plane to come to the US...almost. Its been 10 years and haven't stopped learning. Here's my top 10 tips on why US is so different from India (at least the India I knew 10 years ago):

Top 10 tips:

10. Trust

Unlike India, most transactions are based on trust. It seems weird, I know but get used to it. You can actually trust most people and their claims to a lot greater degree than in India. Don't confuse trust and "trustworthy" which is a specific people judgement, but overall for newbies here its a good rule of thumb.

9.  Being Nice, just business nothing personal.

Folks in the US emphasize being nice as a key social tenet. Note that this does not mean that when a white man smiles he wants to be your "friend", he's just being courteous. Talk about the weather, yesterday's game (see #8)  and thats it - don't read too much into it.

When I landed here, I smiled back genuinely and tried for several days to see if we could really be buddies but no luck. It takes a LOT longer for a newbie in the US to make non-indian friends, mainly to do with localization, acclamatization and understanding of the US culture. Give yourself at least a year.

8. Sports talk everywhere

Folks here, just like in India are crazy about sports; except different ones. This love of sports has key phrases that has carried over to other fields of their lives such as ... work! So if you are a desi and hear phrases such as "came out of the left field", take a deep breath... it only gets worse! The good news is that most phrases are intuitive enough to understand, but dont hesitate to ask a desi guy who's been around a lot longer than you to get some direction.

7. British English

We are the most confused souls in the modern world who understand the international language of english. We studied english at school, translate from our mother tongue into english instinctively, and can speak all "british" english terms flawlessly (think: Lorry, Cupboard etc) - this is useless my friend! American english seems easy (and I'm not even getting into the accent issue) but is different... just have patience and you'll get the hang of it.

An example - never say "thrice"! Say "three times". "Twice" seems ok, though "two times" is preferred. Strange. I never got it till this date. Hmmm. Maybe I shouldn't be writing this...

6. Accents v/s speed of speaking

 Too many things have been said about the Indian accent, so Im not gonna say anything more... but one of the key reasons why folks have problems understanding us is that we speak too fast. Combined with the fact that we are ESL (English as a second language) means that we need to sloooow down... give the people a chance to understand you. Talking at the speed of Shatabdhi express will not help get you over the accent hurdle.

5. Personal Etiquette

Ok - so this applies only to a minority from one particular state in the country (you know who you are!), but here it is: PLEASE take a shower everyday, and use a perfume and a anti-perspirant. No rocket science here (another american phrase) but it works wonders on the personal front.

Too many brilliant Indians screw up on this front by trying to save money on laundry (let's do it  next weekend, and wear the same clothes as yesterday) or simply believing that since their office is A/C or whatever, they smell fresh as a daisy... wrong! Ladies - you are included in this as well. I've spoken to women who are completely oblivious that there are fainting co-workers in their aromatic path or next to them.

What are the other 5? Wait until the next instalment!