Hospitality. East Meets West

BACKGROUND

Hospitality is a magical quality that can instantly bring a smile to someone’s face if practiced with sincerity and dedication. It is the art of making someone feel unique, joyful, or at ease, depending on the situation. All professions practice hospitality because it is one of the critical assets to prosperity and fame. In the professional world, being hospitable is always essential, as even a slight error in one’s attitude and code of conduct can harm its reputation. While hospitality gets practiced worldwide professionally to gain monetary benefits, it is also practiced in informal social circles among families and friends. Although expressing it may differ from that in a formal environment, kindness and patience form the essential core of hospitality in all situations. Let us examine how people practice hospitality informally by taking the examples of India from Asia and Canada from North America. 

INDIAN HOSPITALITY

India is one of the most hospitable countries in the world due to abundant generosity and affection flowing inside-out of people. Indians believe in their old-rooted tradition called ‘Atithi Devo Bhava,’ which signifies that a guest is equivalent to God, whether it is someone visiting from another country or people visiting each other’s homes. If you are a guest in someone’s house in India, then mark my words, you are in for a royal treat, as Indians never allow guests to leave without offering them their hospitality. Even if you continuously decline your hosts for eating lunch together or having a cup of tea with snacks, they would not leave you until you finally say ‘yes’ to them as Indians do not like listening to ‘no’ when it comes to hospitality. You will always be the king in someone’s house as they would not allow you to help them in any chores and only encourage you to sit back while enjoying the company. So if you are thinking of dropping at someone’s house in India then be prepared to spend a good amount of time there as they would not let you just drop in and leave. When the time comes to bid farewell, Indians have a tradition of gifting something to their guests as a token of appreciation for coming to their house and indulging in their hospitality. 

Indian hospitality is not just limited to houses. Whenever Indians go out with families or friends for dinner in a restaurant, don’t be surprised when you see how they playfully fight with each other and start screaming when the time comes to pay the bill, as everyone wants to grab it and pay for the entire group before the other person snatches the bill to pay for everyone. Yes, it is a funny scenario to watch and shows how excited one feels to pay the bill. 

CANADIAN HOSPITALITY

Canadian hospitality starkly contrasts Indian hospitality and may feel simple after indulging in the lavish treatments offered by Indians. Canadians like to be punctual about time, so when you are visiting someone’s house in Canada, whether for a party or a simple lunch, in most cases, they would mention the ending time for the event in the invitation, which indirectly means informing you of the maximum time you could stay at their place. Please don’t go to someone’s house in Canada with an empty stomach because then you are in for a massive disappointment as Canadians rarely serve proper meals to their guests except for special dinner parties where every guest is expected to bring one dish, and it becomes a potluck dinner prepared by everyone. Getting served a glass of water as a guest in someone’s house is a blessing because Canadians usually don’t serve you water until you solicit them. In Canada, if you decline something out of the shyness that your host offers to you and expect them to ask you again, then you make an egregious mistake because they only ask you once. It’s their tradition, and as a result, many Indians face the situation of not getting solicited again after their first denial. 

Unlike Indians, when Canadians hang out for lunches or dinners together, they ask the server publicly to split the bill among the entire group, and everyone pays separately for their portion of the order. 

CONCLUSION 

India and Canada are remarkable in terms of hospitality due to each country’s different cultural backgrounds and traditions. One can learn by seeing how different countries practice hospitality in their way. Sometimes it may feel awkward and strange compared to another country’s hospitality because of our experiences. Still, we must understand that everyone has one thing in common regarding hospitality:- showering love and harmony.