Community
Apparently I live in a community. If there are lots of houses grouped together then it’s called a community here in the US. But the strange thing is I don’t know anybody else in the so called community other than my next house neighbors. Even the neighbors I see them once in while especially during summer. In winter I don’t even know whether they still live there or not.
It’s the total opposite when I used to live in India. I used to know almost everyone that lived in my street and there is a lot of socializing that goes on within a community. But I think that’s the other extreme. People around me used to be extremely nosey and there used to be very little privacy. There’s always a lot of pressure to be better than your neighbors because you know a lot about them and they know a lot about you.
I am not sure which is better. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages. May be a little bit of both might be good.
What do you think is better?
1 comment:
I think there should be a little bit of both.
Even in India, I have experienced both. I used to live in an apartment complex in Gandhi Nagar, Chennai before I came here. It was kind of like US. Neighbors did their day to day stuff but when they see you they are friendly and they talk to you but no to the extent that they are nosey. Before that we used to live in an apartment complex in Kasturba Nagar and people there were too friendly. Kids would walk into our house and play hide and seek inside our house. It got in the way of our family's privacy.
I think enforced socializing can be so boring. I can talk to a person because I like to converse with them but if I'm forced and the other person is nosey, I'm better off doing something else with my time. In US, there is no enforced socializing in personal lives (work life is a different story). Kids have their friends and parents have their friends. Although I do not like enforced socializing, I as a parent would love to know about the families of my kid's friends. That is where I think I would prefer a little bit of both.
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