Why Indians Should Respect a Person’s Privacy?

We Indians are great at Maths, Science, Technology, and we even have a Great Culture but one thing we Indians do suck at is respecting a person’s privacy. Don’t believe me? Well try locking the door of your room and your parents will open it soon without knocking. Sounds relatable Right?

We Indians don’t value or even understand the basic concept of privacy and personal space. To us, it is an unknown concept because we never implied it in our day-to-day life.  A lot of times we are just travelling on a public bus or metro, minding our own business and just scrolling through our Instagram and laughing at memes. And suddenly you can see a stranger staring at your phone. Another instance can be: A relative who you don’t even know, would come and hug you. For them it’s normal but they need to understand that it’s not; I need my personal space and you need yours. 

People invading other’s privacy in public places?

People don’t acknowledge your personal space in public transport and many a time women are harassed in public buses. You can be randomly standing in a queue and a stranger will put his arm on your shoulder. And another would be standing so close to you that you can smell his sweat. Not only is that invasion of privacy it is literally gross, but still, this is normal and acceptable behaviour. People misuse the crowd at public places to invade one’s personal space. And they do it to such an extent that we need to yell BACK OFF!

A random guy would touch you and rub your face with colour on Holi, and then say “Bura na mano Holi hai?” (Don’t get angry because it is Holi) Seriously you ought to be kidding me! Who gave you the right to touch me without my permission? And worst of all other people don’t take it seriously either as it is normal behaviour according to them.

Why can’t we Indians mind our own business?

The problem with us Indians is that we try to meddle in other’s affairs. An uncle you don’t even know would ask you about your marks or your salary. Your distant relative whose names you have even forgotten would be interested in the personal details of your life. But why does it bother you Uncle?  And that same uncle would be the one bringing you marriage proposals from strangers too!

You could be talking on your phone with someone and your parents would be eavesdropping on you. And throughout they will be thinking that you are talking to their future son/daughter in law. Having a password on your phone is a must nowadays too.

And the minute you give your phone to someone to see a picture they will start swiping through your gallery to see more.  That too without even asking for your permission to do so. Also, you can’t even be angry with them because you are the idiot that handed them your phone.

How is it harming us?

Well invading one’s privacy has more impact on them then we consider. People poke their noses in the business of others, thus making them annoyed and irritated. Many teenagers now dislike their family because their family is annoying for them. Also, different sorts of teenagers or people have different sorts of privacy needs like an introvert would prefer more privacy than an extrovert. You might be an ambivert and decide your privacy needs as per the situation.

And almost every millennial in India hates their relative because of how annoying they can get? People don’t realize but all of this can cause depression or other mental illnesses. Constantly being deprived of privacy makes it a normal behaviour if other people comment on us. And we get affected by even a random stranger’s opinion and overthink about it. That is why the sentence “Log Kya Kahenge?” (What will people say?) matters a lot to us. Why the hell do they get to have an opinion on my personal problems?

We need to realize that this is a problem and we should start to take care of it. We should start by discussing it with people and educating them about it. The right to privacy is a fundamental right it’s time we realize this and exercise it too. That is why Indians need to understand and respect an individual’s privacy. 

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