'Being Desi': Redditor Asks Indians If They Ever Ended A Friendship Due To Punctuality, Internet Responds

'Why are Indian people always late?' seems to be a search query people often end up typing out on Google after hours of waiting for their Indian pals at a train station. The question has made its way to Reddit, too.

Redditor Questions Indians And Their Punctuality, Internet Says It's Called 'Being Desi'

The user took to the r/india subreddit and asked people if they were the only ones losing friends because of their punctuality issues. The poster shared that, in all transparency, they are a fairly punctual person, often getting half an hour early to all their meetings.

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However, they often face difficulty with their Indian friends who totally disregard time and disrespect them. “As a person I tend to be extremely punctual and reach places at least 30 minutes before time. However, my friends in India have extreme lack of respect for time and punctuality. If we ever plan for lunch at 1 Pm they will surely make it start from 3:30-4pm,” the Redditor complained.

Sharing an anecdote, the user explained how one time the group was supposed to meet at the train station by 13:00 before the train was set to depart. However, their desi friend obviously came to the station half an hour late when they were set to depart at 12:00. “They missed it and expected me to get down of the train as well,” revealed the poster.?

Losing friends due to punctuality
by u/TyrionInSlytherin in india

Folks On The Internet Agreed With The Redditor's Observation About Indian People

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Repeated encounters with their desi friends had the user wondering if such punctuality problems were only a fruit in their basket or a universal desi trait. They posted in the subreddit, “Lack of punctuality is extremely disrespectful for me. Do you guys face the same thing?”

One user admitted that this might be an Indian vice, “Tbh, this entitlement of Indians extends even when they’re abroad for years. I live abroad and have faced this. It’s ducking annoying.”

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by u/TeachMeEplanPlis from discussion Losing friends due to punctuality
in india

While one shared that punctuality became a big hurdle in their romantic relationship, “I once told my ex that her being chronically late was going to be a deal breaker for me. She dismissed me initially, but later tried hard to fix her ways.”

According to the user, being punctual was simply not an option for desis, “Being on time was just an alien concept to her. Her parents didn't care about being on time so she picked that up as well. She just never saw it as disrespectful.”

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by u/giraffe-coffee from discussion Losing friends due to punctuality
in india

Another pointed out how for Indians everything works, “Sab chalta hai.” Another person shared their eye-opening experience, “The first few times in the US when my appointments got cancelled because I did not inform that I was going to be 5-10 min late was when I realized that people are serious about punctuality. It's true, to us indians it's "chalta hai", but the west takes it seriously.”

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by u/rogan_doh from discussion Losing friends due to punctuality
in india