At Diwali, according to the gift retailer Ferns N Petals, Indian companies send gifts to “employees, clients, dealers, financers, business associates.” The retailer presents this as a way to keep professional bonds strong.
Same Community, Better Price
In a field experiment among pen wholesalers in Chennai, buyers were matched at random with sellers. Buyers matched with a seller from their own ethnic group received a discounted price.
The sellers did not ask these buyers for smaller advance payments, however. The researchers concluded that the discount came from preference for the group, not from greater trust.
The Head Bobble
In India a side-to-side movement of the head often answers a question. Wikipedia’s article on the head bobble says that “most frequently it means yes, or is used to indicate understanding.” It can also take the place of a thank-you.
The meaning depends on context. “An unenthusiastic head bobble can be a polite way of declining something without saying no directly.”
Sochte Hain
In his book The Power of Saying No, the author Ashutosh Garg writes that in India subordinates “may find it particularly difficult to say no to superiors.” In collectivist cultures, he adds, “saying no directly is often avoided to preserve harmony and maintain relationships.”
Instead of refusing, he writes, an Indian may say sochte hain, “we will think about it.” Governance Now published an excerpt in February 2026.
Under Consideration
On February 2, 2021, a member of Parliament asked about revising the income limit for the “creamy layer” among the Other Backward Classes. The Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment replied in the Lok Sabha.
The “proposal for revision of creamy layer limit for OBCs is under consideration of the Government,” he said. The answer gave no date and no decision.
The Horoscopes Did Not Match
In February 2026 the Delhi High Court refused bail to a man accused of breaking a promise of marriage. After a relationship, he allegedly refused to marry the woman because their horoscopes, or kundalis, did not match.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma held that “the subsequent refusal to marry on the ground of non-matching kundalis” raised doubts, at first sight, about whether the promise had been genuine.
Accha
In December 2020 the Hindi word accha entered the Cambridge Dictionary. It can signal agreement or surprise. Its meaning depends “on the tone of the speaker,” and it is often used sarcastically.