Actually, my experience (Indian-American, brought up in the States but currently studying in India), is sort of the opposite.
Americans inculcate a _lot_ more independence than Indians do.
For example, in the US:
- Kids often get jobs and earn their own pocket money at 13+. It's the norm in most places after 16.
- Kids fund their own education
- After 18, there's an expectation in many families that the child will leave and become independent (or at least start paying rent)
- Kids generally make their own life decisions
- This reverses in old age; "old people's homes" are common in the US. After retirement, parents stay separate, and if they're unable to take care of themselves will often move into one of these. Nuclear families are common
In India:
- Middle class kids will not earn until 18, mostly not until after college. When they do earn it's something you can brag about. Definitely not the norm.
- Education is funded by parents. I earned a lot of money last year (I'm a college student). When my friends asked me what I intended to do with it, I got quizzical looks when I said that I was repaying my education. (Higher ed isn't particularly expensive here, but it's not cheap either, and I sort of wanted to start being more independent)
- It is perfectly fine to stay home till ... forever.
- Life decisions are made by the family, sometimes. Marriage is an example of this (though arguably there's a lot of legacy cultural reasons behind that). But career choices are too. A ton of the folks in my college are there because their family wanted them to study engineering.
- Kids take care of their parents as they get older. Extended families are common.
YMMV, of course, but this is commonly how things go from talking with my peers in both countries. Perhaps what you're noticing is a difference in generations, not in countries. Parents are universally more involved in the minutae of their children's lives than they used to be in the past.
Americans inculcate a _lot_ more independence than Indians do.
For example, in the US:
- Kids often get jobs and earn their own pocket money at 13+. It's the norm in most places after 16.
- Kids fund their own education
- After 18, there's an expectation in many families that the child will leave and become independent (or at least start paying rent)
- Kids generally make their own life decisions
- This reverses in old age; "old people's homes" are common in the US. After retirement, parents stay separate, and if they're unable to take care of themselves will often move into one of these. Nuclear families are common
In India:
- Middle class kids will not earn until 18, mostly not until after college. When they do earn it's something you can brag about. Definitely not the norm.
- Education is funded by parents. I earned a lot of money last year (I'm a college student). When my friends asked me what I intended to do with it, I got quizzical looks when I said that I was repaying my education. (Higher ed isn't particularly expensive here, but it's not cheap either, and I sort of wanted to start being more independent)
- It is perfectly fine to stay home till ... forever.
- Life decisions are made by the family, sometimes. Marriage is an example of this (though arguably there's a lot of legacy cultural reasons behind that). But career choices are too. A ton of the folks in my college are there because their family wanted them to study engineering.
- Kids take care of their parents as they get older. Extended families are common.
YMMV, of course, but this is commonly how things go from talking with my peers in both countries. Perhaps what you're noticing is a difference in generations, not in countries. Parents are universally more involved in the minutae of their children's lives than they used to be in the past.