In some parts of India "Computer Programmer" has been regarded among
the most prestigious professions, as has "Mathematician".  But India is
a very big place with more differences between regions than
similarities.

Not to sound like the official spokesperson for India, but in many
cases, I have observed people "thinking" in their native tongue and
trying to literally replace english words for their native tongue
word-for-word.

Any request can be encoded with deference in many of the native tongues
without use of the word "please".

e.g. In tamil - "paadu" is asking someone to sing and "paadu-ngal" is
asking someone to sing - with respect encoded by the use of 'ngal'  -
and if you noticed, the verb, "paadu" (to sing) is retained intact in
both situations.

Now if i had to replace word by word in english and ask someone to
sing, it would be "can you sing" as opposed to "can you please sing".

Having said all of the above, if people choose English as their primary
language of instruction (which can't be taken for granted), then the
teachers make sure to imbibe the need to use "please".

Some of the Indian languages also have genders for inanimate things
e.g. Hindi - but Tamil does not.

This theory can be quite easily rejected as far-fetched, especially in
India-Europe equation :)

Good to know !

--
Arvind