The Indian Stereotypes
Before I start writing any of these Stereotype Blogs, I usually do a thorough research. While doing just that, I came across this Q&A in Yahoo about Indian Stereotypes.
Let me quote a couple of the ladies and gentlemen there before we get started
Indians move from india to the U.S. under a visa scam called H1B in a massive scale.
Most indians fake their diplomas and education history in attempts to find a job.
Not hardworking and honest, likely taking short cut. They talk a lot and walk little.
Another said:
-Don’t use deodorant
-Love Curry
-All worship cows
Another said:
India is just gross. A gross country with silly, stupid people; In many ways India is worse than even Africa seeing as how India doesn’t have any worthwhile mineral assets. Out of my interactions with 1.5K Indians I’ve been able to stand maybe 2.
The above replies and opinions are pretty harsh, and while I disagree with the way the above quoted people expressed their opinion, I still have to admit that they still constitute some of the Indian Stereotypes and therefore, I will be discussing each of it as we go through this article.
The Indian Accent
Whether you hate the accent or love it, you probably agree that the Indian accent is pretty funny. Having an accent is nothing to be ashamed off, everyone does. What blows my mind away though, while observing people from different parts of the world, is that everyone seems to be speaking English the same way they speak their native language and this is exactly what Indian people do. Here is Russel Peters with a bit of Indian accent.
Indian driving skills
I live in Dubai, a multicultural city with a high percentage of its population being Indian expatriates. It certainly isn’t true to say that all Indian people have bad driving skills, but it is safe (from personal experience) to say that most of the Indian drivers have driving skills and driving ethics (awareness of other drivers’ safety).
I am going to give you some advice, “Beware the Indian driver with a Mustache”.
How to identify this type of driver?
Check 1: The Indian driver with a mustache changes lanes regardless of the situation, I don’t know if they don’t use the mirrors at all, or maybe they look at the mirrors and see you coming to their left or right side and still change lanes regardless
Check 2: drives at a speed of 80 km/hr on the fastest lane while the speed limit is 120 km/hr
Check 3: is driving a Japanese or American made car, Toyota Yaris, Toyota Corolla and Nissan Tida are the most common.
Maybe living and driving in India, a crowded country with narrow roads and extremely high traffic density, the Indian expatriates develop bad driving habits in their home country and tend to adopt the same driving mentality once they immigrate out of India.
The Bollywood singing and dancing
Bollywood… have you ever watched a Bollywood movie? If you have, keep reading, If not, you need to watch one, it is hilarious :D. In short, Indian movies have nice songs, nice dance moves and beautiful actresses, yet, there is a few more things to know about Bollywood.
- Many Indian movies are just a blatant rip-off of famous Hollywood movies, sometimes it is the story line they are stealing, other times it is simply a fight seen from the matrix… etc… The story is usually bloated and exaggerated, but overall the famous Indian movies are pretty good.
- The funny part is that, out of the blue and for no justified reason, all Indian movies suddenly break into a dance and singing scene. Indian movies are pretty long (more than 3 hours) and usually half of these 3 hours are all about singing and dancing.
Having said all that, the Bollywood songs are nice, be it the sensitive sad song, or the fast rhythm happy song, no one can deny the Indian talent in Music. The dances are really amazing as well, The Indian actresses and dancers are really beautiful and sexy. Certainly Bollywood is doing this one right, Bollywood knows how to pick its actresses and dancers.
The Work Ethics
It is unfair to generalize the working ethics of a whole nation. But a rule of thumb I like to follow in this topic is the following:
Do you want to know how productive an average German individual is? Check how productive the whole German Nation is and you can conclude that German people have high working ethics and that the German Industrial superiority is only the cumulative product of this high quality standards which most Germans have. How productive and developed is India? Not much, India is a third world country drowning in poverty and corruption.
Here is what I experienced while working with Indian Individuals. Indians work hard only if they are afraid of their manager or team lead or superior (Possibly not only Indians?). As the anonymous guy on yahoo answered, Indians are not hardworking and are likely to take shortcuts. Another reassuring factor to my opinion, is the countless low quality websites I encounter on daily basis of which many originate from India.
On the other hand, I have met countless hardworking Indian individuals who show high professionalism in their respective field. These people are proof that there are very intelligent, professional and hardworking Indian Individuals and these individuals are possibly a good reason to question the accuracy of this stereotype as a whole.
The Gangster / unhealthy office environment
Indians create an unhealthy office environment. How?
- Indians tend to hire Indians only, if given the chance.
- An Indian will never teach a fellow non-Indian employee anything. The non Indian employee is always considered as the threat. Team work is only done in the Indian circle.
- Indians can be lazy (if not pushed by a superior leader), watch this video of Russel Peters talking about the Indian work attitude. It is really funny and possibly true.
Indians are nice and helpful
Yes, I have had countless situations where I needed some help, possibly some directions or professional advice and I got that help from an Indian Lady or an Indian Gentleman.
Indians are Cheap and Stingy
Well, it is true. Being cheap or overspending are both not good traits, but being cheap is certainly funny in some situations :).
Indian food
Indian food is yummy.
I always hear people complaining about the smell of the Indian food, however, I would like to disagree with everyone. Indian food is so delicious.
Head Shake
The Indian head wobble is cute.
You have probably heard or seen this one. Watch Jenna Marbles practice the whole thing.
Female equality
India is a male dominated nation and it is even uglier than what you might have known.
You probably have heard about the recurring sickening gang rape incidents in India. It doesn’t surprise me; When I am walking with my GF or my sister or any female friend (In Dubai, which has high Indian Population), there is always a bunch of creepy Indians staring at the girl with me like hungry sexual predators. This is honestly one of the worst traits I have noticed in the majority of Indian men I have encountered.
Indian Women
Indian women are so beautiful.
Indian Women are so beautiful and the Indian beauty is quite distinct. Beautiful big expressive eyes, curvy waist and chest and overall gorgeous beauty.
Indians are Corrupt
This is certainly true. My Indian colleagues once told me that in one state in India (forgot which one), issuing a new passport, with a new fake name is pretty easy, this is the scale of corruption we are talking about. Read more about corruption in India no Wikipedia.
Cows Roam the Roads
I haven’t been to India, but from what I read, this seems to be the truth. Sounds like fun. I do respect that in some of the Indian states, eating cows is against the law/ religion. Perhaps they are more evolved than the rest of the world, more civilized, less violent and brutal.
The “Real India” is Dirt and Chaos
India’s nature is beautiful but the massive Indian population turned it into a dumpster.
A picture is worth thousand words… here we go:
Passengers on the roof of the bus.
Photo from Flickr
User: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen
Original:http://flic.kr/p/8suk5z
Crowded Indian Bus
Photo from Flickr
User: Peter Haden
Original: http://flic.kr/p/buvvCq
Busy India
Photo from Flickr
User: Christian Haugen
Original: http://flic.kr/p/621kSU
I cannot imagine ever living in India. Sounds like hell on earth. Which brings me to my next topic which is… read on please.
Hygiene
I will not be judging the Hygiene of 1.25 billion Indian people. Yet, I noticed this, Indian people seldom wash their hand after using a washroom… which brings up a funny story a friend told me. He was in the airport’s washroom. You know these Urinals which are attached to the wall? Well after urinating, the urinal automatically flushes, so the Indian Guy washed his hands in the urinal itself.
Indians Standing in Queue
Why don’t you respect anyone’s private space?
Whenever I am in some Grocery shop or Money Exchange or anywhere where there is Queue, Indians come and stand behind me with hardly few inches separating us. This is not OK, this is my personal private space. Two feet is close enough.
Doesn’t surprise me to see that the respect for personal space doesn’t exist in the Indian dictionary. Why? Just look at the pictures of the Indian metro train or buses.
Indian men holding hands while walking
Seriously, is this normal?
I have seen many of those, Russel Peters makes fun of this Indian habit.
Rich Indians and Indians with foreign passports
Indians with power are arrogant and bossy.
You will know what I’m talking about if you have met one of them. It is very common to see Indian people possessing a UK or a Canadian passport treating other people with an arrogant/ snobbish attitude.
All Indians want to immigrate out of India
Of course this is the case, how could it not be? With the Indian population almost at 1.3 Billion, the fast growing Indian economy can’t cope with the high population growth rate, the life standards in India are so low to an extent that living anywhere on earth is probably an upgrade on the life style an Indian can maintain in India. Perhaps a one child policy in India should be applied as soon as possible otherwise the Indians will consume the resources of the whole planet.
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If you are Indian and this blog post offends you, I apologize for that; I do understand that these stereotypes do not apply to every Indian.
Thanks for reading everyone, please leave a comment and let me know what you think.
I do agree with most of the negetif comments. Im 4 generation indian from Malaysia and I have been travelling and working for more that 20 years in Hospitality Industry. Indians will only look out for another Indian (same country). I worked in a 5 Star resort and my immediate boss was indian and he employed his nanny as his secretary, she was very bossy and rude.She thinks that she is always right and will cover up her mistakes.When she walks in she smells like curry house and her arm pit smell was unbearable until someone have to talk to her regarding her body odor. My boss who is from India wears bland colour clothes most of the time and when someone else wears more stylish from him he tend to critize. indian only know what they know and anything which they dont know is wrong.My indian boss is light skinned and he always looks down on dark skin people and now he is sleeping with a black girl who works under him, pathetic.Indian wants everyone to think and behave like them and if you dont agree they will dislike you.
Heyy Jay. Are you talking about Indians from India or Indian race?
In all nations and countries, there are positive things and what we consider
As a negative thing. I hope that things in the whole world will turn better day after day in many ways. People try to look for forward improvement.
well, i have an indian friend, a boyfriend but secretly. lol , he is a muslim and i have learned a lot from him. which convinced me to accept islam as well. i’m not sure about their hygiene for i have never been in india. but someday In Shaa Allah, i’ll live with them. wait and see 🙂 i’ll be very happy to live everywhere with him even in india.
well being an indian born in Europe and also knowing India like any resident indian would know, I can say although India and Indians have many faults you cannot stereotype this country. There you just find the best of the best and the worst of the worst all at the same time. The best hides in secret places, in gated communities, in scattered locations. The worst is getting better also. Yes they will play the art of war when it comes to business – attack the weak and avoid what is strong, yet it teaches you only to become smarter. Im sure they will get bored and miserable by this short term view, but the mentality is slowly adapting to global standards. If they deliver shitty websites no one will hire them anymore, because such reputation flows fast as it being so omnipresent in the world.
The average Indian from lower educated households has been given no knowledge on how to tackle the fast cultural change and suddenly is opposed to naked legs, bollywood sexy items and all that they had been starved off from, more politically than culturally.
I am Indian as I am European, but if by looking at the cover of my book, meaning my color/ indian features, your judgement will be rather ignorant or dumber so to speak. Nothing of the above fits with me, actually I am pretty proud about my entire stance, looks, hygiene, taste and being.
What this article should say is that beware this is what you will get to see in India and it is small part of the population. But since they are 1.2 billion a part will look like a whole city.
But to emphasise even more on your Angst of the different let me add that yes in India you will see all of the above. They are also not ethical in business many times (80% of the time I encountered personally even). However, as India is developing so are is its justice system.
You will hardly find people anywhere in the world who are also so hospitable and loving. Not just very beautiful women also some of the coolest good looking, intelligent and attractive behaviour wise hunks are Indian. We all condemn the rapists being Indian. We dont only go out on the streets and protest against it, which does not happen anywhere in the West, where per capita the rape rates are ten times higher ie. U.S. No. We also sometimes find the predator monsters tie them to a tree and make the women of the entire village beat the shit out of them before handing them half dead to the police. And even there is corruption because the police doesn’t do anything in this case, which is good or bad..
The Luxury Homes you find India are some of the best in the whole world. The landscapes you find there are anywhere from desert lakes, to himalayan foot of mountain resorts with the most freeing experience to the beautiful backwaters in kerala, the hillstation or skiing resorts in Northern India and so on and so forth are mind boggling .
Yet sometimes I fuckin hate Indians, I get it. But also some of the people I love most are Indians. And they dont hang off a bus, or have no sense of order or whatever. How do you keep a billion people on the democratic free leash in check. Yes it has to do mostly if not all with Politics, not Indians themselves. The masses are just as ignorant as anywhere in the world. So rule of the dumb like anywhere else
Certainly agree with all your points… especially the one about female equality. That is one of the most sick attributes Indians have. I’ve sometimes been pushed to situations that I wanted to disown India for that aspect of Indian men…. When will it change???
I’m a mix breed, Indian and Croatian, but I was raised in the Canada with 3 years in both India and in Croatia. I think India is a fucking shit hole myself, and I hate to even call my self Indian. I try to pass myself off as Greek or some other darker skinned European ethnicity. I was born in Zagreb and am a Croatian nationalist but the fact that I am at least half Indian basically haunts me. On a constant basis I am thinking that I am part of the least interesting, and cool race possible. Like shit, why couldn’t I be like Afghani at least. At least they have some interesting shit. I hate that we don’t have any good stereotypes. We are known for being rapists, un-hygienic, ugly, annoying, obnoxious, lazy, and cheap. At least I can take solace in the fact that I don’t look Indian. Shit. I wash my hands whenever I take a piss, I always try my fucking hardest at everything, and I don’t fuckin hold my male friends hand at all. Shit.
u should consider urself lucky to be called Indian. Indians have the most beautiful skin tone. India invented the nuclear bomb (it’s documented in the vedas). Math, science, art, music, all excelled incredibly in ancient India while rest of the world was livining like savages. India (or should i say Bharat) is home of the first advanced river civilziation that predates even Ancient Egypt: It’s called the Indus Valley Civilization. India invented chess, the nuclear bomb, cotton clothes, the Fibonnaci numbers, the decimal system, quadractic formula, the number zero, card games, cataract surgery in the 6th century BCE, wireless communication by Sir Jagdish Chandra a full 14 years before Marconi demonstrated it to the public. Marconi was wrongly given credit for the discovery. flush toilets during the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, plastic surgery, and many more. If ur smart, u’ll realize that much of what is propagated about Bharat is lies, because how could the longest continually living civilization in the entire world be something to not be proud of? Finally, Bharat never colonized another civilization, and so that is something to definitely be proud of.
Urgh this is the type of indian I hate the most this fellow is exactly like the one Russel Peters talking about.
As offending as it might seem on some parts, this post was really funny! 😛
Great work. ❤
Funny post. Keep them coming. I’m Indian and I hate some of these stereotypes.
I respect the disclaimer at the end. A lot of these stereotypes are sometimes surprisingly true – not really so about American Indians.
I am quite happy to see that you understand Indians very well. I aam slso an Indian and here changing people attitude is very difficult. Most of the time I end up crying alone because I feel so much hopelessness. They certainly show off too much. They do not think about other people at all. Very less Indian actually help in the development of our nation. Majority of them are just making our country filthy only. They pollute environment by bursting fireworks everywhere during DIWALI. I mean they even burst bomb which are capable of producing around 150Db sound. They play music like hell during any party, marching on road and dancing like weirdos on 130 to 160 Db loud music. My home start shaking whenever people do these things. Too much hypocrisy everywhere no love for their own people and envitonment at all. Probably I will just end up crying because of Indians stupidity. They waste their too much time on celebrating festivals even they celebrate it like hell instead of doing their work. They do not live peacefully at all. I go to bed early and then wake up around 1 or 2 in night just because it is very noisy furing day. My neighbor always play music as loud as 90Db. No politeness at all. No respect for their own country land. Even going around and telling people that cow is a holy pet where such kind of absurd people disappear when their holy cows are eating their own pile of garbage and getting sick or death.
Funny thing is, everything you said is true. Stereotypes exist for a reason. People are all the same. It’s not racist, because you are describing cultural factors. They exist separate from someones race, but they are intimately intertwined with them. If I point out the constitution of an Indian, I am merely pointing out his inherited cultural personality.
I can attest to the negative generalization of Indian people. I have worked with numerous Indian co-workers so far and I must say that 9 out of 10 mostly have the negative traits that other people say about them. They are backstabbing, cheap, petty, rude, inconsiderate, condescending, and arrogant. In one of my company’s offices, there are about 5-6 Indians in an office that only has 10 people. At a meeting, they would talk to each other in their language without any regard for their non-Indian co-workers. They would say nice things in front of you but they would bab mouth you behind your back. Their willingness to back stab other to climb up the corporate ladder is paramount. They would also take credit for ideas that DO NOT belong to them. When a mistake happens on their part, instead of owning up to it they would blame others. Furthermore Indian managers are worse. Most of them are micro-managers. When they are around big bosses, you would see their attitude change. They would act kind and nice. They would flatter their bosses like there is no tomorrow.
I have talked to others about my thoughts and observations of Indian people and most of them agree with me. Unfortunately those dirty and petty Indian back-stabbers keep flooding into America like cockroaches.
A lot of Indians actually have only one or two kids these days. But you’re right, following Chinas example is a good thing.. And oh, inspite of all its problems, many Indians, especially the middle class or rich ones, would still like to stay in India or atleast spend time there. Heck, even many White folks and East Asians want to spent time there.