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.
_________________________________________
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.
yummy food – agree,except for the sausage my colleague brought once in our office!!! it makes me want to vomit! gooosh.. my hair is raising every time i remember about it!!
head shake – at first i thought it was a NO gesture but it's the other way around!! lol to head shake! I've learned to do that too!! :p
Smelly?!! OMG!!! I think deodorant can't do anything about it! waaaah!!
Helpful and nice – agree!! but be aware also because sometimes they help you so you'll do the work but afterwards they will take all the credits specially in the work area.
Stingy – hahahaha!! most of them like FREE stuff!! :p
oh well as what you have said ” I like and hate them at the same time and i can't help it!”
Thank you for your comment Iya,
Yeah the head-shake is confusing for almost everyone.
Indian food is really nice, but you probably need some guidance which dishes to order 🙂
LOL, even the deodorant doesn't help?
good to know I am not the only one suffering for the Indian masses. I see you are a blogger too, I will be following and reading your blogs as well.
To know an Indian you got to be an Indian. I absolutely disagree with most of these stereotypes. I would not go by Russel Peters all the time. He is a comedian. Most of the time he uses F’s and B’s. But let us get down to facts now. Have you been to India? Are all Indians smelly? I do not think so!! We do respect people’s space but unlike most people, we are very family oriented. It is not that we want to be in everyone’s lives but we do not keep things to ourselves. We often like to share things. According to you, “We all worship cows”. Let me tell you in India we have so many religions. If you were to Goa, India we are Catholic. If you go to Punjab we have Sikhs. If you were to go to India you would find Janes, and Muslims. I would like to tell you maybe you need to be in India to know the different types of religions we have. NOT ALL OF US WORSHIPS COWS!! Yes in Hinduism, a cow is sacred. Yes we have an accent but I am pretty sure you do as well! What is wrong with an accent? Why are you discriminating? What is wrong with our dances? What you see in Indian movies are NOT the only dances we do. Some of our dances are very traditional. I am happy to know you research but would like to tell you to research more because you have not done a good job! Indians are very hard working. Let me tell you the ITs (information technology) in our world come from India and China. Very soon by 2025 we will be one of three leading nations. As for corruption I would like to ask you to name countries that do not have corruption at all? Indians are not stingy! I would like to ask you to think before making general statements. Yes India may not be clean but you know what that is changing as we speak. India is a developing nation. Maybe you should go to India to know real Indians.
Thanks for your comment. Let me answer few of your questions:
1- What is wrong with your dances? Nothing, I love your dances, I just find it funny how Indian movies break into dancing all of a sudden.
2- I didn’t say that all Indians worship cows (I was quoting someone in “yahoo answers”), relax! Here is what I said ” 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.”
3- Nothing wrong with the Indian Accent, did you read what I said?
This article is to discuss the Indian stereotypes and not to create new ones or offend the Indian population in the world.
Have you watched any of the recent Bollywood films? They don’t break into singing and dancing anymore. I think you are talking about the ones 10 years ago. Or maybe some B-grade movies with sleazy item numbers that hardly make their way to the cinema theatres. First I thought that your blog must be really old. But its actually not. Your ‘research’ feels more like a hearsay than collection of facts. You need to come down to India and get yourself updated about the country…By the way, most of the Hollywood movies in the past used to be musicals with a collection of 10 song and dance sequences in one film. Hollywood changed with time, so has Bollywood. People have different perceptions of entertainment. Some people in India still like musicals…nothing wrong in that…
I think everyone here is over reacting about what he said. I’m Indian and I come to India every year, and I’ve noticed many of these are true. Indians in India don’t respect personal space at all! Some of them push constantly in lines when you have nowhere to go. As for the dumpster comment about India, I wouldn’t use the word dumpster put it is still true that dirt roads are the only roads, and trash and stray dogs are densely scattered throughout. Indian movies still breakout into to dances, and I honestly love them. I think instead of getting mad at him or her, we Indians should accept most of these comments (some of which still very untrue) and just know that India IS progressing as a nation with one of the worlds fastest growing economies.
Here are my thoughts. I am of Indian origin.It was interesting to read just to get a sense of what others think of Indians. Well by saying that you are only quoting someone else might be a more intelligent way of saying something harsh or racist but doesn’t make it any less offensive. And just by saying that you apologize for it didn’t make it sound better either.
Here are my thoughts of each of your stereotypes
1. The Indian accent – I think every accent is funny and how funny it is has nothing do with the accent. I am sure even the great Russel Peters has an accent as well which would be funny to someone in China. I am really sick of these jokes which mock the Indian accent.
2. Indian driving skills – Just plain racist remarks.
3. Bollywood – I don’t care what you think about and I think you blog was about stereotypes. Bollywood movies or British movies, who cares what you think about them.
4. Indian work ethics – Somehow the brilliant scientist has come up with a new measure of work ethics. The productivity and population ratio, wow! – what a brilliant idea. You truly deserve the nobel prize for this. Somehow this brilliant scientist has to quote an anonymous racist user in yahoo and then say that some bad quality websites from India are a proof of this. Hey, these would make sense if it is from Mark Zuckerberg but from you just sounds stupid.
Indian American households have the highest household income for any foreign born. Here is some stats for the scientist who always wants to come up new measures. Maybe you somehow factored it out in your ‘extensive research’.
5. The unhealthy office environment – By now I already know how prejudiced you are. I am sure you don’t have anything nice to say so I just skipped it.
6. Nice are helpful, cheap/stingy, food, headshake – Okay! Bored. All of us have heard this. Somehow you manage to say good things. I am amazed.
7. Female equality – Hey! Sorry about your personal experience of some men staring at your gf but that has little to with how women are treated in India. I know women in general deserve more respect and equality that what they are given, which is true of every country in the world. South Africa, Canada and even the USA have higher rape rates than India. Another example of your ‘extensive research’.
8. Corruption – India is a democratic country. Yes there is corruption. I bet you cant show a country which is free of it.
9. Cows – Yes there are cows and all of them eat them and yes cows are allowed to walk around towns. Somehow you are of the opinion that all animals need to be on your plate or in a zoo. If you can’t respect vegetarians at least dont make a fool of yourself.
10. Hygiene – Grow up! The joke is just offensive. There is nothing funny about it. I guess you just don’t care by now what you are saying.
11. Indian men next to you – If you are too concerned about people standing very close to you and need personal space don’t go out. Please don’t exaggerate your personal experience.
12. Indian people with UK/Canadian passport – Well, they are more UK or Canadian than Indian. Maybe someone who doesn’t nod their head or have an Indian accent is snobbish to you. Get a life!
By now I am tired to read your life experiences. And again saying that you apologise doesn’t make your any correct or less offensive.
Frustrated,
Prasad.
Prasad, Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and leave a comment. I will ignore your sarcasm and offenses because I was taught to respect and welcome guests, and you are a guest :).
I am just curious, How long have you lived in India? Have you even visited India? Judging by your comment, I would say that you are a second generation American, of Indian origin. The story of your parents is similar to that of many Indian nationals, two responsible and hard working parents, decided to give their children a better chance at life. So they decided to leave India and head to USA, they saved enough money, went though tough Immigration procedures and made it to USA.
Whats my point?
1- I live in a city with a 50 % Indian population, I am probably more qualified to judge Indians than you are.
2- There are many Indian qualities that I respect: responsible spenders (think about the future, which is another way to look at people who don’t spend their money recklessly), practical, caring, sweet, polite, family oriented, intelligent, ambitious… and I plan to update my blog to reflect those too…
3- I do realize that some of these stereotypes might be offensive but the point of this blog post is to reflect how I and many non-Indian people see Indian people (both positive and negative ways). I know that these stereotypes don’t apply to all Indians.
4- India has major issues and the conditions of life there are very hard and therefore, bad Hygiene, bad driving skills, unhealthy work environment (for survival, you might have to screw your colleagues) are just normal consequences of life there… hence… why these bad qualities are so common in India.
I’m sorry this post made you frustrated… I am just honest with my self and with other people and I would never sugarcoat my words just to make people happy.
PS. if India is so great, why don’t you go back and live there? Why did you parents leave India in the first place? Why are all Indians so keen on leaving? (when you find the answer to these questions and live few years back at your home country and look at your people from a foreigners eyes perspective, you might as well agree with me)
Mathis-
I really appreciate you being polite. I didn’t mean to ridicule or offend you in any way. I was only trying to point out how some of your Indian stereotypes that you have blogged about are very offensive to someone of Indian origin. The choice of humor was very inappropriate. It is really a skill to make fun of something and at the same time make sure that the other person reading it might not get offended. You may choose to completely ignore my observation but it’s up to you.
Just because you were curious let me tell you about myself-
1. I lived most of my life in India and having spent the first 25 years of my life I think I am equally if not more qualified that you are to judge Indians. I have lived the middle east many times as a tourist, lived in U.K and am currently in the U.S. I am very familiar working in a multicultural environment so that’s not foreign to me either.
2. I have never told that India is very great or the best country in the world. Like any other country has challenges that need to be overcome. So your observation there is incorrect.
3. Why I don’t go back?—- I think this is a personal choice which may or may not happen. Lots of Americans/British/Australians/Indians choose to live elsewhere. Regardless of what I choose, it is not a reflection of how good/bad India is.
4. Why are all Indians so keen on leaving? This is perhaps a longer answer and I will try my best to answer. India accounts for 20 % of the worlds population and perhaps if you just count the number of people who are in the working age group it is much higher. If you just end up seeing more Indians who are willing to migrate it is just because there are more Indian’s in that age group than any other country. This does not mean all Indians want to migrate. If you look at most recent surveys from Indians graduating from colleges it shows that most of them want to take up a job in India. I am not sure if you have got it. Please let me know and I can elaborate on the logic.
5. Your idea on presenting both positive and negative stereotypes – From what I could read most of them were very negative with some very bad humor.
6. India has major problems—- I don”t know why you are fixated on this. I don’t know what you mean to achieve by repeated pointing at this. Show me a country which doesn’t. It is not a good logic for all the silly offensive stereotypes that you seem to be very content justifying.
Perhaps the idea behind the blog is perhaps to just present the Indian stereotype from the non-Indian perspective. However it is certainly an art to do in a non-offensive manner which your blog clearly lacks. I don’t know if you if you were trying to be funny by adding in some humor but is very foul. I hope most people in Dubai are not like you or like Iya_Khin who seems to only add flavour to your foul jokes.
Leave it or take it!
Well said!
barely 6 percent of Indians migrates out of India – even US has that amount – the larger number of Indians you see is not because of Indians want to migrate out of India – it is because of larger population
at least indians don’t depend on food stamps all the time. they may have some problems but they can actually work instead of lying home with a check coming every month
well in India, its not considered rude to stare…dont get paranoid that youll get raped(its rape rate is tied with Canada but in raw numbers its at #3 behind south africa and usa…dunno why congo is not there). As for personal space, its crowded as hell there as long as youre not touchin its cool there.
If the indian women you see are bollywood you are in for a rude awaking. obesity hair(espically hair) discoloration,exageratted nose is rather common.
(My English is Bad So Please Ignore the Grammatical Mistake).
First, Have You ever meet one Indian person?(Born in India, Raise in India, Work in India).
If not, then don’t Comment on the Stereotypes.
Only Searching in the Internet like that will not help You to understand India.
1. Indian Accent – I can’t comment on this, but with my personal experience(as India is multilingual Country, most of the people understand more than 2 language), if you try to learn any new Language there will always be some sort of influence of mother language.(As American Accent is not the original accent of English and Mexican is not the original accent of Spanish). I want to quote one thing here, 2nd largest no. of English speaking people lived in India(Wikipedia).
2. Driving Skills – In India, Condition of Road is poor. Its like driving Cross Country Race in the Road(on Daily Basis), Other than Tier 1 City, there is no traffic Signals in Most of the Country, and India is Left Side Driving(Driver Sit on the Right Side) as oppose to most of the world and Include 1.3 Billion People So, Naturally People Will have some sort of side effect while driving in other country(I Don’t Know this Because I am From India), But it work perfectly Fine in our Country.
3. Bollywood Singing and Dancing – This is an Industry, It work like corporate, whatever you can sell you will make(As Simple as that). These are made for Indian People. you will be amazed that in order to release the movie in local dubbed version of Hollywood movies they mix some sort of local songs .(as I already told you, Corporate).
4. Work Ethics – I Don’t know About America but in India Approx. Every 500 km(around 300 Miles) Major Language Change, So If You want to study or work in another state (most often) You have to be Socialize with others and Believe me the Culture of Every State is Very much Different. I want to quote another thing here, Even Japanese or German also give preferences to their own People. (In this you are complementing your own words Indian are nice people)
Note – Most Indian People don’t even use Slang in there language.
5. Cheap and Stingy – In Order to comment on this i have to write 4 or 5 Page.(I will write this later).
6. Indian Food – Indian have so much differences in food that I also don’t even know. But let me tell you this, Every state has there food. and like language its also very different in every state. Indian culture is like unity with individuality( Parasi/Parsi Original people of Persia/Iran. After they been thrown out of there own country, some of them went to Europe and some of them came to India, now in the world India is the only country with Parsi people)(three most oldest religion – Hindu, Jews, Parsi(Zoroastrian)), So Parsi Food is also the cuisine of India now.
So Indian Cuisine is very complex.(it’s not only curry)
7. Indian Head Wobble – As the Oldest Religion/Culture of the World, there are certain thing which is different than other culture. Wobble Head is visible one so People started mocking that.
8. Condition of Women – We have different perception(Cultural Differences), but as India is a Democratic Country and Indian Media is very influential So, Nowadays the Case is different. But I also hate this kind of thing going around, But the measure reason of this happening(particularly in New Delhi) is that, Well there are several reason and You will not like some of that so i will leave it here
9. Holding Hands – Other than Indian, Arab people also walk with holding hands. I Don’t know the reason why but why not. Most of the time, Indian go with family(for Indian, family comes first than others), from childhood we walk with parents while holding hands and then its not like we walk only with friend while holding hand. if some girl (only friend) walk with us we hold hand there also. and last thing, Indian road is very crowded, in order to walk or cross road(very few zebra sign) you have to go along with someone.
10. Over Population – Search the latest census data of India and read it you will know what is the original reason for this, as this is very very controversial topic so leave it.
Russell Peters – He is not even an Indian, not even Hindu(I am not trying to criticize with the religion but making a point that he doesn’t understand a single thing about India)
11. Cow are Sacred – I Can’t Understand why people can’t understand this. We are Human and Human don’t eat meat of those who are helping in nature in ancient time, like dog and cat and horse. Cow are very much important in ancient India so We Hindu don’t eat Beef. But Muslims in India are eating Beef. like some part of china they are eating dog.
12. Immigration – 1.3 Billion People and they all want to leave India, what a joke. the entire population of Europe and America combined also can’t hold us.
Accent – first of all Indian accent cannot b generalised . It varies from one state to another . OK ? N I hvn’t met a single person in my whole life who speaks like Russell peter’s dad . I would like to meet Russell one day and kick him for creating such a bad image of us Indians . He is making money , while v get insulted .
And Indian movies used to b 3 hrs long . And I can understand ur feelings about the dance sequence , but that is bollywood’s speciality . U r just not used to it.
N yes Indian women r beautiful . I guess the most beautiful in the world ( I am not saying this bcoz I am an Indian . Its the truth . Look at aishwarya rai or deepika padukone . Not even Scarlett Johanson is as beautiful as aishwarya rai ).
“Indians r cheap n stingy. ” WHAT ??? ( I just want 2 hit Russell )
Head shake – what ??? I hv never seen any1 doing that.
Female inequality – false !!!!
There so many countries with higher no.of rapes . What happened in Delhi was definitely horrible n shameful , but that doesn’t mean that it happens every now and then .
Indian women are given the status of goddesses . Even India is called bharat mata which means mother India. OK ??
U put 3-4 pictures n based on them u say that India is hell ?!!
Then I should put pictures of taj mahal , Kashmir ,chhangu lake etc etc n say that India is heaven !
N hygiene ! That story was not funny at all . That guy did that doesn’t mean all of us do that . In fact my family n most of the people I have met are hygiene freaks . Many Indians have different refrigerators for veg and non veg food . OK ??
Private space – I have never experienced anything like that , so I don’t know what to say 😐
Holding hands – whatttt ???
Just not possible . That too in south Mumbai !!
N last , I won’t ever leave my country n my living standard is very high . OK ??
India has poverty , but it is not poor . India has millions of millionaires and more no.of billionaires than Britain , Japan etc ( Don’t believe ? Do some research. ) N it is one of the greatest economies of the world . And I am sure that we’ll overcome the problem of poverty , corruption
I find the comments funnier than the article. A culture is mature when it can take jokes and laugh at itself. Judging by most comments, Indians seem to take everything personally. Denial is their most predictable response. This is the reason the state of the country is what it is. Enough said.
Id like to start off by agreeing to most of the things you have said out here.
The ACCENT: Yes we do have a peculiar accent but so does everyone else, but the fact that we are criticized about it is that even we are ashamed that we speak English differently and we try to imitate/copy american accent [plainly because the British accent is too darn difficult to copy] and this shit is also followed in most of the major movies that have a big star and a shitty director.
DRIVING SKILLS: Yes we are probably very bad followers of rules and regulations primarily because the punishment isn’t harsh and mostly we never get punished, but even if we do we pay off the corrupt traffic cop and he majorly prefers being paid off rather than billing us tickets as his pay isn’t sufficient enough for him and his wife let alone his kids. And yes there is the narrow lanes and immense traffic problem which we opt to say as THE reason for this.
WORK ETHICS: You did mention the term “productivity” in here so id like to talk about the productivity of our nation first. We are the highest producers of cotton in the world but the problem is that most of our cotton are made into clothes, then shipped out the country, where the logo of this foreign company is being printed and it is shipped back to us and sold. something that is worth a maximum of 10$ is sold to us for 40$ or more. And also there has been a nuclear pact that we signed with a foreign country [im sure you’d know who] where we are given 3rd grade used equipment and they aren’t even prepared to take the liability in case these equipment falter. I do agree that we are being headed by corrupt people but is it fair just to blame us for it? When a corrupt cop takes a bribe from an Indian citizen it is fair only when both of these people take the blame for it. Wouldn’t the same rule apply here too? Or would you just chuck the rule out just because its on such a huge scale?
And now yes work ethics. Most of the honest straight forward hardworking people are being overstepped and not allowed to grow by the seniors here. And also considering that the IT sector, which of course being a tertiary sector, provides the highest jobs here, we mostly collaborate with companies from USA and Britain. When you people have an off day because its a national holiday like thanks-giving or Christmas we aren’t allowed that. we cant take our holidays off because you people are working and we cant take your holidays off either plainly cause its not a holiday for us. So for someone coming from such a place who is usually the dumpster who gets dumped with all the work everyday trying to laze off a little would be excusable right? Im not saying its right here but im just saying that when judging someone the environment and the society they grew up in should be considered too, yes?
STINGINESS: You see we basically come from a place where the currency value is considerably less than yours. 1$ = 60.60 Rs today. We could get a pack of chips for 10 Rs in India which is less than 20 cents when its obviously not that cheap there. So with food and all basic needs we aren’t used to spending as much as you guys and as we have this tenancy to always convert it to our currency it just seems very expensive. That is just the mindset here and also we like to save money unlike the american moto of “earn to spend”, plainly because we do not have the privileges that an american citizen has like the annual pension and stuff. And also we Indians have more familial values. When we earn the money is just not for a single person alone but for his family which will be a minimum of 4 people [husband, wife and 2 children], easily more taking our parents or sisters etc. You see there is this annoyingly stupid tradition where we have to pay the groom to wed the bride. Its called DOWRY. And also all the expenses of the marriage will have to be taken care by the parents or brothers of the bride, and marriages here are fucking unbelievably expensive [for our standard of living of course]. So an average Indian man has to earn 4 or 5 times an average American to be so lavish.
Id completely agree to the rest of your points concerning female equality, hygiene, women, corruption, Dirt and Chaos, Cows roaming the roads [with cats, dogs,lambs, poultry and even ducks at times. U could even see rare ones like emus (there is one roaming the roads near where i live)] and most definitely standing in ques. As far as men holding hands n walking iv never seen that part in the 23 years iv lived here.
I do agree that we seem like a 3rd world country at times but we are in fact a developing country and certain people are paying off our leaders to ensure that we be a developing country. Iv really been wondering why though. If you’d like me to i can also explain why we are so in certain things, especially like how women are being treated here, equality and things. And ya i loved your blog and laughed hysterically at many places.
And yes u left something out. An Indian would never accept his mistake and will always resort to denial rather than accepting it and trying to correct it. I do not know if this is a trait in people in other countries but it most definitely is in us. We’d always try to blame someone else and even if we are pushed to a corner and we have no choice but to agree to it we’d only agree to it that time and come out and swear at that person behind his back. WE NEVER ACCEPT THAT WE ARE AT FAULT. 😛
I liked reading the blog. Its interesting to know how other people look at you. And since this is a blog about stereotypes, and yes there are stereotypes (we too have them about foreigners) so, I take no offence at all. Let me try to help you know a little better about India with regard to the above stereotypes.
Accent: Yes we have a different accent while speaking English. In fact, even in India there’re many accents with regard to different regions and linguistic communities while speaking not only English but our own languages too. We are mostly bilingual, as you know we have a lot of languages here. Do check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers_in_India
So when somebody speaks other than his mother tongue, the accent is so much different.
And let me tell you we too find it funny when some westerner speaks our language, so no issues here.
Driving Skills: I cannot comment about it since I haven’t been to a foreign country. But, I can tell you about India. Drivers here I feel are fine. Traffic rules are mostly observed in cities, in country side there is very scant regard for rules, I guess its because the traffic is very less.
Bollywood dancing: Well, this is typical of Indian cinema and there’s no need at all to change. Every art has its own different way, there are no rules as such. There have been movies without any songs at all, depending on the theme or requirements of the movie. But generally songs are there in movies here. Its like poetries in a prose. The songs reflect the mood of a situation in the movie and I think its really good. In a really real movie, there shouldn’t be any background music either but, do we have such movies? even in Hollywood?
“Many Indian movies are just a blatant rip-off of famous Hollywood movies”. You are wrong about it. Yes there have been movies where ideas, storyline, etc. have been adopted from foreign movies or sometimes simply copy and paste. The Indian Film Industry is very very big. Hollywood or any cinema of any country or even a whole continent cannot be compared to the diversity and sheer size of Indian Cinema. Bollywood is just a part of it. We have the regional South Indian, East Indian (Bengal and Northeast), North Indian Cinema here and these are quite developed film industries. So even if we copy the whole Hollywood cinema, we still have ten times more movies left to use original ideas! Even Hollywood has adopted many Asian cinema movies, (Honk Kong industry). The famous “The Departed” is an example.
The Work Ethics: Work Ethics are fine here, I don’t know about how it is in foreign countries.
Private Businesses are very well managed. Yes in government offices there can be some lethargy at the lower level but, it isn’t as bad as portrayed.
“Indians are not hardworking and are likely to take shortcuts”. This is complete rubbish. The richest person and family in the UK are Indians. Our business community is very talented and have the highest “ethics”.
In the west you have the term “Corporate Social Responsibility”, let me tell you friend we always had had it even before the west understood and developed this terminology! It was the “duty” of the merchant community to develop there local cities and villages. Hospitals, schools, colleges, etc, were all provided by the merchant community apart from paying taxes and all. Of course, now this has changed a little because of western or modern influence. Indians in the west are highly successful and I’m sure this wouldn’t have been the case had they been lazy or low at work ethics!
“India is a third world country drowning in poverty and corruption”. Not correct. Various studies show Asia is the future. China and India might overtake the west in economic and military power. We’re one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The third largest active military and one of the top military powers of the world. We aren’t drowning, we are coming out of poverty. By the way this corruption thing has been blown out of proportion. Its because of media it became too conspicuous. You must have heard about corrupt regimes in Africa, eastern Europe riddled with civil wars and various conflicts. That’s corruption which could be drowning. Just read about Thailand now and you’ll know when to call some country drowning in corruption. Here we’re the largest, robust, strong, most lively democracy. We are from the east, where the sun rises first and not some third world.
Regarding the low quality websites, this would be a very unfair generalization. Just because I encounter some American hackers, I cannot generalize that all Americans are hackers!
Indian IT industry is one of the most well developed in the world. There have been many Indians who have contributed and founded many leading IT companies in America and India, eg. Sun Microsystems. The “Father of the Pentium chip” was an Indian! Our IT industry here is exporting products, services all over the world including the US. Your Microsoft and Apple workforce or engineers have a susbstantial Indians. The CEO of Microsoft is an Indian now. Indians are top of the charts at education, income if you compare with any other ethnic group in US. Regarding why Indians live their country and come to US? This phenomenon is not there anymore as it was in the 20th century. I think it was because of better opportunities in the West. There are westerners working in the middle east because of better opportunities.
The Gangster / unhealthy office environment: You might be right about Indians hiring Indians only. Even in India, an employer will like if not prefer employees from his region.
Indians are nice and helpful: Spot on here!
Indians are Cheap and Stingy: Our culture is to live modest. But if you will we are cheap and stingy, my strong advice : visit an Indian wedding!
Indian food: I’m glad you like Indian food. But, there’s a lot more to explore when it comes to “Indian cuisine”. I’m assuming Punjabi food is what is popular in America and Europe so, try having Bengali, East Indian Cuisine and certainly South Indian. Its different from the north/west and I hope you like it.
Head Shake: hahah..never thought about it! The video was funny. I actually googled this head shake. I think if you shake your head up down it means yes and if sideways it means no, at least that’s how I use it.
Female equality: You cannot be more wrong when comparing west with India. I do agree that we still have problem with women issues here and “male dominated nation”. Male domination wouldn’t be the right phrase to use. Its culture difference.
America, UK, France, Switzerland became democracies long ago but when did they give voting rights to women? It was only in the 20th century that women got voting rights. Germany gave it in 1918 and so many other “developed” “civilized” nations in Europe. But in India, even before Independence from the British we advocated women’s rights. Mahatma Gandhi participated in women’s movement for voting rights in UK. We’ve had woman prime minister, president, chief ministers (equivalent of governor in US), chief of a ruling party. Women are very much active in politics here, more than in the US. Although, I’m no where denying we have problems but, we have come a long way and are moving forward faster than before. Regarding rapes, its a shame that we have such crimes, but, tell me doesn’t rapes happen in the US? Here we’ve become more conscious of this crime and are committed to wipe it out completely and that’s why it’s so much highlighted in the media and debated which make it a lot conspicuous.
“bunch of creepy Indians staring at the girl” : Sorry for the bad experience. In India, women are conservatively dressed except in big cities. So, when they see a lady differently dressed, it’s a different experience. Such cases can be seen in Indian metro cities too.
Indians are Corrupt: Just too much exaggeration as explained above.
Cows Roam the Roads: Spot on! Cow is very scared in our culture. We treat her like our mother, we even call it mother.You see, in our culture everything is not just respected, its worshiped. We have a temple where rats roam free and people and rats eat from the same plate! I think you can see that in the movie “The Darjeeling Limited”. And beef is a big big taboo! There are exceptions like Muslims and some Hindus too but, they are minuscule. Its not easily available except in some very few places.
The “Real India” is Dirt and Chaos: You see that has its own beauty. Its a big population but still we try to live in harmony with the nature. You people are a small population but look what have you done to the environment!
Hygiene: We do wash hands. That’s a wrong stereotype. In some Hindu households, you cannot enter the kitchen without a bath. Actually its funny, westerners are perceived unhygienic because of not taking bath regularly and some toilet habits. I guess Americans bath regularly but it wasn’t the norm earlier in Europe and America. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Indians Standing in Queue: That’s true. On a philosophical note, Indians have the most private space in the world.
Indian men holding hands while walking: Well we do put arm on friends shoulder while walking but, do not hold hands.
Indians with power are arrogant and bossy: Well not correct and not wrong. Indians with power are as good as any other man with power. By the way, isn’t that the case with the American government!
All Indians want to immigrate out of India: Not at all. The number which migrated is just a very small fraction of population. The opportunities are far better now.
“Indians will consume the resources of the whole planet”: Can an American be more hypocrite while saying this! The most resources are consumed by the western world and especially America, out of proportion to their population. The whole problem of climate change and pollution is the gift of the west. We might be the largest in numbers but we’ve always maintained a harmony with the nature. Indian philosophy is about living modest because, there’s no end to a man’s wants and greed.
I’ve no problems with the stereotypes, what I’ve tried is to correct some facts.
Very well written Manish. Really touched my heart. Thank you for writing it.
Most of the comments made by the author are true I being an Indian do accept most & let us all be honest about this, there’s nothing wrong in admitting faults if they help you improve – lets put it point wise –
1. Yes, the guy with the moustache in a sunny or Yaris, being a lane hogger – very common sight and these fools don’t even give way. also accidents are caused mostly because of different driving speeds than speed alone;
2. Indians will always stick to their race, specially true for Indians from a particular state who speak their own language & are an insigficant part of India & ignored there take out that frustration here;
3. Yes – Indians are notoriously in work places & hence they create a bad working atmosphere –
1. They want to know your personal life; 2. They do favor their own kind – but yes 1 thing about them is they are excellent at their job;
most lower & middle level employees you get here are from 2 – 3 countries mainly – the rest of them are just good at doing what’s told like a robot – no initiative & no decision making capability – an Indian exceeds there;
4. Yes Indians have no concept of personal finances, they never know how much to save or how much of their income to spend – so they don’t have a sense of personal hygiene or well being and in the process they create a bad impression for others. an Indian will drive a BMW but wear a shabby shirt brought from a roadside vendor, yes they lack priority.
5. Indian society in some ways are still backward & men oriented; Guys & girls mixing freely before marriage is a rarity & the concept of arranged marriages should have no place in modern society; also indian men keep living on with their parents after marriage something not possible anywhere else;
Now that Indians have been criticized enough, let me tell you how to change your opinion about us –
1. Please don’t judge Indians by the majority of people you see in the Middle East, please read about Indian history & you would know which communities are at the forefront.
2. To know Indians you should spend some quality time with a professional from the metros – you will love them – their level of intellect and knowledge are at par with any other race in the world.
Well there are a lot of good qualities in us –
1. Excellent food – biriyani & kebabs & tandoors;
2. The educated ones are soft spoken and really well mannered – the ones you find obnoxious are not doing it on purpose – they don’t know what’s right & the concept of personal space of others.
3. Indians are some of the most hardworking people
4. Family oriented – divorces among the educated ones are very less;
To truly judge & write about Indians you should segregate between the educated ones & the ones who have grown up in an urban environment. Even Indians from the urban or the metros ant relate to the others, this is mainly because of a city centric development throughout the country.
Well, also one thing, they are very protective about their accent. I grew up in a foreign country.. never spent more than a month in india, and just bz I have an accent they find me some kinda show off dude, and always tells me, you are an indian so talk like indian 😀 I’ve never had any other people asking me about my accent except indian. Nd this is very funny nd rude. Yes I ve seen lazy indians too.
basically the author has got many points right here but again he is wrong upon various things.
here i am pointing out the errors i found in his assumptions:
1. all indians do not worship cows and it is legal to eat cow in every state, it is just not legal to slaughter cows in 22 out of the 29 states in india. again it is true that you can find a cow in any indian but seriously i don’t think it is much more controversial than all those cats that u see in new york.
2. regarding hygene. it seems that the author has come into contact with only those indians who don’t bathe. the phrase- ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’ has its origins in india. i am a middle clas guy from india and for all i know people here bath on an average, twice a day. now talking about these stereotypes my friend is part of the airline crew with ‘air india’ (an indian airlines) and he tells me that europeans especially the french do not bath daily, now i am i to believe that or not , i don’t know. About the smell; well i think every land has its own peculiar smell and it has been scientifically proven that the type of food that you eat determines your body odour therefore, a smell that u may find repulsive might be normal for us while the smells that u may find normal might be repulsive to us.
3. Talking about dance moves in bollywood films, well if you find it rather odd how an impromptu dance starts in bollywood (and for that matter any indian cinemea and let me clarify here that indian cinema consists of various other film industries and not just bollywood) then i do find it odd that every alien invasion starts with new york. It is not just indian cinema which exaggerates, hollywood does it too; case in point- white house down, olympus has fallen and while it seems that indian cinema is living in a world of dance routines hollywood is in a dreamworld fantasising about superheroes( i mean seriously, captain america? this is 21st century for god’s sake). About the dance moves which some may find funny, well i must tell it is a matter of perspective even i find some of those dance moves funny but again i also find salsa and waltz to be funny.
4. Being cheap? well i would call it staying away from consumerism. And for those who are pious christians, well i thought you knew that consumerism is a sin. And as a matter of fact it is this same propensity to save that saved us from the global recession.
5. CORRUPT? well frankly i don’t see how you stereotype on this regard. Because as far as i know no country is pristine in this regard, each and every country is marred by this.
6. oh come on !!! seriously? i bet that each and every one of you has a distinct and differentiating accent.
An Indian coworker and I were chatting and the subject of the conversation somehow got to stereotypes. Long story short, HE said he was cheap (his exact words). He drove a Honda Accord and 3 families lived under the same roof in his home. His marriage was also arranged and I guess you could say he was the epitome of a typical Indian. I didn’t ask why he is cheap or anything judgemental, rather, I asked him if he was happy living this way. He really had nothing to say and it dawned on me that Indians are more selfish than anything because he explained they wouldn’t think of wasting money on going out to eat to a nice restaurant pets or donating to charity because “I only do thinlgs that benefit me.” It is what it is and people are people. In the end, we all decide who we want to be friends with and sadly many people don’t value relationships as much as others. Ever since I had this conversation with him, I’ve noticed things that enforce the things he said.
I’ll give you an example….next time you’re at a nice restaurant, look around and see if you can spot an Indian family. You rarely will…it is what it is and we choose who we associate with. Thing is they think you’re living in their world instead all of us living together. I think that’s the worst thing about Indian culture.
Rob,
There is nothing wrong in being frugal and perhaps that is what your Indian co-worker meant by saying that he is cheap. There is nothing wrong sharing your home with your parents and extended family and I guess that’s what he meant by saying that 3 families lived under the same roof. And. what’s wrong with driving an Honda Accord. Just because you can afford a Mercedes does not mean you should use it. You should only buy things that you need not what you can afford. Perhaps if you don’t understand this that speaks more of your culture rather than the Indian culture.
Just to remind you, you cannot generalize any culture, religion based on your individual experience. For eg. one cannot go to the middle of the ISIS caliphate and say all arabs are terrorists/murderers. I hope you do get my point. It is certainly too much a flawed principle to judge a culture by going to a restaurant and looking for people who are not present there.
If you still don’t understand it, I guess I can do little to help you out. I have little control on how much gray matter your have.
Hi, I was searching about Japanese culture and I found your blog I have read the Japanese stereotype and the Germans and loved what you wrote it was very enlightening, but when I continued to Indians’ and Filipino’s , poor Filipinos you ate them alive. I think its harsh and kinda mean especially the thing about women. Also calling India dirty is very offensive just watch 80 gardens around the world and you will see the beauty of India. I think we shouldn’t rely on stereotypes, we should judge every person individually after getting to know him. I’m guilty as well because the first thought gets into my mind after knowing you are Lebanese is that oh my god he shouldn’t write about stereotypes because he is racist and a snap and thinking this way is wrong we’re all humans we have the same hopes and dreams and fears. What you wrote about Lebanese is very objective and not bias at all that is why I decided to follow the blog. I hope all the best to you and I want to ask you a question what the good qualities you found in Indians.
Hi again Rayyan, 🙂
You are so sweet and funny :), I didn’t eat the Filipinos and Indians alive :), I am just trying to be honest and say what I believe to be true. This blog would loose its purpose if I will be focusing only on Positive stereotypes and that is why I sometimes have to point out the “harsh” reality.
I agree, India has a lot of natural beauty; but on the other hand, overpopulation has many downsides that reflect negatively on the civic beauty and hygiene.
I am so thankful to you for taking the time to read all through my stereotypes articles. I am also very happy that you noticed that I wasn’t biased while describing the Lebanese people. I agree that we cannot judge people by Stereotypes. I do not live my life this way; I wrote this blog because I enjoy analyzing and describing people but in daily life I treat everyone nicely and I give them chances to draw their own image of who they are as individuals.
Finally, your question, “What are the good qualities I have found in Indians?”
They are many 🙂
1- Indians are very ambitious and persistent in pursuing all matters in life and I highly respect this quality in Indian people in general.
2- Indians are long term thinkers and that is why they love buying gold, saving money, and planning their future. All these are good qualities.
3- Most Indians I have met are very friendly and helpful (as long as they are not in a competitive office environment).
4- Indians are in touch with their spiritual side, that is why Yoga and Meditation and many of the spiritual sciences were born in India
Well that is all for now, 🙂
Hi, I just want to set things straight. Both of my parents were born and raised in India. I spent most of my life in India then I joined school here in the USA. I visit India many times and I look at my very own country and think that we could do a lot better. Our roads are polluted, granted! that is very true; However, that does not give you any right to judge our culture. In fact, it is none of your business to judge us.
But I’ve got to say, the videos were absolutely hilarious and I laughed along too. I even showed my parents and they had a good laugh. But when they scrolled down they had tears in their eyes; not because of all the racist remarks or quotes, but the fact that a lot of people have treated them the exact way stated in this blog. In work, they would be excluded, due to the fact that they’re Indian. I just really think that some Indians do push the boundaries. But please don’t think that everyone is like that. Thank you 🙂
Hi Priyanka,
Reading your comment, i could tell that you and your family are very sweet and polite; I am sorry that you have felt discriminated against or excluded. However, I would still blame India, because if your own country had provided the opportunities you are reaching for abroad, you wouldn’t have had to migrate to the United States to start with. Most of us human beings, find it hard to fit in and adapt, in school, in college, in work… life is very competitive and tough and it becomes tougher if you are foreign (or a 1st generation citizen).
I may not have the right to judge other people or other cultures, I also wouldn’t criticize Indian people living in India. If I ever visit India, I would tolerate any “odd” or “intrusive” behavior because it is my responsibility as a foreigner to adapt to the Indian culture and accept it as it is. On the other hand, I wouldn’t have to tolerate such behavior here in Dubai or Abu Dhabi or United States or any other place on Earth. Why? Because, it is your responsibility as an Expat or someone with a newly acquired citizenship to adhere to the cultural and behavioral norms in the country that you have chosen to reside in.
Thank you for your comment, I do know that not all Indian people fit into the stereotypes within this article 🙂 and I do meet such culturally sensitive and considerate Indian people too.
People from india do not migrate to the usa because there are no opportunities here its because there is a need for skilled engineers and scientists to fill positions u do not have the qualifications to fill and i find your comments on acclimation hilarious i suppose white people adhered to cultural and behavioral norms of native Americans when u conquered the country??? (Not that i think men staring at your gf was ok in any way) Yes we have problems ,yes we are overpopulated but there are many many places in india that are clean and where people do not smell not all people in india are poor . The pictures you have shown are of probably labouring and working class people who are probably more worried about their next meal than buying deoderant. Russell peters is amazing but comedy is not reality. As an indian woman i can tell you that we would not have had women prime ministers in india if women are badly treated we are more restricted when it comes to things like dating or marriage but are given complete freedom to study and work. India is an ancient nation full of wisdom in an advanced state of decay we have forgotten our own worth and no matter how many people seem to have negative views of it i woudnt change being indian for any thing else in the world no matter how advanced u may consider yourself to be.
PLEASE!!Give me a break…I worked for an Indian man and it was HELL!He was stingy as shit and wanted the most work but did not want to pay me!He was always looking for a discount for himself or trying to barter…as if he was still in India.He looked down on everyone that was not Indian,so don’t tell me about “Your” people bc it’s all true facts…deal with like I had to deal with him.He also worshiped the ground that white americans walked on…but was very prejudice against anyone that was not Indian or white…what a joke…I gave him the deuces and told him to go straight to hell!
Hi, I read your blog and I found little humour in it. I am from northern part of India and to be honest I do realize the different nature of Indians from the rest of the world. I personally think its a lack of communication with people from outside India, also people are very orthodox with their religion. I have lived in london and China for long time and I realized there is nothing much different with the nature of people, its just a different mindset and approach towards life. However I have read and known Indian stereotype earlier as well and what really will be fascinating for me as reader is how does the stereotypes affects the rest of the world coz personally I think if the world was all white and black then there would have not been rainbow.
Vivek
Before I comment, I would like to explain my background. I am Gujarati (western India that borders Pakistan), I am Hindu. I was born and raised in England and immigrated to America when i was 12. I have been to India at least 14 times of which my longest stay was 7 months, and I love that country, and I love my ethnicity.
To all those Indians who seem offended by this article, I am going to explain and add my own perspective on this author’s words. I didn’t really find any part of this article offensive.
1) The racist quotes in the beginning of the article ARE NOT this authors views. He simply was starting the article with some absurd stereotypes as an introduction to the article.
2) Anything this author has said is from his own personal experience and perspective and he mentions his limitations of knowledge whenever it is relevant,
INDIAN ACCENT – all foreign accents seem funny or strange – its perspective. The author says there is no shame in an accent
INDIAN DRIVING SKILLS – you are delusional if you think the indian traffic system has any order. The abundance of motorcycles, rikshaws, and trucks causes a lot of chaos. The sheer volume of motor vehicles is a huge problem let alone the lack of infrastructure in many areas of the country. The concept of lanes and staying within your own lane isn’t usually followed. The author mentions the use of a “Fast Lane” aka a “Passing Lane” and how Indians disregard it. I think most foreigners lack knowledge about driving rules and conduct in new countries especially when you transition from India to the highly organized traffic systems you find in Western Countries.
BOLLYWOOD – the author says he enjoys Indian Movies and Songs. And from the author’s perspective of Movies, the songs do appear randomly and sporadically. That is our culture and he respects it. Bollywood does steal content from Hollywood as do other huge film Industries. Since I am a film buff I notice a lot of stolen content. To those who are saying newer films have less of the singing and dancing. It is true, Bollywood is adapting fast, but Hindi Film Dance is and will always be a huge part of Bollywood. And this author praised our songs and the beauty of our actresses (and they are GORGEOUS)
Examples
– Ghajini – and Aamir Khan is my favorites producer/director/actor direct rip off of the
famous movie Memento (and this movie is old)
– God Tussi Great Ho – direct ripoff of Bruce Almighty
– Hunger Games – Hollywood and the author stole this idea from the Korean Film
called Battle Royale – so different industries do this.
INDIAN WORK ETHIC – For any nation there are hard workers and there are bums. Same can be said for India. As for Work Ethic as a student, Indians value education more so than Western Culture. And Orientals even more so than us. As for Immigrants, from my experience, especially in America (and definitely applies to most of my family), we work hard and succeed. Business Ownership and then First Generation Children tend to work towards highly prestigious careers (I myself am into my 3rd year of med school). As for Indians hiring Indians. This has some merit only is heavily populated Indian communities – ex. New Jersey. Indian owns Dunkin’ Donuts, and will opt to hire mostly new incoming Indian Immigrants. As for shortcuts, I see it more as a route of efficiency. Why do unnecessary work? But we will work diligently if it is necessary and demanded.
INDIANS ARE CHEAP AND STINGY – this is a fact – cheap is a bad word, I prefer frugal. . Indian Bargaining Skills are very impressive. and we will always bargain to the best deal. But most important thing about this is to understand WHY? I will use my mother as an example. We Indians are VERY Family Oriented. My mother always says, every dollar I save is an extra dollar for my 2 sons. And Indians will go above and beyond and spend as much as needed for their family (ESPECIALLY their kids)
INDIAN HEAD WOBBLE – author said it was “cute” – cute is a positive remark for those offended by it. It is our unique nod and Indians do have the head wobble. First generation Indians in Western Countries don;t do it but know how to.
INDIAN WOMEN – as for equality, people do not think India a very modern place, but its Huge Cites are quite modern and progressive. For those offended by these author’s words, I know you love your country but again do not be delusional. In the poorest parts of India women’s rights is a sad topic (Very young arranged marriages with no consent, Dowry System, these things still exist in India) – but it is slowly changing. Indian Culture still involves the basic family structure of Mother and Father with unique roles. It is changing, but to be honest to a lot of women this isn’t subjugation or anything. Women in the US also experience their own forms of discrimination as well.
AUTHOR I DISAGREE HERE – the whole sexual predator thing is pretty offensive.
Maybe after I have explained some things you will understand. In Western Culture
when you are caught staring, its considered rude and almost immediately after your
eyes have met, you look away. No such thing in Indian Culture. It isn’t rude and there
isn’t any internal “Look Away” System when eyes meet. Rape rates would most likely
match most Urban Populations on the planet. And Prostitution exists everywhere.
INDIANS ARE CORRUPT – the person isn’t corrupt but Indian Politics as well as Police is insanely corrupt. And this is the opinion of my parents born and raised in India. How many times a police officer has pulled us over in Bombay the moment he sees Gujarati License Plates on our vehicle. And the moment he notices me being foreign … game over. We have bribed a police officer and/or airport official EVERY time we have been to India. Every day life … Love Modi though, he did fix a lot of the corruption in Gujarat and should make strides as Prime Minister. India as many other developing countries demonstrates high levels of corruption.
COWS – they do roam the streets – at least in Gujarat I know of.
INDIA DIRTY – honestly, I have so much fun in Bombay, but the city is so damn polluted. There are also many places in India without a proper Trash Disposal Systems. Trash Cans are nonexistent in a lot of places, and people litter on the ground quite often. In our defense, though, you only showed pictures of crowded buses …. How is that Dirty.Also a lot of the landscape in India is dirt/sand based, and you cant get rid of that. South India is Paradise, also less crowded.
INDIANS WITH FOREIGN PASSPORTS – sorry mate, this statement has no foundation regarding smugness and rudeness. And no not all Indians want to immigrate out of India. Indians tend to immigrate to where their family is, and often times, we have family in many places around the word. Also Indians immigrate towards economic opportunity as would any culture.
HYGIENE – we keep ourselves clean like another culture. We may smell different
Things I love About India more than West
COMMUNITY – no stranger danger. If a grown man in the US were pat the head of a young boy or girl and give them a treat, Sirens would go off. In India, I love the sense of community, especially in village life. It’s one big caring family. Safest place when part of an Indian Community. No harm will ever come to a child. Personal Story – when i was a child, my Dad and me were on a motorcycle. A care rear ends us, my dad flies onto the cars windshield and im holding onto the motorcycle handles as the it comes to a stop and tips. I am for the most part unharmed, but I am crying. crowd of onlookers, see a crying child, pull the 2 people from the car out and beat the crap out of them LOL. Children are loved in India
FOOD – Indian Cuisine along with all its spice combination is spectacular. I go on food marathons especially when it comes to Indian Street Food – SO GOOD. The variety and diversity from state to state, no other Cuisine comes close. And believe me, I eat everything. I was raised the UK, so I am a meat eater. I do not eat beef however. Side Note – I am Hindu, and I wouldn’t say I am religious, but I have strong faith.
Didn’t finish a statement about Indian hygiene. we are a very clean people. Obviously poverty-stricken people do not have the luxury of cleanliness. As for our smell, often times its the different things we use, such as Coconut Hair Oil. And different cultures find different smells appealing.
Here is the thing about stereotypes… If a person comes to you and says ” you’re a jerk. ” you can ignore this. If a thousand people come to you telling you “you’re a jerk” you may want to evaluate yourself. stereotypes are caused by consistent cultural behavior observations. But we can’t deny that there is a large percentage of truth behind them. All of them, not just about Indians. Not every person of that culture may follow the stereotype, but enough do to create it. Work a month in a customer service position in the United States, then get back to me and voice your opinion about stereotypes. I work in a restaurant that is quickly being ruined because Indian populations have exploded around it and the profit margin can’t handle the haggling. And on that note.. To any of middle eastern decent reading this…it’s not just etiquette to tip a delivery driver or a waitress. In the blizzard this week more than 80% of our Indian customers DID NOT TIP THE DRIVER. Shame on them.
I am sorry to hear that Kelly.
I personally do not understand why some people happily pay 20$ for a meal, but find it so difficult to give a 2$ tip to the driver or waitress. If you (Mr. No tipper) can’t afford to pay 22 $, then maybe you should prepare your own food? or maybe you can go to a restaurant, get your food, eat it at home and then clean after yourself and save your precious 2$.
I didn’t get this though ” And on that note.. To any of middle eastern decent reading this…” . Do you mean to say that Middle Easterners are bad tippers too? Middle East is not the same as South of Asia (where India is ) 🙂
Every culture has stereotypes. I try to be self aware of the ones I don’t like about my culture. And if someone meets me I try to reflect other positive things about me that make me NOT like my stereotype.
I am Indian and it is true that we are stinky as shit and cannot accept our negative aspects as everyone in this world knows. And we try to convince people we are not like this and that is by asking them “have u ever visited India?” ; We think if the person hasn’t visited India then he might be confused as he might have heard worst thing about India through some other person. We know that we are living in hell but try to pretend to other citizen that we are happy and proud. But, proud of what? We say to ourselves that we are the largest democratic country in the world according to population but we don’t see that we are the poorest country in the world according to the number of people living in poverty. Even all the poor people in Asia and Africa combined are less than the poor people living in India. So much poverty in India. Rape and murder cases in the capital frequently. This gives an idea how other places might be when the Indian capital city is having this kind of problems. India is not secure at all for the foreigners who come to India and for Indians as well. That is why Indians hate other Indians.
Though, we have all these problems which other countries in the world don’t have. Even poor African countries are better in living standard and security of people than India.
Indians say they hate racism when they are in other country because they feel that they are a minority group. However, when they are in India they share racist comments and act racist; not only towards people of other countries but also towards Indias from any of the other 29 states.
First, we should try to improve our selves in all the aspects rather than pointing fingers to other nations and citizen of various colors. Everyone other than Indians struggle to live in India due to the mentality of the people in India. We have the most polluted cities in the world, we have higher numbers of people living in poverty than any other country in the world and our thinking is cheap as hell. So, lets stop convincing other people that we don’t have these problems as a starting step towards improving our selves in all aspects.
And all the things that you have mentioned are absolutely true and we should accept the truth instead of being ignorant.
The problem stereotyping Indians is that the North Indians have no clue about South Indian languages and cultures especially malayalees. Bangalore, Goa and Kerala are one if the coolest places to live on the planet, but get no recognition. Where else can you go to a Hindu temple, jewish synagogue, Muslim mosque, catholic church, non denomination church, gurduware and Buddha temple all in one street or area, The beaches and surfing are amazing , kerala has a 99% literacy rate and is super clean.
Indian accents are not sexy or cool. It is what it is. French and British accents sound sexy to the Chinese but never Indian accents.
There are some pretty indian girls but not many because they dont mix. Latin women, Mixed and white girls remain hot to Indian guys.
To control Indias population they must encourage that marriage is not for everyone and that people can volunteer there times and energy to end doweries, feed the poor, adopt orpahns and for couples to enjoy life and travel and not have kids. The more marriages the more orphan kids and poor hungry people. Most Indians are moving back to India from all lover the world which is driving real estate prices through the roof. All the money made in foreign countries does not go back into the local economy.
There are too many rich and too many poor in India. The best movies in India come from Tamil movies in Chennai. The best song/dance bollywood and the best stories are from Kerala. Andamon islands are the best part of india and the Kashmir Buddha temples..the taj mahal looks like a dump these days
The Chinese and African populations in India that have been therefore centuries receives the highest racism while the white population born in India is praised for everything
Many say India would be more clean and organized and Pakistan would never had split if India had not listened to Gandhi they say he destroyed the country Many British colonies that have freedom today were advanced by the British investment
I believe someone forgot to mention one of the biggest stereotype or fact of my people… We don’t accept any criticism or fact very easily and are ready to challenge it at any time and you cannot have a healthy debate with us on any topic because people from my country just like to talk and never interested in listening. One of the biggest fact about most of my countrymen is that we have a huge inferiority complex which has somehow got attached in our DNA during the 300 year of British rule… We went from being the country known as the land of the golden bird to being so poor and gave birth to this mindset that we are inferior than the other races. This inferiority complex has given rise to the habits of showing off, to make one’s children aim for only medical or engineering profession as the rest won’t do, to shout “proud to be an Indian” whenever someone of even the slightest indian connection does something good (i am sick and tired of these proud to be an Indian messages on facebook because if i look at the whole image that we portray to anyone then its too early to be proud of as we have tons to do). The Indians pretend a lot to anyone outside India that there is no problem at all and that they are all unified one nation but that is just bullshit. As long as India has 200 different languages and the 5000 year old caste system – it can never be United as one nation and anyone can break our unity on the basis of caste, colour, language and religion. To conclude if this post was started to share myths or facts to have a healthy debate and to get a better understanding about my countrymen then good luck because we only listen when we stop talking and that we never do.
Just to state an example of the inferiority complex or the closed mind that most of my countrymen carry – During my MBA in Edinburgh, I heard few of the Indian students from my batch asking one of our batch mate from Nigeria about his country’s GDP and then made fun that the GDP of his country was lower than Wallmart’s annual turnover. The Nigerian guy laughed with them and did not feel offended as he took it in the right spirit, that of a humor. Few weeks later, my pals from US, Greece and Italy were surfing the youtube when we came across a Indian song video where the actor was dressed as Superman and the actress in the Spiderman’s costume and they are dancing aka Bollywood style with head, shoulder and hip movement and it all looked very funny and we all had a good laugh. We shared that video with our entire class and all had a huge laugh except my countrymen who I could see with a not so impressed grin on the faces. Next day, my American, Greek and Italian and me received a facebook message from this Indian fraternity that please do not make fun of India by showing such things as it is an insult to the Indian nation. The FB message to me went as far as labelling me as a traitor for being a key part to this whole charade and that I was not a true Indian as I mocked my own country. It was at that point I came to the realization that I am actually the true Indian who carries an open mind and am definitely not like the ones with this inferiority complex and closed mind. My response to these so called Indians was pretty simple and was summed up in one line containing 5 words – “Grow up and F**k Off”… Never heard from them ever again 🙂
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.
I completely agree because I worked in Indian Government and know how arrogant Indian officers(IAS) majority and Green card Holders in USA are headstrong fellows. Not all but 90%.
Indians are awesome, i actually envy indians beauty, and envy how they keep their culture up till now.. Bollywood?? That was amazing! I can watch it for a day, nd the way they dance the way they perform is just great. Yes, honestly i dont like their food and their smell, but it doesnt mean we need to take this as a basis of judging them. I just love them, im a filipino btw
All i can say indians are the best in the world thats proves by in every country there are indians working hard and running that country because the original people of those countries are damm lazy, just like holidays, fun, food etc. Very soon indians will run whole world.
oh, dear Sharma, please get over yourself. Before you try turning the whole world into another India, please make India a decent place to live in. Maybe, just maybe, if you do that, then the rest of the world might trust you “to run the whole world”.
I’m Indian, and a proud one, too. But your comments make me laugh.
Now, THAT’S biases.
….And Indians are very defensive. Will NEVER recongise a fact against. I live in Dubai and lots of them here, everything said in the blog is true, whether they get offended or not.
1. Accent – It is correct Indians have an accent. What about Americans from different parts of the country? Do all Americans have the same accent? African Americans? British? Australians? Are they stereotyped?
2. Indan Driving Skills – Correct that Indian driving skills are different from Americans. Why? I am sure you are referring to the migrant Indian driving skils. Not of an American Indian. With its massive population, streets are over-crowded. Unlike America, roads are shared by all types of vehicles – bicycles, bikes, other 2 wheelers, three wheelers, four wheelers such as cars, trucks, buses..etc. It is obvious that maneuver skills required in such a setting is quite different from that of an American setting.
Are you sure that every migrant Indian has poor driving skills? How many accidents or raod rage have you experienced because of a migrant Indian’s poor driving skills?
3. Cheap/Stingy – Really? Let’s say you are correct. They do not spend recklessly if that is what makes them stingy. They plan for future reserves. But India does not have Thrift stores or garage sales. They do not buy used clothing and used stuff and if that makes them cheap and stingy, so be it. India does not have Black Friday shopping, Labor Day sale, New Year sale,..etc where people camp at the store all night to get cheap stuff or discounted commodities.
4. Hygiene – Even in such a over-populated country, how many epedimics have been reported/heard of? How many non-Indians in America (including Americans) use saliva to flip pages in a book and then shake hands with others? This is hygiene!
5. Private space – Have you ever notice how much private space is respected during Black Friday shopping at a store? This only tells that overcrowd or overpopulation creates lack fo space and as along as you are not touched, it’s respecting your private space.
Food – Americans eat meat at every meal. Is this a correct opinion? Probably not, but that is the first impression. Similarly, Indian food is not just curry. In fact, I can claim that Americans have not been introduced to the real, diverse Indian cuisine. It does not just vary by state but within a state tiself. The day-to-day food is much more diverse than the boring so-called curry Westerners know about.
MantisShrimp – I have only discussed few of the steroetype points that you have mentioned. I am sure you feel that I have pressed the wrong button by comparing against America/Americans but this is not to offend Americans. The fact is when migrant Indians land in America, these are few stereotypes that Indians think about Americans. I do not want to go in lengths about all the comparisons.
Judging by an American’s standards and expectations does not make an Indian stereotype. In fact, the American character of creating stereotype is a stereotype.
The main idea of my comparison is to bring out the fact that your culture, your values, your upbringing, your setting is quite different from Indian values, Indian culture, Indian upbringing, Indian setting. Hence there is always a difference. When you judge another person from your own measures, it certainly will not match. It is true on both sides. No matter what we do or do not do, will always be a stereotype.
Man, you’ve been talking to way too many FOBs . . .
Having worked in Indian slums, I can see where you get your stereotypes from, but a lot of them are very misled. Indians, even if they live in small huts, are extremely hospitable. Also probably the happiest people I’ve ever met in my life. And remember their standards for quality of life are different to yours.
Actually, the 1.2 billion people who live there have a lot of stereotypes about us westerners. Our movies, or food, heck, even our smell, our obsession with buying random things, our lack of competitiveness when it comes to achieving high marks, their basic accent, their wishes to see something “exotic” . . . the list goes on. I bet you’d find just as long of a blog on some Indian website making fun and creating stereotypes of westerners.
Believe it or not, India has massive natural landscapes untouched by “the big population”. I mean, you have mountains in Shimla, vast deserts, long clean beaches . . .
I was born and raised in Washington and am a med student who has worked with locals in various different countries around the world. My parents, as with most of the Indian community I am aquainted with have immigrated here legally and struggled for thirty odd years to combat racism, prejudice, transferring work licenses and the like. My parents are now established lawyers and work long and hard.
Movies rarely have item songs anymore . .. that is, unless you’re only watching the trashy ones equivalent to how we see “Jersey Shore”. Take a look at Bhaag Milka Bhaag for example. Even English Vinglish if you can’t handle their accents.
Russell Peters, seriously?
“Most of the people I met are like this” doesn’t make for a good argument. “Observation” doesn’t make you a reliable source when it comes to human tendencies, interaction does.It hurts to see people so blatantly ignorant about cultures and peoples different to them.
Unless u come to India, live here & mix wit the ppl here, u cant conclude. I m telling u with my experiences. I work in an Indian company & earn in Indian Rupees, & I dont want to migrate to any foreign country. But I hv been to some foreign countries (part of my job) to Africa, Europe & Middleeast. I hv heard about -ve stereotypes about those countries b4 I went. None of them matched when I actually went there.
A country of 1.25 Billion ppl will hv a variety of genes & thus a variety of mentalities. So dont generalize. Just like der r many criminals, drug addicts, weird ppl along with disciplined, mannered, intelligent ppl living in your country, same as in India.
GENERALIZATIONS: Many are, but not all Indians r intelligent. Similarly, not all Indians are smelly, not all Indian food r smelly, most of Indians NOW dont want to go abroad for jobs…
WORK ETHICS: Depending upon the company in India. Those Indians working abroad hv different mentality than Indians working in India. Aboard Indians may b having inferiority complex, but not all of them.
ACCENT: I cant help, very difficult to adopt a foreign accent, & I ll not recommend anybody to adopt. Italian/Russian ppl speak English in their own accents. So what’s d problem? If you cant understand any sentence/word, then there would b problem, otherwise not.
CORRUPT: Happens in every country including India. Search “CORRUPTION IN USA/AMERICA”, see the results. I hv seen. 1out_of7 ppl in the USA lives in poverty, that shocked me a lot, shows how corrupt US politicians r.
COWS: Most common stereotype, its not ur fault, its ur media who portrays India’s picture in that way. The western media is a shit, dont show the real beauty but show the dark side in a MUCH MUCH exaggerated way. Come to any major cities in India & show me a single cow, I bet u cannot, if u can, I ‘ll pay u 5000USD. Search “Mumbai scooter ride”, “Pune ride”, “Mumbai bike ride”, “Bangalore ride” .etc., u ‘ll find guys enjoy riding their bikes on streets/highways carrying cameras on their helmet. Show me a single cow.
Cows r found in rural villages, plenty, on the paddy fields, & r found in ancient temples & around them, in towns full of temples .etc, but not found in urban areas & megacities.
TIPS: Yes we do give tips to the waiter.
Come here & see by yourself: My recommendations: New Delhi (not Old Delhi), Agra, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Mysore, Kerala, Chennai, Hyderabad. All ancient monuments & architectures (u can find the list on net). Don’t forget to visit Himalayan states: Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttaranchal, these states r cool b’coz of high altitudes. Don’t go anywhr else.
I am so sorry, you experienced so much hate here, the fact we Indians will deny every fact because we are taught to believe Only India is great. LOl.. propaganda!!!!
I saw your blogs and were amused to see, how every other country accepted it flaws , but we Indians will deny till death ? why you ask!!!!!
Because we are never wrong, we were never wrong doing rapes or killing girls in the wombs and we are never wrong by having no toilets.. I live in India want to get out of this gutter!!!!
for my fellow indians, look at other blogs how other nationalities accepted its flaws but we can’t? WHy?? Are we too good to be judged/!!! Please and please respect opinions
I am an Indian, living in India, have traveled a bit, San Francisco to the west and Tokyo to the east (from India). Stereotyping India/n is somewhat illogical, because it’s a crazy combination of cultures and races and religions, always difficult to point at a typical Indian. Besides, India is home to 1.2 billion people and any small fraction of it could drown an entire opinion built by outsiders as stereotype.
Also kindly keep in mind, 70 % of India is abysmally poor and they cannot be and should not be subjected to any stereotyping. Because starvation does not breed any cultured behaviour except hunger.
Smelly Indians, yes, not just Indians but you bring anyone to India, shimmering at 40 + C’ without immediate access to good clean water for bathing, will stink to high heavens. I mean it is true that living in equatorial India can get real sweaty & smelly. I consider Tibetans to smell even louder and nastier.
However I do agree to much of what is told in the blog, (with comment leaver Piyush too, though he was on a ‘confessional’ mode at times). A lot of Indian stereotypes are not known outside India, I will pick one, my top choice.
We Indians tell sweet lies quite naturally, we don’t think its a lie, as long as the results are positive. We would say “Yes, I am on the way” but it actually means we just got up from the sleep. And when we say “I am almost there”, then you can be assured, we will reach in an hours time. Parents lie to others (in front of their children) and then lie to their children too and sometimes teach them to lie –for a ‘common good of the universe’ of course. We Indians believe in our own lies.
We are particular about not hurting the other with hurtful facts, so we tell sweet lies. And for the same reason India is also the land of truth. Krishna, Rama, Buddha, Nanak, Mahavir, Gandhi all “searched for truth” and they also gave their teachings on “truth”. I always thought, we were so adept at telling sweet lies, that it was a need for Avatars and Prophets and Gurus to be born in India to find the bitter truth buried beneath all the sweet lies generated for centuries.
Thanks for reading.
Again, we Indians hate to say ” I dont know”. Somehow we know everything. If we dont know we ‘d make up a story and we’d start to believe our own fabricated stories. That is quite similar to Arabs. I have explored a bit on my own into this behaviour and my conclusion is that, we Indians consider saying “I dont know” is sort of irresponsible disposition.
At random if you asked any man or woman for directions in India, you should not be surprised at how they forthwith come up with so many suggestions to reach the same place. We know everything.
Agreed with some of the authors comments, but pls don’t judge Indians based on the ones you see in Dubai – they are mostly laborers coming from a certain part of India. If you want to have a real sense of the country & its people – visit the major cities & make friends with the professionals also.
Also – fully agree Indians generally don’t mix well with other cultures & tend to stick together, you will notice this between Indians themselves sticking to people from their place. Disgusting fact 1 – they speak in their own language oblivious of others around them.
Cow worship – this is ignorance of the highest level on your part
Bollywood – yes Indians are crazy about that, mainly because Indians don’t have good habits – doing housework, exercise etc – they are lazy people who are used to having maids. So watching movies is a favorite past time for most.
Deodorant & smell – Some of the poor labour you see in Dubai are so poor even a deodorant maybe a luxury also their living conditions are such a bath may not always be feasible. But the others are just pure lazy – people from other countries with similar conditions maintain themselves well.
Indian accents – yes some have very strong accents specially the south Indians, the north speak better but overall their accents aren’t anything to be proud of.
Indian food – variety of food & really tasty.
Rusell Peters – He is a stand up comedian from India – don’t quote his jokes in your article.
Indians are stingy – they are always saving for the future & in that don’t spend or enjoy the present. Agreed this is true.
Driving – yes there are a few ignorant lots which are hated by all – Indians & others – the lane hoggers who drive slow in the fast lane.
To the author – no one is offended, Indians know what they are they don’t need advice from some Guy who stays in Dubai to make ends meet to judge them.
Just a humble request – meet up with a few professionals and Indians from different parts – this can be best done if you mix with the Indians in UK & to some extent the ones in US. – Then write this column again. Best of luck
well i am an indian and i would like to say come visit New Delhi.You wouldnt be able to differentiate between american and indian except the colour which is quite obvious.(applies to higher middle class and above indians only)and our accent is a mix of amerian and russian.(then, again applies to higher middle class and above indians only)
You got that right, the population in India is alot. Ditto for other developing countries. Also to blame is the authority in each province of India. You could also blame the colonial masters too, i.e. the British and French?
I think you will find that many UAE locals and other people with a ‘better passport’ or ‘better nationality’ would treat other nationalities quite poorly?
Hey I guess you don’t know much bout INDIA…I guess most of the Indians you possibly have met are either malayalees or punjabis coz these are the major communities living out of India…my country is such a culturally diverse place… you just can’t draw these conclusions after meeting one or two communities
First off,
Indians are one of the most fickle-minded and diverse people on this Planet.
Each one’s behavior is so different from the other, that you just can’t generalize them.
I will admit, that some Indians are assholes(excuse my vulgar language), but most of those assholes are the politicians. Nowadays, politics is just a way to earn money. U.S.A doesn’t have any corruption, right? (cough, Bush, cough). Wrong. Every nation has a shitload of corruption. Even U.S, Britain, France, etc(all the “civilized and first-world” countries).
Stop talking about Indians like you know them.
I lived in India for 10 years of my life(I’m almost fourteen now), and lemme tell you something: Indian people are way closer and more friendly than Americans. I’ve been living in an apartment for, what, more than a year now? And I didn’t even know that my next-door neighbor is going to the same high school as I am.
I don’t even know how many people live in my other neighbor’s house.
In India, it’s different. It’s like a family. You know people, you can trust them, and you know they will be there for you when you need help.
I’d pick India over America any day.
I don’t want to sound racist unfortunately I have been at the receiving end of the negative stuff written about here:
1. Driving – More than once (five times actually) that we nearly got into an accident when I decided to let friends drive. Guess what? The drivers are Indians and no they are not the same people. I live in New Zealand where we drive on the left side of the road, same as in India, and to be honest, I no longer let any Indian or Chinese for that matter drive my car no matter how cheap my car is (FWIW, the Chinese are the absolute worst, they just don’t follow the rules whatsoever and we got flagged by the police because they were almost hogging the other side of the road)—my car insurance is my proof.
2. Work – My father was bullied by his co-worker who is Indian. It didn’t help that his supervisor is Indian as well that’s why things went under the radar. Nobody can speak out since they know that when they do, the Indian group in their workplace would just gang up on them. When the Kiwi senior supervisor noticed what is going on she made a reshuffle but it was only after months of torture my father had to go through.
– My postgrad office-mate who is a female Indian is unfortunately stinky. It was not just me who noticed it—my Argentine office-mate had to buy a room spray and spray the stuff all over the room once she left.
– My postgrad office-mate again:
–would always ask the time when she can clearly check the time on her mobile phone;
–always forgets her keys and tells us to leave the doors open for her and berates us if we lock the doors when we leave the office (this one I don’t get since it is policy to lock the doors when you leave);
–has a tendency to tell that other people are stupid simply because they don’t think like her (even professors are not exempt);
–often says things like she graduated from the top management schools in the world and that we as a result are more stupid than her, yet she doesn’t know how to interpret a regression result.
And more.
My father has another boss though in his other job who is Indian as well, but he on the other hand is a very helpful man a complete polar opposite of those listed above—he is a Sikh so I don’t know if that has anything to do with his character, and he has been living in New Zealand for almost all his life.
There are times when I really want to bash the ‘Indian’ typical; and then I come across an article like this that not only vents my air out, but sanes me down enough to think what a cruel a$$ I would have been speaking ill about people skewing the slate to make myself feel better.
For all the people today that live in India, many that have taken citizenship, married into an Indian family, there are people from all walks of life, races and religions that live in India – A land of immigration since 10000 years BC.
Africans, Persians, Mughals, Scythians, Portuguese, Parsis, Greeks, Macedonians, British, each has come into the land by means of trade, invasions, and become a part of it. Yes, an open land that has never gated itself and let everyone come it will become a bit overcrowded. Much of what people speak, as the Author, are speaking on symptoms, but none is intelligent enough to be able to dissect and absorb the amaze of India.
Here are some links that will enlighten:
1) The Age of Reason – The Story of India – BBC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxya5oUOazo
2) The Edicts of Ashoka – The Story of India – BBC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmNU9ijkFcc
In 1.3 Billion people most living in cities from all walks of life, through large disparities between stages of classes, and races; one will find a chaos that is representation of this. Surely there are days when you want to squeeze the life out of so much of mess; yet my distaste of the articles intellect is its inability in absolute to be able to know what India truly is, what it is to be an Indian, about its structure, and then writing an article typecasting the whole land into a pathetic one.
In America are Mexicans, Blacks, Caucasians, Chinese, Latinos, Natives and Europeans. All one needs to do is live with Native Americans, see their way of life, the voodoo, the feathers, dancing around, fires, or look at high rate of gangster activity, drugs, mugging, or killings and rapes; or pregnancies and falling out of school rate, or number of people incarcerated in prisons after rampant crime… and call them Americans. Yet, we know different aspects of the trade is bore by different sections of society. AMERICAN is not a race or a trait. American is a Government System; its a Land, and its a Citizenship. INDIAN is a Govt System, a Land, and a Citizenship. Its not a trait of character or civility or intellect or habits.
The article thus, does not stand a ground.
Many things in this article stand out as the half-truth since we have to assume that the author has met 1.5K Indians from the 1.25 billion people, that too, not in India. I’m an Indian and I’d like to abide by a few common points in this article. Having said that, I’d like to add that there is no diversity as in India. No sorry no. Outsiders have a notion that it’s hot as hell here whereas we have snow in the north and rain in the East. People are dark, wheatish, fair and white. They don’t speak one language, don’t have one religion, don’t have similar culture or similar food and don’t even look similar. People in the north are said to have sharp features and fair skin(not all), people in the south have dark skin(not all), people in North-east(not all, not me) have small eyes. So, to judge an Indian by meeting one or two Indians would make you the ignorant fool. Also, because of the wide diversity, we don’t have unity. Coming to “private space”, we like living together as a family and we have wide connections with our family. Marriage is considered as a holy union and is not like in the West where you just treat it as a joke, as a means of your satisfaction.
Oh. My. God. PRECISELY what I’ve been trying to say. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Unfortunately all of this is true….AND I am an Indian!
I sell software all over the world. Every single person originally from India immediately after getting any software said they wanted their money back know matter how hard I try to help them and always put in a credit card dispute. I do not have this problem with any other person from any other country. I think they all really hate Americans.
Oh yeah….UPDATE: I’m 14 now
I am an indian migrated to Canada in 1970 and agree with you. Even I find these baf gabit annoying.
I read many stereotypes, and most were amusing. But the ones I read here about India are gross and mostly false. I m not Indian (even I carry a Hindi surname) But I have lived in Indian comunities, not only in India but also in other parts of the world. FIRST: India is practicaly a continent by itself, and has more variations than all of western Europe. 2. The food of India is the most variated of all countries. 3. The Indian comunities outside of India dont exist, because the Indians are crazy to emigrate, but they were forced by colonial powers, in first place England, who deported Indian cheap labour to their other colonies: Check Trinidad, Guyana, Fiji, East Africa, Southafrica and so on. 4. There is a percentage of primitive and uneducated people in all societies. And between 1,3 Billion there will also be found some of those, just as in any other country. And I m shure India is by far not one of the worse in that aspect
I agree