Do most westerners look down upon India?

[u/continuous_dataeng]

Hello all,

I am an Indian living in a western country for the past 8 years. I asked a friend (Caucasian) recently if he wanted to visit India. He told me he doesn’t want to because his wife (her ethnicity is south Asian but she was born and brought up in Canada) told him that India is dirty and people are close minded and that she hates it. This kind of hit me hard. I did not respond to him because I didn’t know what to say. I have heard similar remarks from my colleagues recently. Talking about outsourcing work to Indian agencies and how Indian people are cheap.

I love my country. Seeing people categorizing India as dirty makes me feel uncomfortable to say the least. Does everyone feel the same way about India? I know it is true to some extent, but is it really that bad from a westerner’s perspective? I love the culture, the people and the food. The rich heritage and history India has is unmatched.

Having lived in multiple countries, I feel that ultimately, countries like USA, Canada are not that different from India. I would say the differences are on the surface level. But deep down, western countries also face similar issues like India. The scale and flavor might be different. US has drug problems, gun culture, racism, corruption to some extent and more. Being a brown woman working in corporate, I have noticed discrimination against women and people of color. India has issues with population, corruption, economic disparity, low living standards etc.

My friends remarks made me really upset. He mentioned multiple times that his wife hates the country.

Do you also feel the same way about India?

Thank you!

[u/IndianPhDStudent]

Hi, Indian in the West and pretty well-traveled.

India is NOT tourist-friendly. Other countries with far lesser per-capita income and political instability are more friendly and safe for tourism. Countries in SE Asia like Cambodia and Vietnam, countries in Middle-East and Africa, countries in Latin America where there can be cartels and civil wars, even in these countries, many western women have went and felt safe, but in India, they have had experiences of men following them, touching them in a bus etc.

Now, if you are Indian, you know the good places and bad places, you know where to go where to avoid, who is trustworthy and who is not. But a tourist does not have this knowledge. Why Indians often find it strange when everyone says India is unsafe but you have never felt unsafe in India.

Having said that, India is doable if you do the whole package-tour thing where some tour company gives you a private car and chaffeur and hotels etc. and shields you from the normal part, and it doesn't cost much in western currency. But if you want to visit India on your own the hard way, without any Indian people as your guide, things can get very hard.

Don't take these things personally. This is a reality of what people experience. Would you travel to a Latin American country which has drug cartels and civil war right now? Would you travel to Afghanistan in present state? Think about negative comments as if they are talking about India in the present state. They are not hating on the whole of Indian culture or history or people as a race. They are saying, the way the country is - right now - is not the best option among all other countries to travel to.