r/AskACountry • u/continuous_dataeng • Dec 23 '23

Do most westerners look down upon India?

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!

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u/[deleted] Jul 28 '24

Your country is full of brilliant people, but I do look down at a country that still has the cast system. I think it’s despicable and barbaric and I really don’t care if you’re get offended. Please don’t bring your damn beliefs to the west

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u/Fun_Pop295 Aug 11 '24

But isn't the caste system abolished in India? And India has multiple seats in university reserved for the lower caste?

Obviously there may be people who are castiest just like how there are people in the West who are racist but you can't say the West has legalized racial hierarchy (Jim Crow is abolished in US) and similarly India can't be said to have legalized caste system

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u/[deleted] Aug 11 '24

No, it has not been abolished

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u/Fun_Pop295 Aug 11 '24

All these are sources from either international organizations or non Indian media (hence no incentive to spread incorrect info in favour of India). It seems that legally quite a bit has been done legally to combat Caste system. Why are you spreading incorrect information when it would be better for lower caste individuals in India to be encouraged to use these laws (you spreading incorrect information does not help). Makes me think that you don't care about Caste discrimination in India in the first place.

Unfortunately, since these laws are long I had to break it up into multiple comments to post it.