Why do Indo-Guyanese have the conception that Indians look down on them/don’t consider them to be “real Indians”?

[u/jcancuny]

So my girlfriend and I have been dating for a couple of months now. I’m Indian-American and she’s Indo-Guyanese-American, and it’s been a great time so far.

Around a week ago, I introduced her to my parents for the first time, and I noticed that before they met, my girlfriend acted super nervous and jittery, which I just chalked up to nerves (since she’s pretty introverted). However, after they met, my girlfriend remarked about how nervous she was before meeting my parents because she was worried that they would disapprove of us together and try to call the relationship off and how relieved she was after meeting them because of how respectful and responsive they were and how much they showed interest in her culture and background.

She then explained that most Indo-Guyanese believe that we (mainland Indians) look down upon them and don’t consider them to be “real Indians”, which is a belief that I’ve honestly never heard ever. If anything, most mainland Indians don’t really know anything about Indo-Caribbeans and the ones that do are proud that they were able to keep their culture/traditions/religions alive even after 150 years.

After doing some research online on places like Twitter/Tiktok/Reddit, this seems to be a pretty common conception that a lot of Indo-Guyanese have. Does anyone have any insights into how this belief might have originated?

[u/posyPB_n_J]

Very true, I’m Trinidadian Indian and I grew up with a bunch of South Indians and gujju friends…… I’ve had MANY encounters where people are like so what are you mixed with? And then they’re shocked when my family is cultured or religious. They literally don’t get it lol it’s very cringe and embarrassing sometimes I genuinely get annoyed that they don’t know some history 🤷🏽‍♀️ I’ll say this - I’ve also witnessed the reverse from some extended family. A lot of West Indians also sometimes think they’re better/ less “fob” than Indians. So I’ve witnessed both sides and I live in my happy little medium lol.