Dirty India?
Since so many people have commented on my unique perspectives (5 people), I will throw this one out as I believe it is one of the main negative perceptions people have of India. Dirty India. Or the belief that India is one big garbage heap which breeds smells, disease, and totally unsanitary lifestyles. Now this is actually not something I came up with because I actually didn’t really understand it as well.
First, I will have to say that this issue is not something confined to India. I saw it in South America, Africa, the Middle East, and hell, there are pockets of it everywhere.
Second, as I stated before, I didn’t quite understand it myself, but one day I was glancing through one of India’s English newspapers, and I saw an article about how India placed in half of the top ten dirtiest city polls but yet the culture is based on cleanliness. This article was written by an Indian, so that is why the culture information. I am sure as a foreigner, it would have stated it as “duh, everybody knows that.” Well, the above is kind of my way of saying, “if any of this is wrong, blame it on the other writer.”
Okay, lets dive right in. I can’t speak for everybody, but in the Western societies, if you say “India, cleanliness on a scale of 1-10,” I am sure it would rank in the lower three’s to two’s. Say the same thing with Africa, South America, Central America, and Canada, the answer probably wouldn’t be too far off. That’s right I said Canada. Of course, most of this poll would be answered by people who hadn’t been there as most people have their own perspectives based on the media without having first hand knowledge. I would have to say though, the average tourist would actually say the same thing so in this case, sorry India, Africa, South America, not Canada. Having actually visited these places, I do have to say that the places that I and the majority of other tourists have visited, there definitely is an issue with trash.
So, India is a filthy place. Well, yes and no. Yes, when you go outside and walk around, there is pretty much a high visibility of trash. So the answer is yes? No. This is where the yo-yoing comes into play. If you just look at the trashy areas, that’s what you are going to see, but if you look at the other areas that are clean, they won’t be trashy. “Steve, you’re an idiot.” Now, wait. Let me clarify and also go back to that article I read and the part about the clean culture. The people are taught and believe that cleanliness is next to Godliness (that’s a saying, I know, but I am not sure from what religion, but it applies.) All the prior countries I have been, it is one eyeful of people cleaning, from sun up to sun down. Without filling up a page of examples, I will revert to the furthermost scale, and you can fill in the middle. There is an Indian, African, Latino, etc. living in a mud hut with a dirt floor. You know what happens probably five times a day? They sweep their floor. That’s right, they sweep their dirt floor, scoop up the debris and loose dirt and shoosh it away. A dirt floor. That my friend is not following a logical point of view, but what it does do is follow the context of “cleanliness is next to godliness.” The majority of people have the same standards of cleanliness. Clothes cleaning is another one. Find any water source at any time of the day, and you will have some matriarch of the family out there pounding clothes into oblivion. Again, another extreme example. Out in the sticks where water is very minimal. There are usually little, what I would call a mud/slime pond. I personally wouldn’t even clean the bottoms of my shoes with the stuff, but someone will be out there as well pounding the dirt out of their clothes because “cleanliness is next to Godliness.”
The Indian clean culture can easily be explained, (now that I have read the article.) The belief is that all those excretions that your body performs, is basically a vile and detestful subject. Were talking, sweat, snot, poop, pee, blood (menstruation), body odor, and I am guessing ear wax. For the rest of us, I would have to rate it all as being at the level as human shit. I think we see the rest of the stuff as slightly less evil, but to the Indians, it is all equivalent to human shit. Back when I was staying in Arambol, Goa at that little guesthouse, they had a seasonal helper there who was kind of like the fixer guy. Well, every morning he would come at 9am, and use our restrooms. My little $2 dollar cubicle room was this little addition right next to the bathrooms. There was no wall all the way to the ceiling, so the wall just ended about head high plus a foot. I could hear every little squeek coming out of those rooms. Well, every morning, he would come in and make these disgusting lung, throat, loogie compartment, cleansing, hacking, gagging, vomiting sounds. At first I thought he drank his first bottle of Tequila or something, but it really grossed me out (I do not gross out so easily.) Every morning it was the same thing. I thought perhaps he had a cold and was trying to force it out of himself. It got to the point where I was up and out of my room by 8:30am every morning just because I didn’t want to hear it. Well, once I read the article, I finally understood. The flem/mucous/loogie thing falls under the context of devils work like I stated before. Hacking up a loogie in Indian public would be equivalent to letting loose a juicy fart during a funeral. For this reason, people will spend a few minutes gagging themselves to make sure their whole throat/lungs/ esophagus, etc. is totally free and clear before they start their day. The same goes for the eating with the right hand thing and never ever touching anything that is to be eaten with your left (remember poo cleaning hand.) The same even goes with blowing your nose. Kleenex or not, you don’t do it indoors and especially not at the dinner table. Women are also affected specifically as during times of menstruation, they are banned from using communal water areas and temples. So basically, excretions=bad. Now, I am not sure about the man excretions ie. Porn shots, but I will assume that it is frowned upon at the dinner table as well.
The same kind of mentality can also be carried over to the household. In the Indian household, the kitchen is ground zero and is kept next to godliness. I also commented about the clothes cleaning as well as keeping the grounds clean. So, if the Indians are so clean, why is their country such a garbage pit. Well, that’s the other part of the Indian mentality. Once you get out of the above guidelines, stuff doesn’t matter. The rules don’t apply. Remember how I was saying how the people would sweep up their dirt floors. Well, once they have their little trash pile, they will pick it up walk to the edge of the house or to the street, and drop the trash on the ground. Same with the trash and waste that is removed from the house, on the ground in the street or in some corner of the neighborhood. The belief being that those areas don’t matter. Your home matters, but outside of that, its fine to have trash stacked to your neck. And that is why my friends, you see a lot of trash but you don’t understand how it can be such a clean society. As tourists, we actually don’t get a chance to see into the every day life. Sure we see tourist places and mocked up areas, but in reality they are nothing of what real life is. If you spent most of your time in an Indian household, you would probably think they are some sort of clean freaks. Also, while walking around, it is infuriating to watch as locals unwrap their whatever, and just throw their wrapper on the ground. Again, it’s being dropped where it’s supposed to be, the not in the home or business area. You wouldn’t see that wrapper being dropped in someone’s home or business as those areas are to be kept next to godliness. You get it now. Pretty cool huh.
Sure, there are other fairly significant reasons such as minimal waste management resources, dynamic manufacturing growth, the refuse is food for animals, low caste people will have a chance to pick through the trash for anything of value, low education about the environment, and of course some people who know better but just are lazy, but in the general context of a society, that is why India is so dirty, but is a super clean culture.
Any 6th-8th graders who want to plagiarize this and use it as their own, go right ahead. I guarantee at least a C+/B.
Tags: clean, culture, India, trash
October 10th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
India IS filthy.
India is really just a big sewer.
There are very small pockets of decent and clean areas. Just not enough.
Just take the Local Trains in MUMBAI, CHENNAI.
You’ll know what FILTH really is!!
January 6th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Well , the problem is very simple:-
1. We dnot drive away or disallow poor people from entering our cities like in China.
2. We were quite a clean, rich and well maintained nation unless the Britishers arrived and wiin 200 yrs they increased poverty level from 6% to 66% and their mismanagement created dirty and filthy Kolkata , overcrowded Bombay to name a few . Why, western people dont understand that how can a democracy repair all the damage caused by them in 200 yrs within 60 yrs .You people first destroy and then complain for the damage to the victim.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:14 am
Do a YOUTUBE search with …UNREPORTED WORLD INDIA-”THE BROKEN PEOPLE” PART1/3.
March 5th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
India is a filthy dirty place? The whole world knows already!
May 3rd, 2009 at 4:31 am
cool intelletual take on filth! India shall be known as a super clean country for the rest of the 21st Century. As professor Steve stated India has a cleanliness is godliness mentality and from there we can all hypothesize that a beautiful flower will emerge from the pile of shit that was India. To put things in perspective, India had all its goodies consistently robbed by a foreign power not to be named and all that was left was rubbish. Indians must rise up with brooms to whip the little behinds of their kids into becoming sanitation experts. Globally, everybody should talk about the omni-potent filth pervading in India and shame its government into cleaning up the place. The course has been set for a cleaner India! Let’s all wish them luck in frequent uses of broom usage.
May 7th, 2009 at 4:38 am
simonT,
Your right about the next generation being the solution. With the evolution of the western way I think more and more of the people who have gotten to see that the “cleanliness is next to godliness” applied to outside of the home makes life a lot more pleasant.
With their move to a larger middle class, I am sure it is in the making but will take some time before the “old ways” have gone to the old ways of doing stuff.
Steve
July 29th, 2009 at 5:04 am
Well India was not that dirty in 50s but became a heap of garbage later on ,I have visited Bombay in 1956 and then in 1998 and allI noticed that it became a heap of shit from a beautiful city that shouldered London in its colonial glory.
August 21st, 2009 at 12:39 pm
In conclusion: Indian care about their own houses only and don’t give a damn about public good.
August 31st, 2009 at 2:11 am
Ha HA bunch of western idiots who have not visited India talking about being clean -
this is what India gave the world - bathing process u idot westerns were not taking baths for months together
Ancient India cities has sewer lines even when u guys werre staying in caves . it was the stupid british which made the country into dirty mess it is . it took more than 200 yrs for US to be where it is so called clean compared to that at least India is doing much much better
August 31st, 2009 at 2:15 am
AND ONE MORE THING MR STEVE GOA IS NOT WHOLE INDIA - U NEED TO VISIT AT LEAST 15 STATES TO GET A SMALL HINT OF KNOWLEGE ON INDIA - EACH STATE IS A COUNTRY WITHIN ITSELF
September 7th, 2009 at 8:34 am
This issue about 3rd world cleanliness makes me laugh. I had read a similar article somewhere and a reader had posted this sentiment. - Ask the planet, who thrashes it the most? The big western nations produce more garbage in a day, than a country like India produces in an entire year. This is a fact. The streets of New York are a mask. Just because you don’t see it there as much does not make say a country like the USA clean. Sure civic sense in India is poor compared to western nations. But at least they take care of their parents, don’t sleep anything and everything that has 2 legs and don’t produce bastards in droves like western people do.
October 14th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Hey Indians, (I am an Indian too) stop being defensive by blaming everyone else and the British of all people to clean up your mess.
If Indians have any pride, they will know what needs to be done.
Morons!
October 26th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
priti, you dirty indian rat, you people are the smelliest and stinkiest fucks in the world. stop blaming the british. because of civilized british, your kids eat cadburys and complan and horlicks. british introduced bar soap and shampoo and dish detergent to you filthy neanderthals.
just see ANY place around the world inhabited by indians: its dirty and it stinks: come to edison, new jersey: its now dirty and filthy like bombay. come to manama bahrain and see what the filthy indians do.
stop blaming the british…you fuckers are responsible for your own mess…you people have evolved half way from neanderthals to homosapien (human), so give it another 500 years of evolution time!
October 26th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
lol…if india invented the drainage system, why does india have the poorest sanitation in the world? what happened to your monkey brains in a few hundred years? it shrunk? lol…don’t give me that ‘civilization’ bullshit. the muslims built your taj mahal; the british made your ambassador cars (still the 50s style, don’t have brains to redesign it), railways (still indian engineer monkeys don’t have brains to create mag-lev trains).
your filthy government has 400 billion dollar surplus, yet they don’t do shit about the slumdog country.
countries that are economically lot smaller than india are clean and pristine: the people of india (not all, but the vast majority) are dirty animal-worshipping apes.
October 26th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
i am an american and when i went to my engineering class one day, a bunch of graduate indian students fresh off the boat exited from the class…pooh! what a stinky trail of smell they left behind…i was suffocating.
please take a bath, cook and eat curry under a lot of ventilation (if you must eat curry) and do weekly laundry of your garments….i can’t stress this enough!
pointers for improvement of india:
1) stop being selfish: stop saying its ‘memememe’ and go and help your country and fellow citizens picking trash one by one off the street; stop corruption and start using the money to build AND MAINTAIN good infrastructure.
2) stop spending money on military: superpower doesn’t mean some imitation weapons…what it means is food, clothing, shelter for the majority of population, clean and modern infrastructure and standard of living (as in no power cuts and stable electricity)
3) give hygiene priority: ‘filthiness is next to godliness’ mentality is what majority of indians have…
4) realize that hinduism is a hoax: hinduism is a primitive way of life (not a religion) and should have no place in modern society. give priority to science and technology over religion. that’s why your neighbors: japan, s.korea and now china are well ahead of stinky indians.
November 7th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Priti you idiot, the British never caused poverty in India, poverty always existed in India even before the British came. You cannot fool people.
Even before the British, the Mughals (Mongols) who ruled India had a low opinion of the monkeys of the land.
The first Mughal emperor Babur wrote in his diary Tuzk Babri: Hindustan is a country which has few pleasures to recommend it…. Indians have no idea of the charms of friendly society, of frankly mixing together, or of familiar intercourse…. They have no horses, no good grapes, or musk melons, no good fruits, no ice or cold water, no good food or bread in their bazaars, no bath or colleges, no candles, no torches, not a candle stick.” The Mughals were superior to their Indian counterparts in war but also considered themselves so culturally.
They had taste for the fine things in life - for beautifully designed artifacts and the enjoyment and appreciation of cultural activities They introduced many changes to Indian society and culture, including:
Centralised government which brought together many smaller kingdoms
Delegated government with respect for human rights
Persian art and culture amlagamated with native Indian art and culture
Started new trade routes to Arab and Turk lands
Mughlai cuisine
Urdu and hindi languages were formed for common Muslims and Hindus respectively
Periods of great religious tolerance
A style of architecture
Landscape gardening
A system of education that took account of pupils’ needs and culture
India did not have these before.
Babur also writes
“Hindustan is a country of few charms. Its people have no good looks. Of social intercourse, paying and receiving visits there are none; genius and capacity none; of manners none. In handicrafts and such works there is no form or symmetry, method or quality. There are no good horses, no good dogs, no grapes, musk melons or first rate foods, no ice or cold water, no good bread or cooked food in the bazaars (marketplace), no hammams (baths), no colleges, no candles, torches or candlesticks. In place of candles they have a great dirty gang they call diwati (lamp-men), who in the left hand hold a smallish wooden tripod to one corner with a thing called diya (lamp) like the top of a candle stick is fixed, having a wick in it which is as thick as the thumb. in the right hand they hold a gourd through a narrow slit made in which oil is let trickle in a thin thread when the wick need it. Great indian kings keep a hundred or two of these lamp men. This is the hindustani substitute for lamp and candle sticks! If their rulers and nobles have work at night needing candles, these dirty smelly lamp-men bring these lamps, go close up and there stand.
There is no running water not even in their gardens and residences. These residences have no charm, ventilation, regularity or symmetry. The common people AND peasants of low standing go about naked.”
M.K. Gandhi writes about Indian villages
“Instead of having graceful hamlets dotting the land, we have dung-heaps. The approach to many villages is not a refreshing experience. Often one has to shut one’s eye and stuff one’s nose; such is the surrounding dirt and offending smell.
The one thing we must definitely learn from the west is the science of sanitation.”
To get an idea of how life was in India before the British came and te efforts of the British to civilize and improve India read Katherine Mayo’s book ‘Mother India’
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300811h.html
and to all those trolls who keep on spreading lies about Britian looting India read the above book and read this
http://www.friesian.com/british.htm
February 5th, 2010 at 3:23 pm
I am from germany and living in abu dhabi and dubai since about 6 years now. Around 80% of the foreigners here are indians and the other expats from all over the world really love their nice cultivated behaviour, their good smell and the rich indian culture which they bring to this region. It is always refreshing to see them driving a car / truck / bus and how they do adapt to the traffic rules.
It is also easy to clearly identify areas / buildings where the population is mostly of indian origin.
They are different to all other people, very different….
March 18th, 2010 at 4:10 am
I met Indians in California where I am from and they were OK. However,
when I visited Bangalore recently and it was filthy and crappy. India seems to have an evil government run by the most terrible people. The population there is mostly poor and despite the IT hype, I found to be mostly borderline retarded. Sure, corporations are moving industry there en masse for what is essentially slave labor.
March 20th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
To the author of this misinformed and patriotic blog post about India, accept it - India is one of the filthiest places on the planet.
I am a well traveled expat, I’ve been to China, S. Korea, India, Canada, Italy, France, Haiti, Cayman Islands, Mexico, United States, and Germany. India is the MOST smelly and filthiest place I have ever experienced! In India, I was there for two weeks. I traveled to New Delhi (and Old Delhi), Mumbai, Japuir, Agra, and Goa. Filth is everyone. Yes, there were “spots” and “isolated” sections that were clean, but not enough of them. You walk 3 blocks in any direction, from a clean area, and you walk into filth. Absolute filth. I nearly died from food poisoning because no one washes their fucking hands! I recall walking down a restaurant lined street and watched the head chef duck out out the front door to take a piss on the street, then he went right back in and prepared the food with his bare hands. This was not an isolated incident, most Indians have no idea of why they need to use soap. It’s astonishing. It has over 1 billion people and nearly 500M or more of them do not wash their hands or exercise basic hygiene. In no other country, supposedly as advanced as India, did I see such filth.
You say Canada is dirty? Are you stupid? Have you really been there? It’s one of the cleanest places! yes, it has garbage heaps here and there, like any other city - but, in India, every street and corner is a garbage heap. There is literally raw sewage and trash everywhere, it’s IMPOSSIBLE to not step on it on your way out from a 5-star hotel or a 1-star hotel. It doesn’t matter.
I will never visit India again for more than 3 to 4 days. The masala spice smell wasn’t bad, it’s only bad when it’s mixed in with sewage and trash, which then becomes a very odd smelling odor that permeates the air and eventually your skin and clothes. Yuck.
- Mark
April 6th, 2010 at 6:13 am
I’m a US citizen who has been in India for almost 2 months. I’ve been all over South India, including Mumbai and Chennai. I did a google search for “why is India so dirty?” and I found this blog. This country is really filthy and disgusting and the people just don’t seem to care about their own country. People litter like that’s where trash is supposed to go and there is no sanitation practices anywhere. The government makes token efforts to get the people to be cleaner but the government just doesn’t seem to care much either. To me this country just seems like 1.2 billion people who don’t give a fuck. Maybe it’s their religious fatalism, I dunno. I don’t know how any Westerners like this place. I’ll probably leave soon.
April 10th, 2010 at 7:03 am
I’m Indian. I agree with everything non-Indians say about the lack of cleanliness and basic hygiene in my country. I am one of the few Indians who do NOT drop any litter outside, who sort household rubbish into separate, sealed bags, before disposing of them correctly. Our Indian cities have a large number of garbage disposal cans and areas, not to mention an impressive army of hard-working street sweepers. And yet, people, rich and poor, find it troublesome to hold on to a bit of rubbish till they find a bin.
BUT,
in the Western World (Americas, Europe) - Men treat women like disposable trash and discard them well before their ‘expiry date.’.
In the Muslim world, People treat their children like livestock - to be beaten, tamed and in-bred into submission.
In China, Korea, Japan - they treat their parents like ATM machines.
In Thailand, Vietnam - they don’t know what sex they are.
In Africa - richest continent on the planet, hungriest people alive - enough said!
I think I’m better off as an Indian - thank you very much!
April 15th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
@Priya
Ur country India itself is a british creation. before the british arrival there was no one single country called India which had one king, one army, one currency, one language. India was like Arabia a sub-continent which had many countries all having different kings and the british defeated most of them and merged them together to create British India. When vasco da gama arrived in India he didnt arrive to country india which had one king…..he arrived in Kingdom of Travancore now called as kerala .
u say that western world woman are disposable well India is the rape country of the world, delhi the rape capital and woman are married off only if they can give a dowry and are beaten everyday.
In India too people treat there children as livestock beat them so they marry only from there caste and force them to marry someone there son or daughter does not want to. have u heard of honor killings when the girl marries someone of her choice?
India too parents are treated like cash machine take all money and than vanish recently we heard in the news government worried about old people abused and made homeless by there children.
Just like in Africa ur Uttar pradesh , bihar, jharkhand, chatisgarh states are rich states when it comes to soil, water, minerals but the hungriest …UN report says it is more hungry and poor than sub-saharan.
Now instead of been defensive how about looking at the facts and trying to change it?
All cities in India are dirty, people have no manners they don’t even stop at traffic signals or walk on footpaths or follow lane discipline they instead spit everywhere, throw dirt everywhere and don’t obey laws whether the law is about civic sense or any other.
Thats why most educated high skilled indians make a bee line for work visas to usa, uk, australia, germany because they want to escape from the crowded dirty cities, rude people, lack of good infrastructure in India. Try to change the reality instead of blaming everyone.
April 27th, 2010 at 9:31 am
Hey Jason,
First of all, I never said India was perfect.
Secondly, I have already addressed the (now boring) trash problem.
Thirdly, I am tired of people like you taking potshots at my country while you pretend that your country is ‘oh so perfect.’
Fourthly, you are the one who is defensive, not me:)
Fifthly, all the educated Indians in the world are coming back to India. As a result, all the other countries (that have fewer college-grads and gold-medallists than ours) are floundering from recession because they have no more intelligent people left. You know, the ones who know how to spell D-E-B-T.
Sixthly, some African country is the rape capital of the world - not India.
Seventhly, Britain was created from a bunch of nomadic tribes by inbred, corrupt, blood-thirsty, pervy Royals. Every country on Earth was created by some other country - the USA included. Britain has the distinction of being THROWN OUT by another country through non-cooperation. Ooops!
And lastly, stop harping on the dead past and start worrying about a future where the equation is going to be very, very different!!!
Things have already started changing, now that a very enlightened, dynamic younger generation has started taking over in India. Unlike other nations who have to deal with aging, barren, nearly-extinct populations.
You see, the coming generation in India are completely free of any colonial hangover and the world better look out!
Start worrying about your own country instead. If you are still planning to pick on India, you’re probably insecure about something in your country!
April 27th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
Oh, need i mention that most of the software that makes this moronic blog-site possible was probably created by Indians anyway.
Time to get a life, people!
May 6th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
well said priya…all the above points u mentioned above are realistic and based on facts…
unlike others
btw:-ur comm skills blows ever1 away
May 14th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
@ priya
ur comments that people are picking on india because they are insecure about something in there country is laughable. This is a travel blog and tourist are going to mention how all cities in india are dirty because people itself have dirty habits.
Why just the tourists, even your Union Indian minister for Environment Mr. Jairam Ramesh mentioned that if there is any Nobel prize for dirt and filth India should get it. Minister Mr. Ramesh said while releasing a TERI report and i quote “Cities in India are the dirtiest cities of the world. If there is a Nobel prize for dirt and filth, India will win it, no doubt , there is no competion”. Now is the Union Indian minister picking on India because he is insecure about his country India? No he is just telling the facts, the government does make efforts to clean the roads, teach the people not to spit, urinate in public, they do ask the people to follow traffic signals , lane discipline, walk on footpaths but still the people themselves have dirty habits and have no discipline what can Mr. Ramesh do? he has to speak the facts. Also rest aside ur theory that ‘every indian’ is intelligent unless intelligence means getting noble price for dirt and filth, noble price for been rude and undisciplined.
Ur comments that educated Indians are coming back itself doesn’t hold true when we look at the data about the number of people applying for work visa. The application for many western and arab countries is quite high.
Not only high skilled people but even uneducated Indians want to escape from India. Everyone has read the recent report dat many Indians especially from north Indian states are going to Australia to study cookery, hair dressing, pottery because they feel if they study these hopeless courses they will get points and hence permanent residency. They don’t even know English or the manners and politeness required in western world instead they bribe to get bank loans, work in underpaid jobs and now they are been beaten up. Still many don’t want to come back because they say life is better in Australia than in India and they want to get the permanent residency. So forget the high skilled indians even low skilled indians want to escape from India.
ur comments about britian and how those people are nomadic tribes etc are filthy, uncivilised comments and they are not worthy of a reply. Anyway now im sure many here will comment about which filthy tribe Indians come from and why only they can get a noble price for filth and dirt.
Indian software companies though doing a good job rely heavily on western clients, low skilled jobs are outsourced to India. When there is recession in west, indian software companies stop pay increase and wont employ new people. All the research work which will create tomorrows technology happens in the west or in Japan, Korea and not in India.
Remember Its not the tourist who comments on the tourist blog or Your Indian Minister who is spoiling the image of India but it is the people of ur India who r spoiling the image of ur country by been dirty, indiscipline, rude. Change them if ur so sensitive and u will change the image of India.
May 18th, 2010 at 9:29 am
Jason, I’ve noticed that unlike myself, you are too chicken-shit to reveal your country of origin. I invite you to go ahead and tell us so that we can dig up some dirt on your country for a change:) Oh, and the Indian city I live in, like several others, is suddenly crowded with foreigners who are apparently jobless in their own countries. Rats off various sinking ’ships’ - don’t you think? And FYI, if we send all the Australians who are crowding our local job market back to where they come from, their country would probably sink!
May 30th, 2010 at 7:20 am
I’ve seen people swimming next to cadavers in filthy fucking india !!!! SO FUCKING FILTHY and SICK !! I’ve never seen such filth any where in the world, I’ve been to most african countries and it is not as fucking smelly as india.
May 30th, 2010 at 11:24 am
FYI people, as a tactic for driving out the British during their rule, Indians would litter and try to make India as repulsive as possible so that it’d drive the British out. After the British left, I guess the habit just never left, or there was already too much done for which there hasn’t been enough money to undo.
Instead of arguing, maybe everyone should contribute ideas as to how people in India can do their part to solve this problem. I’m sure they themselves would like to live in a cleaner country. BTW, I’ve been to India-though it may have a cleanliness problem (that is not unlike many other countries in the world), the land is beautiful.
As for the Britain: British leaders are just as corrupt, if not more, as the corrupt Indian leaders. They invade and rule countries acting like they’re doing it to help other countries, when really they go in for their own wants and put indigenous, corrupt people in charge of the countries they invaded so that they’d continue to prosper (not just in the money/goods sense) off of these countries. Sort of like strategic planning for the future. Look at all the problems they’ve started with so many different countries: India/Pakistan, Israel/Palestine, Iraq/Iran, and the list could go on. And who suffers? The indigenous common folk of every invaded country, just like Indians with the Pakistan war and the filth problems that aren’t being resolved due to the corruption of many leaders in the government. Now America is carrying on the legacy (and I say this being an otherwise proud American myself) with countries in the Middle East and Asia. We’re not really helping, we’re making things worse, while manipulating people into thinking it’s not our fault things are getting worse–that it’s the fault of ‘barbaric’ people who live there. BTW, just a side note: most of these corrupt leaders in India, Saudi Arabia, Iraq (Saddam Hussein, for example), etc. were chosen and put into power NOT by the people of their countries, but by Britain and America as, again, strategic planning for the future so that we stay the superpowers of the world and have access to powerful resources, such as oil.
So, though I’m a firm believer in being proactive regardless of who’s to blame, the commenters who blamed Britain for the filth problem weren’t necessarily wrong.
A lot of the commenters who bashed Indians, have you not met any cultured people? They all have their up’s and down’s. You can’t just bash one race. If anything, I think the white race is the most bash-able, considering we have no real culture and originally thrived off of the inventions of the Indians and Arabs (including soap and the concept of showering BTW).
July 19th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
David K I hope you’ve fucked off from India by now, why the fuck did you come in the first place?
Notoin, at least we’re not responsible for mass genocide if you want to get in stereotypes you stupid kraut closet homosexual prick. I live in Dubai and perhaps you’re not aware that the Indians control their fair share of wealth there? Go back to your own country where the white man isn’t put on a pedestal.
And Indiastinks? You must be one sad piece of shit to disrespect other races.
Unbelievable
July 20th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Over the last few days, we have been hearing a lot of news in the Media.
1. Joel Stein’s article in TIME magazine that attacks us Dot Heads (Indians) in Edison New Jersey.
2. Indians being attacked in Australia – supposed to be racially motivated.
3. Indians facing stiff regulations to enter the job market in the developed countries.
4. Complaints that wherever we Indians go – we make the place dirty and easily identifiable.
After thinking of all these things against my mother nation, I was upset – but i also thought of why this is happening to us. And then, I came across this blog today.
http://www.steveislost.com/blog/dirty-india.html
I must definitely say - it was an interesting read. I would upfront like to congratulate the author Steve on bringing out the situation of India and Indians in a very clear way. I completely agree that India is dirty as a country, India is a selfish society but individual Indians are people with utmost consciousness about his or her cleanliness (at least 90% of them).
I am educated and a PROUD Indian, a Business Analyst by profession and one of those few lucky Indians who have been blessed to have escaped the clutches of poverty because of my parents’ hard work. As a result, I have been able to travel across the world quiet a lot. I have been to 12 countries so far and I look forward to continuing my journey.
I see across the internet that people have been arguing about why India is dirty. I also see that Indians world over are defending our nations as all patriots should. But we have been trying to defend India by attacking the shortcomings in other societies and countries. I believe that it is unwarranted. So are the comments of others who have been insulting India and Indians. I strongly condemn all the comments, articles and news stories that derogate any society or country. It is not a matured behaviour from people who are educated, cultured and travel a lot. One thing we do need to understand is that every country and every culture and every man is right in his own way and no one is wrong.
Now, coming to the point –based on my experience of living in India for almost 22 years, let me say what all I agree with regarding the western world’s views on India. And I am sure, most of the Indians will agree with me on this.
1. Indians, by their nature and cultural heritage are people who have maximum consciousness about cleanliness. (Cleanliness Freaks!!)
2. Indians are rude to foreigners and try to cheat them. (Not all Indians, but a very high percentage of them).
3. Most Indians lack understanding of environmental cleanliness.
4. Most Indian restaurants lack hygiene.
5. Indian cities are full of dirty heap and rubbish except patches of cleanliness.
6. Indian people lack basic courtesy of consideration for fellow citizens
7. Indians do not follow any rules.
8. Indians are very bad drivers and they do not follow the road rules.
9. India is a male dominated society
10. Women lack freedom in India
11. Individual freedom and opinion is least respected.
12. India follows the barbaric culture of arranged marriages and most Indians do not have the freedom to even choose their life partners
13. India is a country with a very high crime rate
14. India has the worst bureaucracy in the world and is one of the most corrupt nations in the world.
15. Indian politicians are the worst in the world. Uneducated goons can become ministers of state and are corrupt to the core.
16. In India, black money is very common and India has the highest deposits in Swiss bank in unaccounted accounts.
17. If Indian government withdraws all the illegal Indian money in the Swiss bank, India can pay of all its international debts many times over and over again.
18. Religious riots are common in India
19. Most Indians do not have a sense of responsibility towards the society and therefore can be called as Selfish with respect to the society,
20. India is rich in natural resources, but is the home to the largest population of poor in the world.
21. Most number of people dying in world because of poverty and famine belong to India.
22. World’s highest numbers of illiterate people are in India.
23. India is the home of social evils like castes and un touchability
24. The largest number of aids patients are in India
25. More than 30-40% of Indian children are deprived of basic education.
26. Most of the poor people in India cannot afford one meal a day.
27. Almost 40% of Indians are below poverty line.
Now before, I proceed to analyze the reasons and suggest what I think can be a practical solution to these problems. I would like to remind you about the below facts about India. (Courtesy: http://www.nriol.com/info/amazingindia.asp)
1. India is the world’s largest, oldest, continuous civilization.
2. India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.
3. India is the world’s largest democracy.
4. Varanasi, also known as Benares, was called “the ancient city” when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C.E, and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.
5. India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
6. The World’s first university was established in Takshashila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
7. Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software - a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.
8. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our civilization.
9. Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India’s wealth.
10. The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindhu 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit ‘Nou’.
11. Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.
12. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians.
13. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera 10**12(10 to the power of 12).
14. IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdish Bose and not Marconi.
15. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
16. According to Saka King Rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake called Sudarshana was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya’s time.
17. Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.
18. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipment were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.
19. When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization).
20. The four religions born in India, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world’s population.
21. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
22. India is one of the few countries in the World, which gained independence without violence.
23. India has the second largest pool of Scientists and Engineers in the World.
24. India is the largest English speaking nation in the world.
25. India is the only country other than US and Japan, to have built a super computer indigenously.
I wanted to tell you this, because I wanted to establish the fact that – Indians are not poor because they are stupid. Indians are smart and they have the inherent ability in them to be among the best nations in the world.
According to me, the reason why India is dirty, poor, and corrupt and everything else we know it to be is because of lack of consideration by an Indian for his fellow patriot. An average Indian is inconsiderate about a fellow human being because he has to fight for his survival and well being. One has to fight for his survival because unless he does so – he or she is deprived of the basic standards of living. This induces a mentality of every man for himself within the society. The root cause of this mentality is extensive poverty in our nation. Despite having one of the largest GDP’s our country is still very poor because it is corrupt. The national is corrupt because of corrupt and inept politicians. Inept politicians get elected because people are unaware of the need of good leaders in democratic country. And people are unaware because they lack education that makes them aware.
Therefore, the greatest of all the evil in our society is lack of education. When a person is educated, he or she is environmentally, socially, politically and economically aware. When this awareness comes, the individual elects the right people to lead them. This awareness also helps them resist and fight corruption. By having a society that is led by incorrupt leaders, poverty will be eradicated and infrastructure will improve. With an improved infrastructure people will be more caring about others and their society. This will lead to a cleaner and a friendlier India.
Now having analysed the reason or the root cause – what can we do about it? Now, I always believe that we start from me. If every single person acts – then a national will act. The solution to the problem is to educate the children of this country. India is not going to change in a day. It is going to be the future generations who will change India. As you can see based on the facts I have given you, Indians are not stupid. They have the inherent potential in them. Therefore, when we educate a child today, he becomes an educated Indian of tomorrow. And these educated Indians will change the world’s outlook on India and will make India a true global super power. Therefore, I have decided that, wherever in the world I am – fighting for my survival in this materialistic world – I will sponsor a child education every year. This will cost me very small amount of money. I can cancel one of my trips or cancel a party for my friends or avoid using my car one day a week. That small amount of money will help educate an Indian kid. These kids are going to be the backbone of future India. Now let us just think that every NRI (Non Resident Indian) sponsors the education of a poor Indian kind almost 1 million kinds will be educated every year. If every NRI can convince his 10 rich western friends to sponsor one Indian kid each (for as small as 100$ a year) 10 millions kids will be educated every year. Over a period of 20 to 30 years, most of the Indian kids will be educated and will have a better lifestyle. The lifestyle of an entire nation can be changed by this small step that we take now. With more than 1/5th of the world’s population in India, this will make the world a better place to live! I have decided that I will sponsor one kid every year. Now are you ready to do it?
Let us not talk! Let us Act! – Together We Can!
http://www.worldvision.in/
http://www.dayaindia.org/
I would like this to be a discussion and your suggestion and further ideas are welcome. If you are aware of any more charity organizations – please reply with the link.
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:23 am
I am a U.S. citizen, spent 1 year in India…leaving in couple weeks actually.
Interesting patterns I’ve noticed while searching articles on India. Why do Indians love to belittle everyone else and boast at the same time? I don’t understand that mentality. It’s really disturbing.
I had an enjoyable time in India. Yeah it’s dirty and disgusting, but there are so many other things here besides that. And it’s true India IS changing, the youth will play a big roll on Indian politics when they’re of age so it’s only a matter of time before things really begin to change here. India has a bright future ahead of it.
That said, things in their current state ARE gross. You can’t deny it. And that’s what this blog is about. About India’s CURRENT state and current culture.
I notice a trend about Indians, they love to talk about how great they WILL be to everyone and ANYONE who will listen. It’s really ridiculous, growing up in the U.S. you really don’t concern yourself with constantly comparing your country to others. My husband is French and he claims the same thing.
However I notice that in Indian culture power is a very big deal. Power is the number one sought after and most respected thing in this entire country. Which is why all Indians obsess over how great they’ll be and have delusions on how great they are right now (trust me, as someone who’s travelled the world…your not that great). Even your TV commercials are one huge lie. A scooter flying down clean streets? Some rich Indian family grocery shopping in a pristine store that looks like the U.S.? Come on, it’s not like that here. India will be great, one day…so chill out with bashing and comparing all the time to other countries, you’re not there yet. And who are you trying to convince exactly, yourself??
India is still crappy…yes it’s changing, but this isn’t about “How India will be in 50 years” it’s about how India is RIGHT NOW.