Culturally, not a fan, for many reasons others have mentioned - and the whole caste system thing tends to sour a lot of the otherwise positive aspects.

That said, the food is EXCELLENT, and that must not be overlooked.

I’ll share my perspectives on Indian colleagues. Not Indians raised Americans (who are more Americanized), but Indians who are from India.

Like others, I feel like this is a general sweeping comment that can be seen as racist and inaccurate. I agree. I try my best to keep it in check.

Indian women come off as entitled. They are both strong because men in India have been rude/off-putting to them, but also demanding. I recall one Indian woman tell me how she used to get catcalls and even had some pretty rape-y language thrown her way and she shrugged it off, calling those men pathetic. But then in her own words, “Would have been treated like a queen” by those toxic men.

Indian men come off incel-y. Not just the young ones, but the married ones too. My one “friend” made a pass at my 14-yo cousin. I now keep him at arms length. The married couple, the husband was a total creep to my wife. Then he defended himself saying that’s normal Indian men behavior. His wife was upset, so maybe it wasn’t? Either way, I didn’t appreciate it.

I only know about a dozen Indian folks in my circle. And again, Indians born in America are completely different.

I’ve no significant opinion of India beyond anti-Modi, and that’s a product of John Oliver. Most of my engineering team are Indian and some I like, some I tolerate. And a fear of Indian traffic by reputation alone.

But you could swap “American” with “Indian” in that first paragraph, change nothing else, and it be largely (if not entirely) accurate.

deleted by creator

Since no one else mentioned it, The Baha’i Lotus Temple in New Delhi is on my bucket list to visit. Absolutely gorgeous architecture.

An architect that was based in London when it was built said of the project, “such a building would be extremely difficult to build in London. In India it will prove impossible.” Not only did you guys build it, but there were 0 workplace fatalities in the process of building it.

I like Ram V and his comics, I don’t like all the bhenchods calling my phone.

Fantastic food. Entirely too rapey.

• Massive potential
• Nationalistic
• Somewhat racist
• Unfair caste system
• Not enough bathrooms
• Poverty and hunger
• Extremely rich people
• Excellent food
• Food poisoning
• Nice people
• Misogynistic
• Rich history
• Modi vs INDIA election
• Smart pivot to service sector
• Tata steel
• Lots of languages
• Diverse nature

Going to be a superpower soon if they manage to create a robust middle class and get some nice institutions up and running. India is doing good but it’s hard to manage a country on that scale without being, like, China.

Removed by mod

To be fair, every country believes their culture is superior in some way, partly because it’s beneficial for governments to instil a sense of nationalism in its citizens. India’s not alone in that.

So from the perspective of being in the United States. Remote Indian work it’s cheap but of extremely low quality. This ranges from call center workers to programming and engineering work.

This is usually a sign of the company trying to cheap out and having poor products in general. So it’s kind of a compounding problem.

Politically India seemes racist, nationalist, and terrible on climate change. I’m from the USA so yes I know we are not great on these topics as well.

Having been to India a few times from inside here it’s what I’ve noticed in the country.

The poverty and wealth gap between Indians and westerners means almost everybody wants money from you and to up charge you. From beggars, to chai vendors, to high end stores and hotels. They also love hidden fees and you have to be vigilant about details. This puts me on a constant tense alertness when dealing with people that gets very draining.

I’ve also spent time with an indian family during holy. My western friend was dating a member of the family and we went for a visit. The family was very generous and welcoming. It was the only time in India when I was relaxed and able to chat and enjoy the company.

Racism and classism abound. The ways different ethnic groups treat each other and try to force the use of their language on the other group. For example a Hindi and Malayalam language standoff when I was in Kerala.

Or when at a store that sells stone art has two clearly miserable lower cast people working a human powered cutting tool for the tourists when you can hear the sound of high speed electric tools from the back room.

Animals other then cows are treated horribly. Elephants in particular always looked miserable and broken.

People with government jobs are arrogant and lazy. From customs and immigration to the national parks. I arrived 20 min before closing at a national park to buy tickets for a late night tour that was latter that evening. The ticket both was empty with one other person waiting. Two minutes before closing the guy came to the window in a towel because he had been showing before getting off work.

The belief in crap science abounds. I got an ayurvedic massage that wasn’t a very skilled massage and then the guy tried to give me medical advice. Several people tried to explain that the ayurvedic guys were just as good as doctors. On way out another of the ayurvedic “doctors” tried to sell me a medicine that he assured would remove belly fat and regrow hair. This from a fat bald man.

The fiet time I was in India Modi had just won his first term as Prime Minister while I was there. There was a huge procession of angry young men yelling and pushing people out of the way. I assumed they were from the losing party. My driver informed me that no they had just won the election.

It was clear that this wasn’t a jubilant celebration of success. It was a angry group that now had the power to do what they wanted.

I know i’ve been negative and there is a fair amount of nice things in India but they always are fleeting and overshadowed by something. In the multiple times i’ve been to India i’ve never had a bad meal and there are a lot of nice people. I just think they are constantly at odds with each other.

The most Indian moment I had was drinking tea while enjoying the smell of the spice fields. Then the wind shifted and all I could smell was the stench of shit and diesel from the cesspool over the hill.

My basic view of India is of a super diverse country with a fascinating history and cultures, and really great food. Politically I see a country that unfortunately is leaning in a more authoritarian direction as time goes one, and one that is getting increasingly unequal to its inhabitants. I really think India has so much potential but little will to actually improve.

I visited India back in 2008 and I loved it! However, since then I have realized that I am transgender, so I probably won’t go back unless the culture shifts toward being more friendly to queer people. That sours my taste for the country, unfortunately. I also escape fundamentalist Christianity, so I am very suspicious of fundamental and conservative religion, which I perceive as having a strong presence in India.

I don’t see India leading in innovation or technology. I see China, Japan, South Korea and the US as being leaders that way. I do see India as up and coming due to its population spike, it definitely feels like development is happening fast!

I’ve been working with many Indians remotely who were in India and on site in Sweden and Germany. None of them ever said anything like you describe, most of them were very humble and hard working. Sadly often they would just keep their head down and work into the wrong direction sometimes for a long time not reaching out to others.

But if I’m honest, the people from India were as diverse as any other group of people. From very religious from small villages to atheists from rich families. The division between them was bigger then between them as a individual and me a European. They didn’t even speak the same language and had to use English.

My general impression is that India are really good at scientific innovation and so on but only because the incredible inequality allows India to channel its resources so that it can be on par with other countries a fraction it’s size.

If they did the work required to lift the poor regions out of poverty, and sometimes just straight up feudalism, the country would become a proper superpower with far reaching cultural impact but right now India seem to slide further into Hindu nationalism so now it’s more of a worry for everyone else if India became another dictatorship like china.