It's hard to understand India if your main experience is America. As someone born in the US, that statement still applies to me. I visited the villages for the first time in 2012. It's really an experience of extremes. On the one hand, the education in the villages far exceeds that of many of the rural areas in America. But many villages don't have access to the basics like clean water, healthcare, or even gas-burning stoves. The people are beautiful and generous. That's one half of India - the half that most don't see. The other half are the cities, which like most places in the world have their good and bad parts. The bad parts just tend to be much more squalorous, but as someone who lived in St. Louis and have driven through East St. Louis it's not a huge difference - minus the cows. Deckard referred to Bangalore - I've watched that city evolve from a green oasis in the 80's to a polluted, overcrowded miasma now. But that's again not representative of the whole of India. Last time I visited I went to Udaipur and it was stunning. The sense of a shared culture is something largely lacking in the US. It leads to people who defend strangers, are generous with what they have, and are incredibly gracious to foreign visitors. It's why comments like @Nook's are particularly distasteful. If you're going to visit a foreign place you need to accept the culture, not come in with your nose up. A lot more of the world is like India than the US.
Dont be fooled with the folks here claiming you dont know India because you haven't been there. I have. It's a dump. You can use the same money to go elsewhere for a better experience.
Plenty of it. I understand. You are butthurt because you are Indian. But that place is a dump. It is what it is. I have nothing against the people. Just the place should be avoided if possible.
They actually do, literally. You can see people taking dump (yes dump, not pee) on the roads or on the river banks etc etc. I understand. These are unfortunate people and they have no means. But again, as a tourist and from that perspective, you dont need to see all this if your idea is to enjoy your vacation and have a good time. Now, if you are on a humanitarian mission, go for it...
Not butthurt. But if you walk out of a place like Udaipur concluding that it's a dump, you probably should stick to traveling in the Western Hemisphere. A lot more of the world is like India than not and is worth experiencing.
You cant expect people to go to a specific spot you liked in a place as big as India and then paint an overall picture based on that. Overall, India is a dump. And most epople will agree to that. Likewise, not all of USA is great but there are plenty of nice and clean places than there are horrible places here, and even the horrible places are relatively better off than in India. Same in Europe and several countries, as I have already said, in SE Asia. Again, its not the peoples fault. They are trying to survive. But India will never solve this problem because of their population and poverty.
Not really disagreeing with you except with regards to your conclusion. There's widespread poverty, pollution, corruption, wealth disparity, and many of the cities are overcrowded and flat out dirty. Where I take exception is broadly saying the country isn't worth visiting. I wouldn't recommend that anyone visit Bangalore for pleasure. But there is a lot of beauty in India. Beijing was very similar to some of the cities I've visited in India - but I thought it was a wonderful trip.
Your large cities are representative of your country, sorry. And large part of your population lives in poverty and in conditions that is honestly sickening to others. There's no sugar coating it. Even people who are seasoned travelers who's been to a lot of poor places in the world tell me India is something else. People will get an impression of the US based on what they see in NY, LA, San Fran etc. they are not going to base it on some little village in North Dakota.
I'm from Melbourne. I don't see any homeless/beggars on the side of the road unlike the US. You can't miss homeless people in cities or on street corners. Does that make US representative of homeless people?
Without getting into whether he's right or not (because even if it's true, you're just not allowed to say it, not like that), I just have to wonder what kind of perfectly polished politispeak do you expect from these guys? Otherwise don't ask them these questions, if you want to hear them talk at all. Because now the indians and indian honks boycott his sponsors, he has to backpedal, apologize, and he will forever tense and stfu whenever anyone ever asks him about travel, or anything related in the future. Just cut off more access, for those who care about it. I don't. I like KD. Don't need to know his opinions on such topics, or anything really. Just wish we didn't have to shove mics in everyones face, demand opinions, then grill them over their honest maybe well intentioned if less than well thought out blubberings.
Hell yeah. Major cities in the us have a huge problem with drifters and homeless people. It is a representative of the us for sure. In fact thats what a lot of European tourists say when they visit north america in general.
i think what the brehs defending india are saying, if you're going for vacation to india, there are nice paradises there. you don't go to the major cities of a developing country for vacation, you go to the areas where there are either beaches or mountains. for example if you want to go to indonesia, you don't go to jakarta where you'll die of pollution and stomach virus... no, you go to raja ampat, komodo island, or to a lesser extent bali. i have a non-desi buddy who actually chose and studied there (i know right?) and he said it wasn't too bad. of course you get the pollution, smell, etc. but he said it was worth it. he likes to travel so he went to every corner of the country and said it was fantastic. i'd like to visit india at least once, for cultural adventure alone someday. i'd stay away from major cities, at least from reading this thread.
No, have been all over the world and India is one of the worst places on earth. People **** on the ground, hygiene is almost non existence, people are locked in a rigid caste system and women are treated terribly. I have met many wonderful Indians and there are wonderful historical features about India, but modern India is a hole. It will make your more appreciative of what you have and the struggle of the people born in India. You can try to sugar coat it all you want, but it is a land that is in large part dirty and poor. Also comparing it to East St. Louis is funny. For as bad as East St. Louis is, the basic sanitary conditions are far far better.
If you like adventure, and single I would suggest India. I have lots of memories from there, it is a very unique place. However that doesn't mean it isn't a disease infested, over populated, cell pool of inequality. I also would strongly suggest females not go.
Yes, the United States has a lot of drug addicts and homeless people. The United States also has a lot of guns and a lot of wealth and excess. All of things are true.