Shailaja Neelakantan of GigaOm (one of the world’s top blogs with an international audience) writes in the context of the recently concluded blog-camp.
And some of them were, thanks to Sify providing WiFi and the organizers Kiruba Shankar et al ensuring plug points for everyone to connect their laptops to—a rarity in electricity-starved India’s buildings. Getting into the first world groove, the first thing most did on entering the large auditorium was to whip out their laptops and check their mail
Am I the only person here who finds this more than a little patronizing? I wonder why in a report on a conference on blogging, does Ms. Nilkantan need to suggest, not so subtly, that the so-called first world ambience of WiFi and electric plugpoints (Duh!) is something that poor Third World, electricity-starved Indians are unaccustomed to.
It’s something you can never escape in the West. Despite our status as a fast-growing, economic superpower, whenever we get mention in the media it is almost always as a weird, desperately poor nation of magicians, snakes, elephants, strange gods, venerated cows and boys who have flies coming out of their urine— condescension being the underlying theme of most of India-centric coverage. [And the other times we are mentioned is as cheap labour, speaking in pidgin English, who have taken American jobs because so poor are we that we don’t mind working on a slave’s salary—-what’s almost always forgotten is our competence.]
And I am not talking about media asses like Bill O’Reilly of Fox News whose ignorance of anything outside US is only matched by his pomposity (he referred to Pakistan’s ISI as SIS) or borderline-racist Lou Dobbs on CNN. I am talking about the so-called smart people—the Jon Stewarts, the Steve Colberts and the Bill Mahers of the world who regularly tag on the worst kind of stereotypes to anything Indian and Hindu and consider it to be funny. And indeed it seems to be. Pictures of Lord Shiva or Lord Ganesh provoke uproarious laughter from the studio audience with Jon Stewart’s goofy grin implying: “They worship that?”
Things would be fine if they were equal opportunities offenders. Which they are often are not. They make fun of right-wing Christian conservatives like Pat Robertson and right-wing constructs like “intelligent design” but never of Christianity and Christian symbols. Islam they wish they could but they value the heads on their necks. So it’s open season for India and Hindusim (which to them is indistinguishable)–because we are, as always, easy targets.[To be fair to Stewart, he is the only person who has run a positive piece or two on India—-when he once interviewed Thomas Friedman. That’s about it.]
Unless the news item is totally bizarre, India is never ever considered newsworthy. Sometimes it gets to the point, where we do not even exist. Whenever I hear acts of Islamic terror being mentioned nowadays, it’s London, Madrid, Bali…..and almost never Mumbai. But when it’s the opening of a school of magic in a tribal region of India, it’s on Keith Olbermann’s countdown as we are witness to a scene from Indian daily life—an emaciated Indian man in a white langot setting his tongue on fire. Issues of importance that affect India are never covered or at best, relegated to the inside pages. But when it’s Sushmita Sen pacifying a snake on the sets of “Zindagi Rocks” it’s on friggin CNN !
Okay so perhaps they are ignorant. Perhaps they don’t really care about people who are not white and don’t have oil. Perhaps India as a nation of dark magic and flying sadhus is a more comforting stereotype than of it as a vibrant, progressive democracy with a booming economy, a nation that no longer holds a beggar bowl.
But what about Indians themselves ? Why do Indians, the moment they write for a foreign media outlet, start pandering to the stereotype rather than trying to puncture it? Why don’t they define their own vocabulary instead of talking in the language of condescension? Mind you, India has many problems and highlighting them is essential. A post about the power problem in India (a fair one, not suggesting that it is abysmal compared to other regions of the world) would be fine. Criticizing what we do wrong (and there are many things we do) is kosher too. [I am the last person who equates grounded-in-fact self-criticism with unpatriotic].
However this “poor Indians salivating over first world facilities” is not criticism. Hardly so. It’s a dash of “first world” patronizing injected ironically into a piece that should have been celebrating India’s embracing of the ‘new information age media’ (wonder how many of the non-snake-charming advanced nations would have so much enthusiasm for a conference on blogging). [Incidentally, my first world apartment has a woeful paucity of plug points]
And the tragic thing is that the GigaOm piece I led with is relatively inoffensive considering the other muck that is churned out about us, often by Indian and India-born writers.
In case there are any first world people reading this piece let me make it clear. We do not have a cow racing C1 circuit in India. We do not have motherf**** snakes in our motherf*** houses. We do not fight on the streets about caste. What you see on TV as “India news items” is as symbolic of today’s India as the cross-dressing man, who comes on Jerry Springer confessing to having a secret affair with his midget brother-in-law, is of American/Western society.
Please do not misunderstand. Do write about the crazy things that happen in India. After all Sushmita Sen, with sand in her chest, seducing a snake is as newsworthy a thing as anything else in the world. But then be even-handed and also highlight the more mainstream things–like bomb blasts, terrorism, elections, progress– just like you would do for England. And even France ( a country US loves to hate).
Okay that’s enough for today. Let me now get into my third world groove by partaking a bar of cow dung before I start practising for my show on Saturday—-pulling a bullock cart with my moustache while a snake plays around in my white, stained dhoti.
Dear Arnab,
The negative perception of India in the West exists soley due to the “secular intellectuals” and “phony liberals” like Arundathi Roy, Pankaj Mishra and the whole Commie ilk. They would love to mortgage themselves to the White skin in order to sell their tripe piece of literature. Remember “verbal terrorist” aka Arundahti Roy routinely criticizes India in Western forums and newspapers are ever eager to swallow it up. Whoever tries to portray a balanced view of India, its culture, tradition etc. is immediately branded with choicest epiteths like “fascist” “hindu fundamentalists” and so on.
GB. I clicked on the link but could not see the sand in her chest. I looked but could not see. BTW, love your blog. tks
You pull a bullock cart with your mustache while eating cow dung? Bah. I pull a bullock cart with my trunk and third and fourth arm while drinking my own urine.
whose father what goes ?
America as a whole is pretty much where is was in the 70s - look n feel and what they like to hear.
There - that was my stereotype of them
I guess the media just gives them what they want to hear. Their events, fears, politicians are news, and the rest of the world is for entertainment.
Thats ok. Why should we get so bothered they dont cover us ? Its their loss, not ours. Jaane do - we’re going where we want to - if we’re good for a couple of laughs, fine. And, we can keep “surprising” them with the same stuff over and over again
Helps tourism and creates positive vibes with the first interaction so easily!
Do we have similar coverage of the Sub Saharan Africa here ?
When I first read the report, the patronizing tone did put me off and that too coming from a Indian made it even more bad.
Well, your post covers most of the points excellently!!
Cheers,
HP
I remember this anecdote someone (a desi of course) recounted while our group discussed this topic;
Obnoxious white guy asked him-”So there wus a lot of dem cows on tha road in yer neck of woods, eh? Hyuk Hyuk Hyuk Har Har Har…”
Desi bhai replies with a straight face: “Yeah…. and I went to school riding my pet tiger.”
The gora is dumbstruck (and wary) and asks if he’s kiddin’ him…. to which our desi says-”Well, how else would a small kid like me survive with all those cows galloping down the roads?”
—————————-
Western views of India are directly borrowed from the “observations” of the British explorers (the victorians…. you can guess) and later on the spins given by the Raj….. and even after independence the stiffs couldn’t let go of all that baggage. Images of archaic constructs, exotic things like fakirs, starving villages etc which perpetuate the image created in western minds finds more readership than a news item of the success of the PDS, resettling of the former dry-latrine employees who came from the lowest castes by the wet latrine scheme, the Mark II hand pump which helped hundreds of millions of villages, the Lijjat Pappad co-operative or the Mumbai tiffinwaalahs. Otherwise it has to be that of Ashok the geeky intern coming to “steal” your job or someone “Bangloring” you or some dot-head rat-eater calling herself “Steena”…
On the other hand;
Shashi Tharoor in his book “India” called people like this Nilakantan (and folks worse than she is), Pornographers…. a really apt term if you compare what they do to the “vision” of the porn industry luminaries. There’s an entire chapter devoted to Indians belittling India. Nothing earns more moolah and condescending “understanding” than a native telling the big white hopes how screwed up their homeland is…. how lucky they are to escape the hellhole and come to the land of the free or whatever. The differential in life style might be true but it’s when they grind the home country underfoot that it becomes unbearable… don’t these assholes realise they are lowering THEIR OWN standing in the eyes of the furriners? The Italians didn’t do it when they came in droves to the US in the late 40s-50s (even though Italy had lost every single battle and the war in WW2), even the Boat People of Vietnam don’t do that in Hong Kong, the Cuban refugees trash Castro and not their homeland…. but it is we Indians who stand out in this respect.
Perhaps our own inferiority complexes, caste system, infighting, Indian variety of Feudalism and centuries of servitude to invaders is the reason behind it…. When we find our feet and get a trillion dollar economy, these same pr1cks will wear their heritage like a medal and you will see Hollywood churning out panerygics on the glory of the Mughals/Mauryas/Vijayanagar and what not.
PS: There’s a saying in my native tounge-”Saayippine Kandal Kavathu Marakkum”, which means native infantrymen (otherwise competent and well drilled) will lose their step/forget their drill (military drill = “kavathu”) whenever a white officer (”Saayippu”) comes to inspect. Quite telling comment on our percieved inadequacies while measuring up with even some shmuck from Podunk Town, Mississipi.
PPS: A famous scene from a national award winning movie from back home, quite telling and relevant here;
A foreign car speeds by splashing muck on the simpleton-villager protagonist. He shakes his head in puppy eyed admiration saying “Enthoru Speeeeeedu!” (Wow… that car sure is faaast!)
Although I don’t have a first hand experience of how India is generally mentioned and percieved there…but somehow I would like to believe that attitude is changing….atleast that is becuase I have seen stuff on this side of the Atlantic that seem to suggest that the attitudes are changing…..even if they weren’t my recent experiences with the place has led me to believe that the country is headed up a road of self destruction because of its obese obscene and obnoxious people….so who cares….big deal….
I think what just reinforces how the people in west look down on people from not only india but from other religion is the latest speech from Pope Benedict XVI.
How can such a celebrated religious leader condemn other religion on a whole like that.
Dada,
I think you missed ‘Kama Sutra’ apart from snakes and magicians.
Invariably, any conversation involving India also involves KS.All of us must have seen the famous “Ash on Oprah” clip wherein the first topic that Oprah starts with is KS. And our dumb Ash plays along with her in discussing it instead of giving it right back to her.
What say?
I dont know whether this is a US centric thing or not since I have never been to the US. But i did spend three months stuyding in France, and I found the people were fairly well-informed about India.
They were aware about poverty in India, our vast English speaking population, our age-old problem with Pakistan, terrorism, Bollywood and Aishwarya Rai (änd her tag as the “most beautiful woman in the world),
They also had some perceptive questions to which I had no answer (why do people in Hindi films start dancing and singing suddenly
)
An incident I would never forget is when in one cultural awareness class we were asked to list common characteristics of Asian people there was a complete omission of India from the discussion. When i brought it up, they said, “Oh sorry, we consider only the far -east when we say Asia. India is so different and big that it has to be considered separately!!”
One more prof we had was an absolute India-fan. He kept raving about the World is Flat and almost became lyrical when he spoke about the IITs. He used to tell the class, ‘watch out, these Indians are gonna kick your ass”
The small Indian contingent there definitely loved him!!
I once convinced an American lady that the Gulab Jamuns that I reheated for her (bought at an Indian store at Richmond) were red because they were made of goat’s blood. The microwaving was, as I explained patiently and with a straight face, “so that the blood does not coagulate.”
She obviously swallowed more than just her first mouthful - hook line and sinker - and then refused to swallow a bite more, till my roomie decided to put her out of her misery…:))
She later had the grace to laugh at her own ignorance though.
Parag: I’m assuming you were on exchange in France….;)
Anyways, I had an experience similar to the one Parag described - I was in Belgium for 4 months on an exchange program and met quite a lot of students from across Europe during that period. They were surprisingly well aware of India - our current PM, Sonia Gandhi (!!!), Vajpayee, our problem with Pakistan,our relations with other neighbours, the economy - a whole range of topics, in fact. This was quite a surprise to me for I expected the standard questions related to snakes, elephants, yogas etc. However, I got quite a handful of questions on the Indian economic and political scenario - questions which were intelligent and probing and quite a few of which I did not have answers to.
Of course, a large majority of these people were students of politics, economics or international relations - so their awareness levels must have been much higher than the average.
Also, K3G was quite the rage in Europe then - a large number of these students had seen K3G. And they were curious to know whether we actually broke into dance and song at all our weddings!And they had endless questions on arranged marriages - how common they are, what do parents do if you dont agree, the whole process.
It was not just their awareness but their genuine interest to know more about India which made them such a refreshing change from most of the Americans I know
I’ve been travelling in Uttaranchal for a week and finding a cybercafe in Lansdowne and Pauri has been like finding snow in the summer. The patronising attitude, I can tell you, has some justification.
i so so agree with you. and you know why the so called intellectuals pander to the stereotypical image of india.. their writings/projects get better funding.
Should we really care Western media and their coverage?
Why don’t we leave them to their own fate?
After all they are covering news items which interests their own audience.
If they are covering the news items which is reminiscent of india’s past, then let them do so. The media will have to take the blame later on to put their audience in the dark about what is changing around them.
More than TV and news paper coverage in United States, it is NRIs who are changing the perception about India among Americans. Remember India is everything poor, rich, developed, under-developed, caste free, caste-hit. It has cities like New York and also like places like darfur.
We should not really care about what the projection is about India. What we should try and work hard is how to change the ground realities.
There are several things i have noticed in the Indian media
1) Attach immense importance to western coverage.
2) Tune news items to the western tastes.
I have also seen Bollywood going Hollywood. It is irritating. Why should our actors/actresses change to western audience? Their play field is Asian in general and Indian in particular. Why should our Aishwarya Rai (who cannot present well on TVs) tune to Western Audience?
I don’t understand the numbers here?
I do see a reason, if Hollywood goes Bollywood to attract huge Indian audience. In large, Western audience do not care about indian movies. They simply can’t imagine a movie with songs.
My mantra is “Stick to what you are and the rest will follow”
GB and others - I would suggest that you read http://atcweb.atc.tcs.co.in/~sagar/slime.html for a brilliant critique on our “intellectuals”
More on the MoFo Snakes in the MoFo houses. Yahoo News India has this to report about MoFo Snakes in a Mofo courier parcel.
Direct Link
http://in.news.yahoo.com/060913/43/67jwh.html
On my blog
http://makash.wordpress.com/2006/09/14/snakes-in-a-parcel/
Hey GB,
MAN u sound pissed….although it is justified but relax….
What the Americans or anybody else thinks is besides the point,
what NRIs think about India can also be explained, after all they got in their adopted country what they didn’t in India….but the scary part still remains the kind of acceptance and importance any regular Indian gives to the opinion of people from US or Europe….Till the time we do not seek their acceptance (not approval) these things WILL continue!!
Very very interesting post and interesting comments too esp The wanderer’s!
when i saw the Sen news i wanted her to need plastic surgery on her nose too ,she inspired that kind of violence in me.
@Vamsi
That was a great read; just that it was 3 years old. Wish Dr.Vidyasagar could write more often.
@GB
I know that you respond to user comments whether they agree with you or not but what would be super is if you could help lead or moderate a real time discussion on a particular topic or two that affects Indians or India.
P.S - My optimism that a forum like this would change something for the better is from the fact that if an older generation of Indians could throw the British out; who knows that this generation of Indians can do.
P.P.S - A discussion need not be about something worthwhile like betterment of India; it could be about anything like the latest cricket debacle or even about KJ’s movies (not that KJ’s movies are not worthwhile)
Looking at Shivam’s comment above, I have to say, I cant see anything wrong with Shailaja’s comment :d.
This is very typical of desi journalists or “blog journalists” as they call themselves. Remember the washington post article on Infosys by that Rajesh Mahapatra. Similar traits.
Why am I not surprised.
I carefully try to avooid reading anything reading written by these so called tripe blog-journalists.
S
*so called tripe, “desi” blog journalists… just to make sure.
You know what is the real problem? The Indians (Arundhuti Roy etc.) who write about India in a patronising way don’t really think themselves as Indians. Deep in their heart they think themselves as firang and other Indians as ‘natives’. And their writing is an effort to cry out -’See, I’m one of you, not one of them darkies.’
Remember the poem “Taashgoru?”
Taashgoru goru noi, ashole to pakhi she…
Fits them rather well.
Arnab, why bother about them? Their attitude will not change till we start feeling confident about ourselves, and think that an Indian living and working in India is as good as an NRI, (Before your readers start flaming me, look at the matrimonial ads in any Indian newspaper) or a firang.
And it’s not worth thinking about what the firangs think about us. If they want to think that we are a land of snake charmers, let us just take their jobs away, till they need to come and get a job in the land of snake charmers. Methinks it would be a better revenge.
Here’s a recent letter of mine to Washington Post (I believe they did not publish it; anyway, the list of misrepresentation based grievances is endless. I guess we have to wait a while longer till we start delivering steadily and remarkably on our economic promises, and as the norm of capitalist worlds goes, academic and media respect will automatically follow the market, while the Mishras and Roys will stealthily switch camps. Just chill.) as a piece of evidence about how some Indians unfairly demean their own society (I do not care about the demeaning if it were fair: logical fairness is my picking issue here) and get published perhaps precisely for that sensationalization -
Dear editor,
This mail is about the Washington Post article ‘A Brutal Lesson in Humanity’ (August 18, 2006) by Prakriti Badoni whose experiences during the tragic 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India were indeed most shocking to learn about.
It is well known that the horrendous 1984 anti-Sikh riots and pogroms in India were carried out - (a) by the violent supporters of the firecely secular and then ruling political party Indian National Congress under the blind eye of administration and police, (b) never in the name of religion (i.e., it was not a Hindu-Sikh conflict), (c) not by any of the Hindu fundamentalist parties.
Therefore, my question is as follows: if the act of humanity by the writer’s Hindu family (sheltering their Sikh neighbors during the riots) is not attributed to Hinduism, how come do precisely the antithetical acts of inhumanity by activists of a staunchly secular political party (hunting for these Sikh neighbors) get attributed to Hinduism (which eventually led the writer to become “a human as opposed to a Hindu”)?
This seems to be unfair judgment to me.
Thank you.
Sincerely yours,
SP
Here is the Wash. Post link -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/18/AR2006081800807.html
India is like Egypt, stuck in the glory of its past.
While I am proud of my country, and what it has had to contribute to the world, but I do have the right to bitch about it.
On occasions I have told white folks that I work with that it’s the second fastest growing economy of the world, and I also tell them that many work for a dollar a day. They had worried expressions.
A propoganda war is like any other war, and winnning it is a matter of having more artillery. More positive voices will drown out the negative, if that’s how the nation’s mood is.
I remember when the New and Resurgent India was on the cover of Newsweek, the mood was really positive. I really wanted to go back to India at that point. That was good propoganda. The stock market boom? Good propoganda.
But I’ve been feeling really negative about the recent crap that the government hath wrought. What the fuck is with them stirring ancient communal hatreds, bringing back the reservation system into popular consciousness, and then this whole Vande Mataram thing.. This is Bad PR, and nobody feels good about such things.
Regarding the Journo’s comment and her jibe on electricity, Yes, India is suffering from poor infrastucture, and we shouldn’t try and gloss over that fact. It’s freakin obvious to everyone. Foreign companies tend to figure that out when they are stalled a few hours in Bangalore traffic.
The Great New Resurgent India will get a backbone only if fantastic new infrastructure is built. Something as awe inspring as the Brooklyn Bridge, a work of art and commerce. We’re proud of the Taj Mahal, of India’s great temples and palaces, what modern monument can we talk about with such pride?
India is stronger than it was a thousand years ago, its people are more populous and more industrious in this generation than ever before, adapting and adopting to new technologies, and leading them. But it needs ego stroking reminders. It needs grandeur, manifested through monuments that will commemorate this time in history, and stand tall for a thousand years from now.
Oh man,
This post says a lot about my current situation as well. I’m in UK and I get a lot of stupid questions from people here who actually think what you have just accused them of here. There is a friend of mine who is so out of it that he thinks Indians are not allowed in the football world cup because we would come equipped with black magic!! The idiot doesn’t realize the simple eventuality of us never been good at the game. No. It’s always has to be the snakes, the human sacrifices, the jobs we’re stealing, the asylum we are seeking abroad, the population, the dogma of the religious indians (i’m an athesist by the way)and such nonsense. Sadly, the world at large is so busy being themselves that they don’t realize the possibility of them not seeing everything. Only time will tell where this stupidity will end and a globalized civilization of little unevens begin. Something tells me, it could take a while.
My Desi TA at G Tech should be given a thumbs up. He is the only desi ive met who dared (?) to talk abt sonia gandhi and indian politics during his lectures. It was rather brave becuase many indians feel shy or embaressed to talk about their country in front of others. In fact I dont blame them, beucase a british colleague seemed totally disinterested and used to turn his head away if I got the topic of india up. :-S
Soon after landing in US, I was asked by an Amru,
‘Do you still ride on elephant for transportation’
I replied ‘ya, when I was in Microsoft, that is how I used to commute from home”
First of all, love the title. Conveys your point very well. I see many examples around whose writing suggests they are in the ‘third grove’ with lifestyles matching those in the so called ‘first world’. This is what is most saddening. The very people who enjoy luxuries comparable to those in developed countries complain about what’s lacking. Frankly, I find little difference between my life in Pune, and in the US - its disparity within the country thats the bigger problem. And as you say, a fair, well-grounded criticism is rarely seen.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Reminds me of an incident during my Master in US. One of our profs was harping on about world economy and somehow the conversation ventured into driving. He daftly said to indian students, ” Hey, don’t you guys drive on the wrong side of the road”. I practically growled, ” Mike, we don’t drive on the wrong side of the road. We drive on the left side. The opposite of ‘right’ in this context is left, not wrong!”. he profusely apologised for his behavior after that.
Another of my friend studied in wisconsin where, on being told that he was an indian, was routinely asked, “which tribe?”. He came up with this story. ” My actual name is Charlie Three-feathers. I am from Eastern sect of the Navajo, the fookavi tribe.” People will ask, “which tribe is that?”. His response,” Oh, there is a long story behind the name. Long time ago when my forefathers were searching for the final frontier, they somehow got lost. They went around saying- where the fook a’ we??”
Always used to shut people up.
“We do not fight on the streets about caste.” etc etc
What are you smoking, greatbong, other than what is implied?
really…do you even follow what happens in India, while you sit in your first world apartment that dopesn’t, sorry, doesn’t, have enough plug points?
We don’t fight on the streets about caste??
Get REAL and if you really are such a huge India lover, be honest.
@Sri- on your comment on “Western audiences…can’t imagine a movie with songs”, Hollywood has a strong tradition of successful musicals, from 42nd Street through Fiddler On The Roof to Chicago, Rent & Idlewild in the immediate past (as also its cousin the ‘dance’ movies like Flashdance, Dirty Dancing & the movie that was # 1 on US BO for a week last month, Step Up). I think they have a problem with the immense length & that every movie irrespective of genre has extended song & dance sequences. Movies like Devdas & Veer Zaara got a lot of critical acclaim in the US.
To bring it back on topic, I had commented previously on GB’s posting on Born Into Brothels how in the movie Rent a character sings to a fellow starving artist in New York City that “This is Calcutta/ Bohemia is dead”. Some perceptions die hard.
Om Malik used to write for ET before he came to the US & became a journo guru around when outsourcing became hugely popular, writing for Red Herring, Business 2.0 & now with his own blog which has recently got VC funding.
You diss Jon Stewart and Steve Colbert unfairly. They make fun of everyone, including Islam, Christianity and Judaism, Bush, Kerry, Israel, Lebanon, etc etc. Case in point re: first three… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3JC9ssiBU8
I read somewhere that somebody asked Swami Vivekananda in the US, “Is it true that children are thrown to crocodiles in India?” Swamiji laughed and said , “Yes, I was also thrown. The crocodiles couldn’t eat me because I was fat.”
The situation hasn’t changed much over the last hundred years!
venom - aah, that’s quite a venom GB!! i understand the blastings. but then who cares? let those say whatever they wanna say. good things are always mocked. coz they are worried at a sub-conscious level. and btw, we dont want to be the center of attraction, anyway. and we wont beg for that, right?
Hey arnab,
you are right man. As long as we indians dont blieve in what we are, noody can help us.
Spot on GB. I agree with you completely. And folks who are saying stuff such as “who cares about the Western media”. Well, my friend when a media like BBC takes such a condescending stand we have to notice. It’s not just some XYZ news channel, but BBC, read by millions across the world. The negative stereotype would have been acceptable if it was properly balanced by positive insights. But that happens rarely. I am a regular at the BBC site and do not fail to notice the regular reports on “dog married to girl” and similar stuff. And we are not alone on that. I think the entire South Asia is projected in a similar way.
My understanding of this is that the Brits still suffer from a huge colonial hangover, which probably tranlsates into a patronizing attitude. Americans are simply ignorant and they could not be bothered about it either. But the Brits do it deliberately, often to have a “feel-good” charity work in the midst of their Goa vacations.
Thankfully, the mainland Europeans are lot ahead on this. My experiences in Netherlands and Demark was rather pleasant. I was surprised to know that these guys (normal people, not economists or MBA grads) were quite aware of the various aspects of India and a significant proportion have actually travelled here and had a great time.
@dipesh: I still say “who cares about the western media”. They dish out what their viewers want to see/ hear. When we are confident about ourselves,comfortable about oiur skin and as a community we make it big in the world, we’ll automatically have a greater say about how the western media portrays us. No use bitching about stupid Americans and their insular worldview till then. Bitching won’t change their viewpoint - sheer economic power will.
around perestroika time, the russians adored india and indians b’cos we have a wonderful HOT climate all the year round.
oh! they adored ‘awara’ and the 80’s kids swooned over ‘disco dancer’.
and in central asia, uzbekistan and the like, india was seen as the land of milk and honey. this is an age old belief and gives an insight into babur’s actions.
as for americans, they are unable to see beyond their own noses. the monroe doctrine just about sums up their attitude towards the rest of the universe.
if ‘they’ persist in believing in holy-cow-snake-charmer-elephant-in-the-garage-myth, should we enlighten them?
NO!!!!!!!!!!!
lets just work hard, work better and steal their jobs.
then let bollywood make a fillum, ‘The Revenge of the GEEKS’, three hours fifty minutes long, crammed with every imaginable song and dance routine— and let it win the filmfare award.
oscars are just an item of bric-a-brac.
my daughter finds ‘koi mil gaya’ far more entertaining than ‘e.t.’ She belongs to the new generation that is proud to be unabashedly desi and finds more than a few western customs utterly ridiculous.
Are you getting too worked up? It is correct that most of the reporting about India and for that matter any other “third world” country is very superficial in the US. Most of it goes on to reinforce the stereotypes rather than deconstructing them. But the same is true about most of the reporting in India! Have you never heard of the “progressive” Pakistanis complaining that not all women on Lahore streets are burka clad, as it would appear from the reports in Indian media?
I think this patronizing is just a generic phenomenon across boundaries. The westerners feel smug about their technological advancement ( btw, my friend who just arrived from India was mighty disappointed with the cellular service out here in the US of A. “It sucks”, he says.) On the other hand, it is easy to find Indians being smug about their culture and family values; ever heard Indians talking about the American marriages.
I can only thank you for writing this post and so well.I was furious when Mumbai rains and a death toll in thousands didn’t make it to BBC news for more than 30 seconds, where as they had been crying over the death of 53 people in a Bomb blast for over a year.Almost like our lives didn’t mean anything.It was just infuriating.
Like you said, I will give them the benefit of the doubt and regard them ill-informed.But what happens to our own people who turn around only to condemn.
I pretty much disagree with everything in this post. Just to give you a few examples,
1.> India is electricity starved. That is the reality of the situation. In my town they have load shedding every three days of the week for at least 3 hours a day.
2.> we are a nation of magicians, elephant gods, flies coming out of urine and snakes. again, it is a reality. Yes, we are also the fastest developing superpower and this gets covered in the media too, just watch Lou Dobbs.
3.> Jon Stewart makes fun of everything under the sun. If anything, he ridicules Christianity more than Hinduism. And I fail to see why the audience shouldn’t laugh at an elephant God, hell I find it funny too. And I also find it funny that people worship the image of a corpse hanging off a cross. Or the fact that people throw stonesat an imaginary devil. I take it you do not watch Colbert and Stewart regularly, otherwise you wouldn’t complain about equal opportunity ridicule.
4.> we have cows racing around on our roads. That is a fact. Nothing to be ashamed about.
5.> We have caste wars. Are you saying we don’t? Hell lets make it easier. Just try marrying someone outside of your caste. In the US there are class wars. They get adequately covered in the media. eg : Katrina. Are you saying caste should not be covered just because it is in India?
5.> We do have mothereffing snakes in our mothereffing houses. Again, nothing to be ashamed of, so do many people living in Arizona, Australia and Africa. They all receive equal media exposure.
6.> Sushmita chanting hymns to pacify snakes recieves as much media exposure as does people drinking water magically appearing from a tree in Texas, people seeing Jesus Christ in the drywall of an Alabama Church or a chocolate virgin Mary in California. The media looks for strange and bizarre stuff, regardless of the country it originates in. There’s no need to get all self-defensive about it.
well, about who cares, we do, everytime a misguided american asks you the most ignorant question he/she can come up with.. even worse than those with straight out prejudices are the people who know a little about india, like indian cuisine and have a few indian friends, and therefore think they knwo more about india and its way of life than someone who’s lived there for 21 years. i have a colleague who routinely dices indian movies, indian roads, pretty much everything indian, because that’s what she’s fed by her indian boyfriend, presumably one of the types we are bitching about here…
and for people who think there are no traffic jams here in the wonderful first world country that is the US, last week, the main freeway connecting D.C and maryland, was jammed for over 3-4 hrs.. and i routinely get caught in traffic… the grass is very very green when we live in india, with stars in our eyes…..
-madhu
I do agree that the post is condescending, but I had to reread it, and imagine if I could ever write something similar to see that. I get my hackes up when I hear people deride India (fairly or not), but that doesn’t give me a reason to gloss over facts (caste/justice/infrastructure etc.) . What is true is true and what is not can be explained reasonably. Seemingly odd Indian customs have very sane reasons, or originated because of valid needs and they should be explained as such. No point getting het up over the coverage in the US/UK media. You only have to watch the local news to see the topics which they think merit interest.
I haven’t met ignorant people asking me about the Indian elephants/cows (yet) and I’ve lived here about 10 years - hence the placidity
Well….to throw in my 2c’s, most news corporations need news that will “sell” to their market (sad but true).
Cows and snakes in India sell. Exotica sells. Normal life, local trains, progress and bomb blasts killing a few dozen brown people doesn’t.
You serve your market (and that’s for any market…..liberals serve theirs, conservatives feed other conservatives conservative stuff, Fox feeds its viewers/readers fiction and so on……)
I don’t think there’s a major conspiracy theory here, or an acute need to be condescending…..not a big deal. When (if) India really matters economically in the world (i.e. when it’s trade is worth more than 3% of the world’s GDP) the stories will change.
Yup,okay agreed that the Western media has a stereotype.and that is because the customer of this is the middle class American, who would not like to come out of this stereotype of India,and because it also gives the average American something to feel good about.”You see, the Indians are still uncivilized”….
But however, can you deny,Arnabda,that even the most sophisticated restaurants in Blore do not have wi fi, while we cannot imagine the cafe in the next street noty having a wi fi.
Can you deny, that inspite of what India has achieved in the software sector, this country has a long way to go, before it can reach the standard of living of the United States?
Look at the unusually long lines in the US VISA consulate anywhere in India. It is impossible to get dates two months ahead.Does it not signify “poor Indians salivating over first world facilities”.Yes, it does.and I see nothing wrong with that. I am myself a poor Indian, who would love to live in the first world, simply because of the “first world facilities”.
So yah, the stereotype is not all false. They are stereotypes for a reason.
And as long as India has fanatics like Narendra Modi(who was refused an entry to the US ), how can we expect that they will think any better about us.It is because of such right wing fanatics,that Hinduism gets denigrated in the West. And we should not complain.Any day, an Arundhati Roy is better than a terrorist like Modi, as India’s brand ambassador to the US.
So,let us also accept that there is some truth in the stereotypes, and merely fuming and fretting at CNN presenters wont do us any good.
And yes,there are caste wars in the streets in India today.In the great State of Bihar.There is no use trying to hide that.
I dont think the problem is a mere mention of India related problems, its a preponderance of negative stereotypes and negative news that is objectionable.
I had drafted a reply to all the comments and then Firefuck crashed …in the process making me lose everything I typed. Might be some time before I am able to redraft that…
would you expect Mrinal Sen to make K3G?
wonderful! I recently met someone who called Indians H1Bs… !!
GB
Brilliantly put. But you have to understand that the US is essentially a land of stupid people who cannot see beyond their picket fences or very oily places. I remember an anecdote from an NRI relative who was studying in Austin sometime back. He said that a lot of Texans believed that Texas is the only country in the world. On the other hand, there were a handful of people who were aware that Texas is but a state, but thought that the US is the only country in the world!
It is common knowledge that an average American high-schooler’s sense of geography is zilch. I guess it’s an outcome of an intrinsically isolationist attitude to the world. The US politically came out of that status in 1939. But deep down it still remains a country that couldn’t care less about the world, unless it affects the running of his SUV.
Compare that to the Europeans (and hence the difference in outlook). They have been going around the world, interacting with alien civilizations while the Americans were busy stealing land from the Native Americans.
As for those fawning journalists, the overriding diktat these days is, give them what they want, as opposed write what is right. GigaOm was a reflection of that. Every media entity panders to its constituents. Be it a Hollywood studio exec who sees no value in an edgy indie-drama, a Karan Johar who cannot make a movie based in real India with real people or a TV host who has to potray India as a land of cows and snake-charmers!
Let them be.
Kind of sort of connected, saw this on Cricinfo today, on the worst cricketing excuses -
Indian smog
After England lost heavily to India in the first Test of their 1992- 93 series at Calcutta, England’s chairman of selectors Ted Dexter suggested investigating the effects of the local smog on the players. Their bad luck continued: the captain Graham Gooch missed the next Test with a stomach bug after eating some “dodgy prawns” the night before the match. His team-mate John Emburey later produced a different version: “It wasn’t the prawns. It was a plate of pork.”
Reminded me of the Aussies crying smog in Delhi a few years back, I think the same year Warne flew in baked beans from home. Must have been 2001…
GB,
Agree with you mostly.
It was very evident when they lost their sleep over terror of one day or two, while we have been victims of it over years, but that created huge roar and we were never noticed.
But like the ohter commenter says, “whose father what goes” is my attitude.
The only thing that bothers, is the “Indian” writer/journo sticking to the same “outsider’s” language.
Here is a related post
Dear GB,
I will talk about your wonderful post in while, but first Id like to respond to Suyog for his comment:
“This is very typical of desi journalists or “blog journalists†as they call themselves. ”
You are absolutely right Suyog. And…when these so called Blog pundits read anything positive being said about India…say a Tom Friedman in the NYT ….they write a post….”I disagree….the country lacks this and that…”. Many of these bloggers then propose a panacea, “Privatise everything and glory will come thy way. ” Some of them , if they happen to write an OP -ED for an american publication , will link back to it in a 1000 succeding posts and say ” see I told ya “….never mind if the writing is shallow and superficial. Now heres are 2 nasty lil secret about these bloggers which they would not like to hear:
1> These bloggers want international fame and spotlight. They will do it at any cost or compromise. In short their views are where the moolah is. After a close scrutiny of Western perception of the Indian media, they have quickly and intelligently guessed that if they project a cynic view about India’s developments and beat about the line “Muslims are victimized in India “…which really projects them as “secular” people….they get more and more OP-ed space. Also knowledge is not a requirement…just give a bird’s eye view..that any class 8 student can give after a few hours of googling..and paint a bleak picture…and always think of how your writing will elicit ” wow…this guy looks really smart and not religious at all….next time anything on India….well make him write it”. The blogger then smiles and thinks of newer ways to attract more attention to his blog and how clicks on his blog can translate into dollars.
2> They draw exmaples from India’s telecom sector and pass a generalized verdict- Privaise everything….open the minds of the people…let us have fancy coffees, coacine parties and threesomes and in the process rural India will grow by leaps and bounds. Now here’s a nasty little accusation- they dont actually care if India’s poor are suffering- they just want better quality cappuccino. This self -centered attitude of theirs hidden by protective cloak of “Liberalise the country and the poor will get rich “.
Of course when they look back at their own lives, they becomes ashamed of the fact that they are Indians and lament on what they have not had….and then start blaming the govt….of course they are against any kind of protectionism for benefit of the poor….all these are cheating schemes…they shout…and bring out their magnifying glasses to examine where their taxes have gone….but when their cell phone or credit card company calls up and says: ” sir we have charged an additional xxx amount ” they pay happily…that of course aint cheating…..private companies are never corrupt. Its the govt who is the culprit…Enron who?
Id then like to say that Wanderer’s comment was truly fantastic. Regarding Gawker’s comment, all I can say is that what hes saying is true…but GBs grouse is against the baised coverage and stereotyping - people seeing only the cows and not the glass buildings.
And now GB, regarding your post…if I was in proximity to you…Id have given you a hearty steak treat for writing such an unbiased and beautiful article. We are lucky to have you you know…men like you are rare..otherwise a traveller in the blogosphere would get lost in the quagmire of “pandering to western humour” kinda views. As is your hallmark, you are rational , unflinching and objective.
“Islam they wish they could but they value the heads on their necks. So it’s open season for India and Hindusim (which to them is indistinguishable)–because we are, as always, easy targets.”
Shabash GB Shabash….all I can say is that who else is there in the Indian blogosphere who would have had the guts to write that?
Regarding the TV shows….you know how they are …and how dumb the average show on American telly is…..so this is to be kinda expected. Consider the the foreign snippet columns of newspapers where you find queer bits of news….you”ll find news snippets like ” A man from Texas has set a world record for eting the max no of well done steaks”….similarly the people in US want stereotyped news snippets like that about India….it has to come with cows and snake charmers etc….you see Infosys making Nasdaq 100 aint much of a news….the average viewer will suck his thumb…he probably doesnt know what the Nasdaq 100 is..but the man who rode the cow to school is the kind of news that they look forward to. I can even predict that even after 25 years from now, when all villages of India will have electricity and the country will get even more modern than its now…still they “ll dig out such news from jharkhand or mizoram and project India that way. I know its sad…it really is…but Im even more angered at the Indian journos who try to make a fast buck by pandering to that kind of cravings and not being bold enough to defend the country and her achievements.
So when on BBC radio, some Indian correspondent is asked, “so what has changed in the last 5 years ” about anything from politics to tiger conservation, they”ll get brownie points if they focus on the negatives obfuscating the positives. They can defend themselves by that “not resting on one’s laurel’s ” line, but they cannot hide that submissive “yes sir, as you know its the same old story…this is bad and that is broken line”. Very few are bold enough to say ” Yes we have this and this shortcomings, but we have acheived that and that too and we can only go up from here” without inferiority complex. Its unrelated but tied to one of your previous posts….take a survey of those people who write cynical articles about India….generally they are the ones who say “I dont have to sing a song to project that Im Indian “…and sometimes…just sometimes I just feel that this refusal to sing is more a case of divorcing oneself from ones own Indian identity than a case of individual freedom.
Just as I was going thru’ the blog and the replies, I get a mail from a colleague (White and European) who is in India on a bussiness trip, and the subject of the mail is “Hello from the World’s biggest Outdoor Toilet”!Needless to say it was marked to other colleagues as well,from different countries, and unfortunately I am the only Indian…and everyone else is only too happy to agree.And I don’t have any arguments to prove that just because some people are peeing outside in delhi does not mean that the whole country is a “Big Toilet”.
Being poor is understandable, but uncivil,poor hygene ( like sh****ng in the open, spitting everywhere)etc. are not explainable to others. And you can’t shrug it off also as a small percentage of the population, because they are what u get to see on the streets! No matter how well you do elsewhere, when it comes down to India it will always be the same …. uncouth, dirty, naked! We Indians feel at home in such situations because we know where to cover our nose, and where not to step and where not to look… but for others it takes too much of an effort just to step out of the room, on foot !
YOURFAN writes:
@Sayon, Swati, Ankan, Dipesh and others who think that ‘Bitching won’t change their viewpoint - sheer economic power will’. I agree partially with you. Yes, the economic power is one important factor to change their viewpoint but definitely not the only factor. Raising voices of protest (“bitchingâ€) is another very important factor which by the way was the point of this post. Example: Till 80’s the usage of “N†word to describe the black community in US was not a big deal. At that time the negative connotation of the “N†word was not known to all and sundry. But the voices of protest or ‘bitching’ about it changed the whole scenario. Now if anybody uses the ‘N’ word then he/she is branded as racist. In final analysis, now nobody uses the ‘N’ word anymore – not even in literature unless of course that is specifically used to mean racism. Please don’t tell us that economic power of the black community has improved so much that other people has started ‘respecting’ them and that is the reason why ‘N’ word is not being used any more.
@GB: I honestly believe that we should protest and raise our voices especially when our own people present our country in bad light in the name of reality. Which country does not have problems? The negative aspects might vary from country to country but then why pick on one? I have a NRI friend (born and brought up here and then married to an NRI) who often grumbles about everything after coming here for visits and says that the only reason she comes for a visit is for her father!! She pisses me right off. But at the same time I have a NRI relative who envies our life style, our togetherness, and our ceremonies in short all the fun stuff. I know everybody will jump at me and say that it is a matter of perspective. But we sure should raise our voices to let the concerned people know that we are not liking it. And as charity begins at home, we should protest at those Indians who belittle our own country in the name of reality and impartiality. As some of your readers suggested that the news/views are presented in media/literature depending on what the audiences want. Fine, whoever is belittling our country in the name of reality and impartiality should take note that we don’t want to hear it, we don’t like it - if not for any other reasons (as they won’t understand the concept of love for one’s own country) but at least for the simple reason that we already are aware of our own problems. It will take time but it will work. The “N’ word worked – didn’t it?
@Vamsi- Words are not enough to thank you for the link you provided.
Dr. M. Vidyasagar’s article should be inculcated into history texts around the country.
http://atcweb.atc.tcs.co.in/~sagar/slime.html
Write- up of the year.
YOURFAN writes:
@rick: My comments crossed yours. Here is my reply to you. If I were you then I would be sending the reply to the same person (White and European) with cc to everybody for them to read the reply as “to the World’s biggest drug addict denâ€. Obviously that is a gross exaggerated generalization. But the fact of the matter is that they have the problem on that account or any other account. We have our problem on a different domain. Only if you protest in that logical manner they will understand that everybody/nation has its own problems but that does not allow anybody to belittle others. Criticism is a both way street. If we don’t shy away from protesting logically then things will definitely change.
@anon - yes you are right about the N-word. Except that the negative stereotype of African Americans (pardon my ignorance, but I believe this is the current politically correct terminology) has not disappeared, and why periodically a new politically correct term has to be invented. The words may not be used, but the thoughts remain the same.
The advantage of using sheer economic power to remove a stereotype is that after a while the people who used to stereotype you are too busy licking your feet to look down on you.
Bitching may get Americans to grudgingly shut up, but money will make them glad to sing paeans in praise of India. Which the Israelis and Japanese have managed to do, and the Chinese are well on the way to doing.
I understand what you mean by India and Hindusim being indistinguishable to the westerners. Many ppl I met in the US would join their hands and go naa-maas-Te, on being told that I was from India. Like how they bow down low on meeting a Japanese person. but Namaskara is a hindu greeting and I always wondered how the non-hindu Indians wud react to this, and sadly never got a chance to find out.
@rick
I understand your feelings when you receive a mail that says “Hello from the World’s biggest Outdoor Toiletâ€. Completely agree with your feelings. We can be poor, but we need not be unhygienic and all that.
Now for a few suggested email subject lines if you are writing a mail from US of A
“Greetings from a country which elected George W. Bush President ”
“Update from a nation whose President cannot pronounce ‘nuclear’”
“Hello from a country that was discovered by mistake”
Point is, nobody’s perfect. Of course, we are working on our flaws. Things being optimistic, a hundred years from now we will have a nation that craps and pees in indoor toilets. But hundred years from now American children will have to study about a stupid President in their History classes!
People, the fact remains that we are hypersensitive to any critical evaluation of our country. The fact remains that there are many areas we need to improve, and our standards of living just do not compare with the developed countries. No point being an ostrich about it.
The only reason we have started bristling indignantly rather than examining ourselves, is because some of us, in some areas have just begin to compete, especially in IT and scientific research. Even there most of our so-called prosperity is dependent on developed countries.
This veneer of ‘development’ that we wrap around us also blinds us to the real problems that India as a country faces everyday - political, social, infrastructural. So instead is getting our panties in a bunch about what some random blogger/writer-turned-activist/reporter writes, we should probably see how much of it is true.
I have lived for the last many years in Bombay and Pune, two of the most developed urban areas in Maharashtra. I have worked briefly in Bangalore, and go to Kolkata regularly.
- Pune does not electricity for long stretches every day.
- In Bombay, if you travel from Kandivili towards the much vaunted IT hub, SEEPZ through the Western Express Highway, you will have enough reasons along the side of the road to realize why it is called the “shitpot” of India. Besides having the maxumum number of potholes per square kilometre in India.
- Bangalore - going from any random point A to B takes a minimum of an hour, and no - the coffee shops, barring a few, are still not Wi-Fi ed.
- Kolkata and its “shorboharar dol” is still struggling to provide its citizens with basic facilities and and infrastructure. The new-ish road leading from the airport towards Salt Lake Sector 5 (The IT SEZ Area with grand names like Millennium Technology Park) has signs saying “Beware of livestock on the road.”
And these are just some of the great cities - the urban areas of our country.
I am sorry - what are we angry about again?
Greatbong,
This is a welcome change from your usual satirical posts. And I loved every bit of it.
These posts are an important step to spread awareness in the west about the India of today. I applaud your effort.
Sanjay
@Vikram: Well matters arent as simple as that. Though undeniably filth like Arundhuti Roy’s meal ticket comes from denigrating India, her meat and drink comes from showing that Muslims/Christians are being persecuted in India, Pakistan is the real hero etc etc. rather than showing that India is a land of snake charmers and elephants.
@SD: Too much clicking is injurious to the errr hand.
@The Graduate: Urine drinking only on Tuesdays for me…thank you.
@Sameer: Yes of course…their insularity is amazing. But they look upon Japan, South Korea and even China as part of their “civilized” world while the rest are all JingaLala.
@HP: Thank you
@Wanderer: I have often wondered as why other expats are so possessive about their origins (a Swedish friend of mine sends his kids to Swedish school and himself teaches there on weekends) while many Indian expats are exactly the opposite.
@Ookephunti: Maybe in europe it is changing. Not here in US.
@Anubhav: The Pope is an extremist figure. End of story.
@Vishal: KS is fine…”I am an expert in the arts of the KS” has got many a desi laid in foreign lands.
@Parag: Yes I understand that. Europeans are in general much more well informed about the world than Americans. Whenever I am in Europe, I am surprised to see CNN cover so much world news while in US, the same company has almost none of it. In spite of that, I have seen that Europeans are more racist than Americans—at least from my experiences of racial profiling in airports.
@Shan: Scene straight out of “Fear Factor”.
@Ramya: I too was surprised by the airing of “Mohabbatein” on Austrian TV at 9 in the evening and the omnipresent promos.
@Shivam: I understand. Try finding cyber cafes 40 miles out of Rome. But then you loathe Hinduism (as you said on a DP thread) and God-knows-what-else, so maybe reasoning with you is unreasonable.
@RS: Oh of course.
@Sri: It’s very fine to say to “not care”. But I do. I am well aware of India’s problems and have faced flak/abuse from trolls/commenters for highlighting only problems. Which I do. What I dont do is drag in stereotypes at every possible opportunity. Mainly because I do not have a foreign entity bankrolling me.
@Vamsi: Excellent piece.
@Akash: Ho hum.
@Gourav: Thanks for the concern. No I am not bursting a vein. At least not yet.
@Varsha: Pre-emptive surgery. A new concept !
@Rohith: This has been suggested before. The problem is that maintaining a BBS consumes a lot of CPU cycles—something that is at a premium in shared hosting plans like mine. And I cannot afford to go onto a dedicated server—considering the meager amount of money I make from ads.
@Suyog: Oh yes remember. The guy who had never heard of Paris Hilton.
@Sayon: Ideally I should maintain a zen-like detachment from ignorant people. But I cannot.
@S.Pyne: That’s a killer letter. Obviously Washington Post won’t publish it.
@Sriram: Hmm
@SirPyscho: Well the truth about why we never qualify for the World Cup is more embarrassing…maybe you should have let him stay under that impression !
@ND: Yes wish we had seen that disinterest 250 years ago.
@Krishanu: Didnt you tell him about the robotic monkeys who eat up the elephant dung on the roads?
@Ajay: Indeed it is not. Again no problem with criticism. Problem with “dragging in stereotypes”.
@Tintin: Exactly. Have had that “wrong” side conversation at least twice as I can remember…I also take pains to point out that there is no “wrong” side, only a “different” side.
@Paromita: So have you also hit the bottle along with Devdas? Because as far as I remember, I never saw a single caste riot in Kolkata in my 23 years there. And leave aside a few states(which numerically do not represent India), I have not seen caste riots in the newspapers also. By the same token, there have been race riots in the US…as late as in the 90s. So do we call US a nation of race riots? So wake up.
@Tipu: And of course Kolkata is the hell-hole even by Indian standards…thanks to the work of Mother Teresa.
@Anonymous: As per the link you provided, the Daily Show principally makes fun of right wing conservatism (Christian) but not Christianity. As an example, they wouldnt make fun of a corpse on a cross. Or question about the virginity of Mary. I am not saying they should—I am just saying they won’t. Sinnead O Connor’s career was finished when she tore a picture of the Pope calling him the real villain and NBC spent millions on damage control—do you think Jon Stewart doesn’t know where the line is when it comes to Christianity? He does. And he also knows there is no line for Hinduism.
@Joy Forever: So it hasnt.
@Vuttaa: No we want our news to be covered too. If a death of a Jewish student in Gaza is headline news, so should be the death of 25 Indians in a bomb blast.
@Purushottam: Ah well.
@Dipesh: And to think that the BBC is the best of the lot—at least they do have some India coverage which balances out the “dog marries girl” news-stories.
@Swati: “Steal” their jobs. heh. I don’t think they were “theirs” in the first place. They were just jobs. And they always go to places which strike the right balance between cost and competence.
@Ankan: Well progressive Pakstanis may want to explain why the existence of Hudood shouldnt be sufficient cause to call them a medieval country.
@EducatedUnemployed: True.
@Gawker:
1)If you would kindly go through my post, I have said that if power is indeed a problem, write about it. But do not mention it, in a deprecatory tone, on a topic where that doesnt even need to be mentioned. And I would think that citizens of Chennai, at least the ones who came to Blogcamp, do enjoy electricity, plug points and WiFi and arent actually salivating over the “first world facilities”. Again if someone who is always “interpreting” Bush is unable to interpret this bit of Macauley-ian superiority then nothing much to say.
2) What makes India a nation of snakes? As you say arizona also has snak