Firstly, I’m an Indian student at an American University, and since I worked at AIESEC (Student Organization) managing a few international Interns, I don’t hesitate to say that I have quite a few International friends.
Now Before I start off, I would like to be honest with you all and I promise that I’m writing things down from my experiences, so if it wont match yours, maybe I’m generalizing it.
After all the situations I was in, here are the 8 honest things Indians are known for by the Foreigners.
1. “Indians smell like Curry and they kinda stink”, she said.
When asked “what is the first thing which comes to your mind when I say the term “Asian Indians” ? ” to a close honest friend of mine , she said that we smell like kitchens and we stink and when I asked her to elaborate, she was talking about skin pores absorbing all the “Mixed-Spices” we eat. I din’t know how to respond and the next question I asked her was “Do i stink?” to which she laughed and said that i smell like a nicely made curry. WTF -__-
Proud to have such variety in our food.
2. “India is Poor”
At first I was like “what?” , but then I neither agreed nor disagreed on this because India’s 21.9% of the population is below poverty line that is 22 people in every 100 which is kinda bad but not as bad as a few other countries in Africa, however I made her restate her line by saying that there is good amount of poverty in India but India is not Poor and then I asked her what are the sources she is using, and she was naming movies like “Slumdog Millionaire” and ” Avengers” describing the scene where Scarlet Johansson finds Hulk, Damn, these Hollywood movies should depict India in a better way, You see, we have a lot of rich stuff going on here. However we hope the poverty percentage goes down as India progresses for a better tomorrow.
The Poor and the Rich in one Pic, Dharavi, Mumbai.
3. “You guys are good at math”
Here is the First good thing she talked, thank God. No wonder we invented the number “0”, Algebra, Trigonometry and you name it, I strongly agree on this because I never saw my Indian friends using calculators in the class unless its a really tough one where as all the american folks always carry one.
Be Proud of yourself.
4. ” Arranged Marriage? “
When I asked this guy about what is the first thing which comes to his mind about India, he said “Arranged Marriages”. He thinks the concept of Arranged Marriages is funny, he asked “how could a person marry a stranger ? ” to which I replied with a grin on my face stating that the concept of Arranged marriages in India these days is not just marrying a stranger but both the people involved in the marriage are given decent amount of time to know each other and check their compatibility before the final frontier.
On the Positive side, Arranged Marriages these days give you enough time to fall in love if you are not already in love.
5. “Spicy Food”
Last time I went for lunch with a foreigner was probably 2 years ago in Hyderabad to have some Biryani in the famous Paradise Restaurant, Secunderabad if you know where that is, these bunch of friends of mine were from Tunisia, Germany, Ivory Coast and Russia. The best part is that these people always said that Indian food is Spicy but in a compliment. They like Biryani and every restaurant they went to, they added ” Bhayya, Thoda less Spicy” to their order.
Most of them like Indian food.
6. “Bollywood, that is Indian version of Hollywood right?”
Alright, if I generalize American Bollywood knowledge, they know one song, and you guessed it right my Friend, It’s “JAI HO” by PussyCat Dolls and A.R.Rehman. They think the sequence of songs played in the movies are funny but some like dancing to these beats and a few know at least one Khan of the three( Salman, Shahrukh and Amir).
Jai Ho..
7. “Computer People”
Pursuing Information Systems at my college, It doesn’t really surprise me when these Americans tag us as computer people because majority of my computer related classes are filled with Indians, Chinese and Vietnamese. However most of my Management related classes are filled with Americans and decent amount of Indians again.
We are Smarter.
8. “You guys use your hands to wipe your Ass? Eww”
I think it’s totally fine wiping my ass with my hand, I know you do too my fellow Indian, however I don’t know why Westerners think its much of a cleaner habit when you use a tissue to wipe it off, I tried once when I shit in a public toilet and my hand was all messy, I think ours is the perfect way to clean the trunk, someone please explain these Westerners !
No to these !
Thank You , Subscribe for More.
Fresh from the oven 