[rupinder]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

One thing I came back with after coming back from Thailand was that all thai people seem to agree Indian's are cheap!

he** yes .even i am cheap will try to save my hard earned money where ever i can

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by rupinder

he** yes .even i am cheap will try to save my hard earned money where ever i can

Its not that, Indians are cheap even if they are rich. And am not pointing fingers here heck I am as cheap as they come.

[Samurai]

The year was 1995 and I was taking last day photographs in office before I took off to India. One Korean girl in my office wonders...

Korean Girl : Hmm, when are you leaving for India?
Me: Tonight.
K-Girl : In that case, how are you going to develop the roll, it will be take at least 24 hours. (she is referring to grocery store photo development kiosk)
Me: er... I was planning on doing that in India.
K-Girl : Really, you have places in India where you can develop film rolls?
Me: Yes. In fact, we have many 1 hour film developing shops in every nook and corner.
K-Girl : Wow! 1 hour development... I never thought India was so advanced.

[prince_pervez]

All BBC and NAT Geo programs with sad background music are to be blamed here. Lol.
We had a Customer come to India during Diwali.
She thought there was a civil war or something with all the crackers bursting in the morning. She settled down after calling the hotel reception.
Needless to mention, we had a ball laughing.

The same customer was amused at the presence of Monkeys in the parking lot which has a lot of tree cover. She even clicked some snaps to show her colleauges in the US.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

And don't get angry if foreigners ask these stupid questions, even Indians asks similar questions to fellow Indians if that second person happens to be from a remote place.

Quite true Kaushik.
Sample following real life experiences:
1. I studied in REC Calicut. My batchmates from Punjab (who were all Hindus) were often asked, "How come you dont wear a turban?"
2. I go to DTDC counter here in Bangalore to send a courier to Mizoram. They have no idea that its even part of India.
3. My friends from north-east tell me how people land up in Guwahati and start wondering why it isnt snowing there!

And some Indians in US are even more clueless about India than their fellow Americans!

[Sam Kapasi]

The most common question/situation I have come across is:


Person: So where are you from?
Me: India.
Person: Wow, you speak English pretty well.
Me: Thank you. So do you.

But I don't blame them. Indians are more guilty of stereotyping than anyone else. We get offended when people club us with Bangladeshis, Pakistanis or Sri Lankans and yet, we club all white people together as one.
Canadian, Australian, Swedish, German all as one.

Yeh hamare jaise nahi yeh, yeh foreigner hai.
In logo ke liye.. and then every Indian stereotypes or says something ignorant. We live in a shell here we believe that there are 2 kinds of people in this world. Indians and "Foreigners"

Stereotyping or assumption is something everyone is guilty of. Not all Sardars are funny, not all Parsis are mad, not all Mararis are kanjoos... I could go on forever. But I'm rambling.

[Samurai]

I agree, even Indians are ignorant about Indians.

I once was invited for lunch by a young Gujju family who were originally from a small town in Gujarat.

Host: (to his wife) Our guest is actually a non-vegetarian.
Hostess: Oh, is that true?
Me: Yes, that's right.
Hostess: But we are vegetarians, we can't offer you any non-veg food.
Me: Er... that's fine. I wasn't expecting any non-veg food, I knew you are Jains.
Hostess: But, can you manage with vegetarian food?
Me: Pardon me?
Hostess: I mean, aren't you a pure non-vegetarian, can you eat vegetarian food?
Me: Ah... being non-vegetarian in India means eating meat once a week, rest of the days we are vegetarians.
Hostess: Oh really, I didn't know that. I thought non-vegetarians ate meat at every meal starting from breakfast.
Me:

[santhosh_kumard]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I agree, even Indians are ignorant about Indians.

I once was invited
...
...
Me: Yes, that's right.
Hostess: But we are vegetarians, we can't offer you any non-veg food.
.....
....
Me: Er... that's fine. I wasn't expecting any non-veg food, I knew you are
Hostess: Oh really, I didn't know that. I thought non-vegetarians ate meat at every meal starting from breakfast.
Me:

Maybe they once had a mallu neighbour like me

[khan_sultan]

Originally Posted by Samurai

....
Hostess: Oh really, I didn't know that. I thought non-vegetarians ate meat at every meal starting from breakfast.....

he he. Nice one. Actually, I know SEVERAL non-veg people who eat meat at every meal -- starting from b-fast (including evening snacks -- if any)

[hillram]

Not many people to that matter know that there is a replica of taj Mahal in Aurangabad called bibi ka Makhbhara...Thats what i call knowing India pretty well.

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by srijit

Tell them to watch this. The Story of India.

I saw the entire series in 2008 August which was shown on BBC to celebrate 60 years of Indian and Pakistani independence.

Person: So where are you from?
Me: India.
Person: Wow, you speak English pretty well.
Me: Thank you. So do you.

Experienced that as well. And once had discussion with British cops about Sunny Goa and best time to visit.

No offenses meant to anyone but somehow I have always seen and felt that Brits and other Europeans are somehow more knowledgeable about Geography and India than Americans.

e.g.: I was quite astounded when a German friend of mine on her first trip to India asked my wife to help buy a Saraswati Idol for her sister who was appearing for School leaving exam.

Again as I said not stereotyping but thats the feeling I have gained over the years through various interactions.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

One thing I came back with after coming back from Thailand was that all thai people seem to agree Indian's are cheap!

Why go that far? Ever seen the treatment metted out by local goanese folks to indian tourists?

For them foreigner customer is king as they spend more money supposedly, whereas in my opinion they are the ones who sit for hours together nursing a "single' drink and not ordering anything to eat.

[sudev]

Originally Posted by iceman91

Later on near nanjangud we saw a few guys walking with Indian flags and were thinking its some campaign, to our utter amazement we saw a stark naked man leading them!!! it was some form of protest.

The joke turns on you. Why foreigners we Indian's do not know about our country.

Most probably what you saw was a Digamber Jain Sadhu. They do not own anything, including clothes, after renouncing the worldly attachments and walk when they go from place to place. Generally they are followed by local Jain's who would carry flags, not of India but similar.

Uhhhhhbut sandpaper still takes the cake.

[f450]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

But I don't blame them. Indians are more guilty of stereotyping than anyone else. We get offended when people club us with Bangladeshis, Pakistanis or Sri Lankans and yet, we club all white people together as one.
Canadian, Australian, Swedish, German all as one.

+1 to that. We must not be hypocritical here.

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

We live in a shell here we believe that there are 2 kinds of people in this world. Indians and "Foreigners"

Hey, don't say that! There are four types of people in the world: Indians, Chinkis (consisting of Korea, Japan, China, Singapore, Indonesia....everything east of India except Australia), Negros (not to offend anyone, but most Indians are still unfamiliar with the politically correct word) and Foreigners (comprising of any white person, irrespective of whether he is from Egypt or Iceland).

Originally Posted by mobike008

Why go that far? Ever seen the treatment metted out by local goanese folks to indian tourists?

For them foreigner customer is king as they spend more money supposedly, whereas in my opinion they are the ones who sit for hours together nursing a "single' drink and not ordering anything to eat.

I think their ideal customer is one who buys one 7 Series, rather than someone who buys a 100 Nano's. More money, less work!

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

Indians are more guilty of stereotyping than anyone else. We get offended when people club us with Bangladeshis, Pakistanis or Sri Lankans and yet, we club all white people together as one.
Canadian, Australian, Swedish, German all as one.

Try clubbing an American with a Canadian, a Scot with a Brit, an Aussie with a Kiwi, a Pakistani with a Bangladeshi. See if they dont get offended.

Stereotypes exist everywhere. Saying Indians are more stereotyped than anyone else needs further corroborating evidence.