The American View of India
For some reason I am seeing a lot of things on the situation in India today...
First thing in the morning..when I turned on theTV, it was te first thing on the news. Some reporter doing a special series thing where he goes to India and talks about this and that. About how the poverty situation is getting completely out of control. How India is the a poor country. Most of the people, if not all, are below the poverty line..
Yes I know thats not true... but that is what they make it seem.
In the past 5 years, I have seen several shows and programs that mention things about India... and almost every time they mention India, the first images that they show are those that push India down...
Why do images like these have to be the itroductory glances of India, for those that do not know about this third world country...
Why not of the amazing number of architectural achievements, of the beauty of nature...
And as I write this.... its being mentioned on Oprah too... and Meg Ryan visits India... and she talks about her stay in Delhi.... in the video she talks about how people earn $0.50 and $1.50 a day... but why not convert it in Rupees and say how that is more than what they think it is... the folks can buy themselves meals and have some kinda clothes on their back with that money!
I guess I kind of understand now why most Americans make comments like...
Oh you speak great English!
or....
Did you speak any English when you were in India..
You cant really blame them... the media provides half truths...
I recently visited a friend in Washington DC, and she took me around to check out things in the locality...
And I saw a bunch of poor people!
A thing like poverty exists everywhere!
Walking around the streets reminded me of my recent India visit.. because my friend asked if looking at the poverty there reminded me of the poverty situation in India.
A guy was sitting at the door of a little convinient store that had been closed down...
He was trying to fit himself between the walls around the main entrance, trying to avoid the strong winds...
Isnt that bad....
So why dont you see pictures like those when you hear about the greatest country in the world... America!
I know the poverty in America is only a fraction of what it is in India... but its still there!
But still...it almost never gets mentioned.
There are so many people that see this country as the glory land...
Is it really..... you be the judge!
When I moved here, I had a hard time with this.. and blamed the stupid Americans for asking me some really stupid questions about India...
But I understand why now...
The finger should be pointed at a whole another group of poeple...
Check out the below link to view the story
Thanks Kaush for the link!
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1677088&page=1
For some reason I am seeing a lot of things on the situation in India today...
First thing in the morning..when I turned on theTV, it was te first thing on the news. Some reporter doing a special series thing where he goes to India and talks about this and that. About how the poverty situation is getting completely out of control. How India is the a poor country. Most of the people, if not all, are below the poverty line..
Yes I know thats not true... but that is what they make it seem.
In the past 5 years, I have seen several shows and programs that mention things about India... and almost every time they mention India, the first images that they show are those that push India down...
Why do images like these have to be the itroductory glances of India, for those that do not know about this third world country...
Why not of the amazing number of architectural achievements, of the beauty of nature...
And as I write this.... its being mentioned on Oprah too... and Meg Ryan visits India... and she talks about her stay in Delhi.... in the video she talks about how people earn $0.50 and $1.50 a day... but why not convert it in Rupees and say how that is more than what they think it is... the folks can buy themselves meals and have some kinda clothes on their back with that money!
I guess I kind of understand now why most Americans make comments like...
Oh you speak great English!
or....
Did you speak any English when you were in India..
You cant really blame them... the media provides half truths...
I recently visited a friend in Washington DC, and she took me around to check out things in the locality...
And I saw a bunch of poor people!
A thing like poverty exists everywhere!
Walking around the streets reminded me of my recent India visit.. because my friend asked if looking at the poverty there reminded me of the poverty situation in India.
A guy was sitting at the door of a little convinient store that had been closed down...
He was trying to fit himself between the walls around the main entrance, trying to avoid the strong winds...
Isnt that bad....
So why dont you see pictures like those when you hear about the greatest country in the world... America!
I know the poverty in America is only a fraction of what it is in India... but its still there!
But still...it almost never gets mentioned.
There are so many people that see this country as the glory land...
Is it really..... you be the judge!
When I moved here, I had a hard time with this.. and blamed the stupid Americans for asking me some really stupid questions about India...
But I understand why now...
The finger should be pointed at a whole another group of poeple...
Check out the below link to view the story
Thanks Kaush for the link!
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1677088&page=1
30 comments:
When journalists report about other countries, they report what IS, and now what WAS. Architecture, art etc., WAS. What concerns the U.S is what India IS. And right now it is surely not technology. To a lot of people it is, but in the wider view, the kind of technological advances in India only widens the rift between the rich and the poor. And thus the report. If that report is of a nature that will awaken people, I want more of it, really.
correction in the first sentence of my comment:
..., and not* what WAS.
First off, its true that the united states has poverty and is not all that perfect that it makes itself out to be. My rotations last month were a living example of that. I used to also be disturbed about the image of India being shown to the world. True, there are architectural marvels, great new rising multinational companies, malls, shiny cars, and all that jazz. However, this part of India is limited to the metropolitan cities of India. Most of India's population is still poor. Not poor in the sense of its GDP because its growing but its grown because of the contribution of aonly a small sector. When I brought pictures home of the slums of india, one of my friends asked me why I didnt bring the photos of my house or the nice places I visited, and I said...true but seeing India's growth, everyone is bound to know about teh nice places.
If these poor places are not shown, then maybe one day like America, the poor people of our country will also be overshadowed and not seen anywhere, even though they exist like they do here in the US
Having said that, I too am opposed to showing pictures of JUST that poverty, and being asked questions like "Do they have cars in india>" "how come you speak such good english" and all that because truly India is a combination of all that we see and all that is actually shown! GREAT post!
It's not about America, its just Americans are the most ignorant people in world. Compared to this Canadians know a lot about India and they have much better image about the country. Infact, people here repect India a lot, much more than countries like China.
On Canadian TV I see more images about growing India. More images of B'lore and Hyb and how India is super-power when it comes to software industry. Canadians have much broader view on life because they travel. Do you know only 20% Americans have passport compared to 80% Canadians? This stats tells a lot about how people don't know that a world exists outside US.
Although, 30% of India still lives below poverty lines which is equal to population of USA, and we cannot deny that. India that you know is not real India too. Real India is in villages, in slums...
Sad thing is that we Indians also have very little knowledge about our own country...
I know still ppl think India is land of elephants only it is well written post and I appreciate ur views
~preeti
very true.
My God i missed so many of ur post
YAAAAAAAAAAY finally a no bull shit post... nice to see the comments coming here! lol. shall reply laters... thank you all!!
check this BHumi....there was a whole part on Good Morning America about this today!
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1677088&page=1
the vidoe is here
http://abcnews.go.com/International/
Click on Video "the rise of india"
Funny how you posted about this and it was on TV!
You are so true about this.... its the whole 'mythical land' tag about India that prob leads ppl to believe that we are just a bunch of dhoti clad yogis! the mysticism, the spiritualism, yoga and all that has been used to market India to the world could be responsible for that.... as for how ppl abroad behave with Indians, 'how can you speak English' is a damn silly question...
@ALL. LOL i am all wows about all ur comments and responses...thanks a bunch to you all!
@N!||{|-|!|_ thats a good point... the current issue in India IS the poverty! about awakening... yeah if thats what its doing, there definately should be more of it.
@anjan. exactly! wehn i went to India I saw a bunch of phirangis and how ppl lick their a$$es. and yeah...the numbers are amazing.
@kaush. u know its interesting abt the comment abt ur friends when they saw the pics of the slums. and yeah u cant ignore somehting that makes a majority of our country... i just think it is over emphasized sometime.
lolyeah the questions they ask are really amazing! hehe
@ricky. yes that is very true. and since they dont travel and stuff... i think that makes the info the media provides extra significant.
about indian not having knowledge about their own country... well i guess that could be becuase there is sooo much of a gap between the richest rich and the poorest poor.. and many times we get so stuck in our own lil world we dont look beyond!
@bhandari. first, thanks for visiting..its always nice to see a new name on here! and thanks! lol make that elephants and cows! hehe.
@red. unfortunately! hehe
@sheriff. lol i have had a lot to say of lately!
@kaush. arre i saw it on GMA only and then i was writing abt it in the afternoon and then it was on oprah too. isnt it nice.. they were talking abt the hip replacement surgery costs... and u know what i really liked... how phirangis say that we take thier jobs.. and stiill there is a rise in the income and stuff. it is very nice... ill put up the link if others wanna see it! thanks for the link!
@anks. yeah... thats a great way of putting it... and the questions they ask... lol ud be amazed how clueless some ppl are!
@kaush. u actually need to subscribe to see the video... but i put the link up anyways if anyone wants to read it.
Hamare Bhumi bade ho gayee hain. Shaadi kar do yaar ab toh iski. Kyun Kaush, koi ladka dhonde??
@ricky. arre dont talk like a grandfatehr! lol besides ladke dhundne ne koi zaroorat nahi... ive taken care of that *wink* lol
at last i see u match the title of ur blog..!! :-) "show me the way.."
interesting things here.. but lets also know that the practicality of the issue in concern is that its always been the repgorative of the US to see the world from their POV and also then project and impose that on the rest of the world.. remember iraq and afghanistan.. god bless the media wasnt so strong around vietnam.. and in most such cases the truth is always shadowed..
while anjan, kaush, ricky, have come up with some nice points and stats..we should also not forget that while running an eonomy and a nation on a global scale, it becomes imperative to hold ur people.., and well.. as they everything is fair there.. though wrong..
cheerio, bhumi.. for coming up with a thought provoking article.. :-)
"poverty getting out of control in India"...well this is a case of wrong reporting...all the surveys have pointed out to the fact that poverty is reducing in India after ten years of eco. reforms...but let us recognise one fact...the extent of poverty is unbelievable...around 30% of people in India live below the poverty line...which means they cant afford two square meal...now the question is why the foreign media always harp on Indian poverty...well bcoz when they land in India...that is the first thing they witness...it is nothing but shocking...when ur about to land in Mumbai...all u can see is one of the biggest slum in the world...when they get out of airport and travel to their five star hotel in south mumbai...they come across hundred of people living on the footpath...and in the morning hours...its is juss shameful...countless man defecating on the road...and i am talking about commercial capital of India...think of the rural India...Indis has one of the lowest ranking in Human Development Index...I have worked in bulb manufacturing industry...was shocked to see little kids working there...hundreds of them...i can juss go on...BTW truth is what we choose to see...
@clueless. dont u think we all look at things with our own pov...
u have a good point. *smile*
thanks for the comment!
@sheriff. i love what u said in hte end...that truth is what we see. and yeah that is what they see,... n since they havnt seen ne of it before.. in that magnitude.. thats all that they talk abt!
Bhumi...u juss forgot one word "what we choose to see"...not "what we see"...yes u summed it very well..."the magnitude"
@sheriff. sorry abt that! lol.
that image, u've chosen for ur profile.., ummmm... im honoured.. :p thank you bhumi..
@me... umm... ok... im lost
great to hear from all of you. actualy this is true when these firangi come to our country,everybody is ready to lick their@@@. We belongs to the most respectful country. They should better know that we have a great democratic country besides of numerous political parties.I think we all should come together against this shameful things.And i m pretty much sure that in coming years we will b the most powerful & developed country
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india should not be compared to countries of high development like america . india is still a very young boy who has still a lot of time to become a complete a complete adult .america got independence in 1776 and has completed 200 years of its very existence but india has got independence in 1947 and has still lot of time to be like america.so, don't underestimate indians.if americans are making fun of india by asking questions like "do indians speak english?" then i would like to ask them"Do you americans know hindi?".people of america mind your business and stop interferring in ofhers matters
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