While Indians, both natives and diaspora, are quick to pat themselves in the back that there’s no place like Mera Bharat Mahaan, the country and its people have rarely evoked good feelings among foreigners.
Here are a few notable foreigners and their views on India:
Babar (founder of Mughal empire)
Hindustan is a country of few charms. Its people have no good looks; of social intercourse, paying and receiving visits there is none; of genius and capacity none; of manners none; in handicraft and work there is no form or symmetry, method or quality; there are no good horses, no good dogs.…Pleasant things of Hindustan are that it is a large country and has masses of gold and silver.
Charles Dickens (writer)
I wish I were Commander in Chief over there [ India ]! I would address that Oriental character which must be powerfully spoken to, in something like the following placard, which should be vigorously translated into all native dialects, “I, The Inimitable, holding this office of mine, and firmly believing that I hold it by the permission of Heaven and not by the appointment of Satan, have the honor to inform you Hindoo gentry that it is my intention, with all possible avoidance of unnecessary cruelty and with all merciful swiftness of execution, to exterminate the Race from the face of the earth, which disfigured the earth with the late abominable atrocities [referring to 1857 mutiny].”
Richard Nixon (former U.S. President)
Indians are “a slippery, treacherous people,”
Paul Theroux (writer)
A monotony of frotteurism, life in India being an unending experience of non-consensual rubbing.
Henry Kissinger (Nixon’s National Security Adviser)
The Indians are bastards anyway. They are the most aggressive goddamn people around.
Lee Kuan Yew (former Prime Minister of Singapore)
I grew up, I went to India. I realized that there are many different Indias. And it is still true today [in 2011].
India in Famous Foreign Eyes added by SearchIndia.com on
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cough#biased#cough! 😉
Very amusing quotes:
Apart from Charles Dickens and Lee Kuan Yew, the rest of the people, who quoted the life were bastards in the highest sense. And I guess the word of a bastard counts in the eyes of some people.
The more such articles I read, the more I realize that this world is full of morons, educated, uneducated, civilized and uncivilized, who speak about humanity, secularity, equality on one hand and gleefully indulge in the most narcissistic, racist, bastardly, manner and speak high of kings,monarchs, and dictators, who were directly responsible for killing of many innocent people and term them as heroes.
The world is a strange place indeed!!!
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. Sweetie, there are no innocents in the world.
Just small bastards and big bastards.
Even Mother Teresa (she used to deprive the dying and sick of medicines but went to the U.S. for her treatment) turned out to be no different.
2. BTW, you are wrong to bracket Paul Theroux with the others. He is a decent travel writer and his “frotteurism” reference (see the post above) was the result of the fellow trying to go for a walk along Mount Road in Chennai. With so many people, it was inevitable that several people would have rubbed their dicks or pussies against Paul. The non-consensual dick rubbing in Chennai got Paul so mad that he abandoned his walk, returned to the hotel and took a Taxi to the Madras beach. Source: Paul Theroux, in The Shatabdi Express to Chennai, one of the chapters in Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, P.236
Bottom line, people in the West are not used to other people rubbing their dicks or pussies against them every few seconds when they go for a walk.
Another way to look at Paul’s tirade is that in any large Indian city people can get an orgasm by just going for a walk. No need to go to a hooker or massage parlor. 😉
“Another way to look at Paul’s tirade is that in any large Indian city people can get an orgasm by just going for a walk. No need to go to a hooker or massage parlor. ”
Hmmm strange, I have sometimes got myself in the middle of a human traffic jam in Parry Corner, T.Nagar, or CMBT, but thankfully, never faced what Paul faced.
I have spoken to a lot of my expat friends with whom I have worked with during my previous organizations. The only thing they found terrifying was the humidity, dust, and the horrible traffic sense that our people have.
I understand that people from the West tend to have an aversion towards India. While I empathize with them, I cannot help but wonder if they could face the same luxurious life if their country had to manage a population of 1+ billion.
As for Babar and Richard Nixon, I wouldn’t care a flying fuck to what those idiots said. Babar was known to be a notorious and tyrannical ruler, a barbarian of epic proportions, so I would consider his words and those who follow his words to be absolute morons, who need to be shot in their testicles, if they have any.
Remember, history always paints a rosy picture of rulers, monarchs, and politicians to idiolize them. But if you look deeper into their actual life history, you will find a lot of ugly truths that are hard to digest. Babar, Nixon, and Winston Churchill are no exceptions. I hope you get my point.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write: Babar was known to be a notorious and tyrannical ruler, ….
Sweetie, all rulers are notorious differing only in degree (depending on whether it’s a democracy or a perverse monstrosity like North Korea).
2. History (including recent events) is not even an approximation of actual events given writer bias, absence of complete information, vested interests, changing norms, different interpretations possible for same event etc.
I agree it’s no joke managing a population of 1 billion plus but we’re not doing anything about it. Relentless, reckless breeding means the Indian population will become 2 billion in a few decades putting enormous pressure on resources (mainly water and oil) and lead to war (internal and external).
Paul Theroux used to be hots about Naipaul’s wife 🙂 ….
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. News to me.
I knew Paul couldn’t get enough of Naipaul until they had a falling out.
Nadira is still hot today (I’m assuming you’re referring to Nadira, and not Patricia).
2. Both writers have a sharp, acid tongue.
Sarcasm is always lurking in the background.
No, it was Patricia Naipaul. I remember reading Theroux mentioning it in his ‘Sir Vidia’s Shadow’….. It certainly wasn’t Nadira as Theroux and Nadira had a spat and in fact she was the reason why he fell out with Naipaul in the first place……
I don’t find Nadira hot at all…I think Naipaul is a fool to fall for her. Aged celebrity writers usually encash their success by marrying 30+ young ladies,usually quite hot, a la Salman Rushdie etc. This man has married a woman who is bad looking and only 14 years younger than him. Reading his background, I guess, Naipaul never had the confidence or a knack for charming hot younger women….He was stuck with his first wife and stuck with his mistress for too long a time……