Why do tourists click shitty pics of India and post them online?

[observer]

I have frequently seen non-Indian tourists (dunno about Indian) click and post pics of poor, under-developed places in the Indian cities they visit and tag them as "pic of so and so city". I never see beautiful roads and pics of developed places from such places. There are many such places in all cities in India (I can talk confidently of Delhi since I live there and always see pics of the poorer parts of Delhi on the internet from tourists while it has many beautiful places!)

More Indians atleast should click better pictures and shoot videos of roads, buildings and other places in India and post them online so that a biased and limited focus on only the poorer parts of India is displaced.

[sunandadhawan]

i compleatly agree wht ur statement. i had travel 50% of India and there are number of places to visit which are so beautiful that one caant explin their beauty only through few words. ya! there are number of poor and under developing cities and places in india, but each and every country have such places.

[observer]

That's the thing. When we Indians go from one place to another within India, say to a hill station, we click pics of beautiful places there. We don't click pics of slums and dirty areas and return to our homes to show them to others. So I don't understand the mentality of foreign tourists at all. Why do they click ugly photos and take them back as memoirs of their visits? What's the point of touring another country then? Such tourists should be ashamed of themselves because they are not being tourists but rather mocking the negative aspects of another country. After all no one likes to be poor and live in dirt. So clicking such photos isn't nice. Indians don't click photos of poor slums and ghettos in European, American or other countries when they visit such places, do they? They click photos of beautiful spots in such countries which is how it should be.

[rohit khaitan]

You are right observer. But how often do we think of this??

We are a tolerant country with some morals in our social behaviour. For us hatred and anger are sins and negative traits.

Probably we r paying the price for being nice.

But i think this price is worth paying to live a mentaly heathly life.

[Nikster]

That's the difference between us and the Chinese. We are a free democracy that allows people to roam where they please and allows the domestic and foreign press the right to publish whatever stories they want. The West, being so ethnocentric, love to report on the ills of any society other than their own and so they prefer to take pictures of and report on the poverty in India. In China, they're restricted from showing anything but the parts of the country the government has spent all its resources building up to look Western and awe inspiring while the areas of poverty that are just as bad as India are out of limits. My girlfriend's father, a professor at an American University, went to teach in Beijing and said it was just as bad as India. You had parts, like Delhi, that were nice and modern, but the rest was abject poverty. None of the poverty is allowed to be shown to foreign media or domestic Chinese media. Even the city of Shanghai, even though it looks nice with all those big buildings, is the same. And those buildings are just for show. The office space in Shanghai is half empty.

Does this mean we should give up democracy and become a totalitarian dictatorship so we can build great buildings to show off to the West while our people starve? No. It means we must work to improve the lot of Indians and spread the wealth to all sections of society so people who are poor and discriminated against can still have the benefit of health, education, and enough food to live on. That way, the next time any Westerner comes and takes a picture of poverty in India we can show them how our poor are still taken care of while in the poor in places like America (hint: New Orleans) are still made to live in squalor without health or decent access to education.

[observer]

I think it's the British (and before them the Central Asian invaders like the Mughals and their ilk too!) who invaded and looted India and then showed the image of India as poor to the world. And the world till today goes on thinking that and demeaning India.

Afterall how come India had the highest GDP in the world till the 18th century and it can be called poor in the larger historical view.

[India1989]

You know why that is so because these tourists are just complete idiot and they think India is just poor. So next time see tourists who does that just pick them up and throw them in slums and beat the shit out of them.

I hate these tourists. We don't want these tourists in our country.

[amber81]

if you have any good pics feel free to share them

[Darius4522]

All tourists take pics...and while some are shitty, others can be excellent. And if tourism involves learning about a country and its lifestyle and culture, photos of beggars and slums are just as important as those of the Taj Mahal. They all contribute to an overall experience. I have mine here: http://jmprphotography.com/

[SfumatoPants]

I am Canadian and have traveled widely in India and have lived there for a period of time as well. You have to understand why foreigners visit India in the first place. India attracts a kind of adventure tourist, people who are looking for a specific kind of experience, and in the case of India the adventure is being in a place that is hot and crowded, chaotic, and ancient. Each country has a reputation, a concept that comes to mind when you mention the name. It is a stereotype that is often inaccurate, but is almost impossible to deny. It is that Stereotype that attracts visitors.

I have also lived in Japan, and I am amused that tourists always look at Japan as some kind of science fiction, fast paced megalopolis of the future, where life revolves around technology and humanity comes second. This, of course, is not true, and only reflects a superficial understanding of the country.

I am also Canadian and find it amusing that visitors are surprised that Canadians don't live in log houses in the wilderness, covered with snow. Most Canadians live in modern, high tech cities of glass and steel, and have very little experience of the "wilderness".

Foreigners visit India to meet their expectations, they want to see temples, sadhus, crazy traffic, and dirt - and they get that experience. So be it. It is good for every country to host guests, and hopefully in the process they will learn something new about their world and be better for the experience.

[Cyphor]

SfumatoPants, okay we don't if that is your name, but yes - what you have said is true as far as my opinion is concerned. Every society and culture has its own stereotype, however often inaccurate as you have called. India is now one of the fastest growing economy and the country has long since shed its image of being a poverty ridden, starving and miserable society. Thousands of families which were below the poverty line a decade ago, now belong to the lower middle class or middle class thanks to a steep increase in jobs. Almost every household in the country has a telivision, and now at least one mobile phone. That explains our families are no more struggling for food and income.

But yes, you still see beggars. Beggars seem to be the top attraction for the foreign tourists as they keep clicking them in an evident attempt to portray India. We can not blame the tourists as they only appear to think there is so much misery around in a country that claims to be a fastest growing economy. The fact is, you see beggars everywhere because that is the favourtie 'occupation' of those who do not want to work and live a respectable life. Many non-profitable organisations have been trying to relocate this beggars and provide them a work to do so that they can live off an earned income. But these people find begging both easier and rewarding, as ironic as it may sound though. In a country that has a population exceeding a billion, you can not possibly change everything even with an impressive economic growth rate.

The bad roads and dust ridden streets are still there but they no longer are a depiction of poverty and misery but a corrupt and inefficient governement. Yes, all that we Indians are left to worry about is corruption in the face of our present and future. We all earn and pay tax to the government but that revenue goes to the secret bank accounts of our politicians and bureaucrats; hence the bad roads and lack of basic facilities.

So, we would like our foreign tourists to portray India, if at all they should, as a politically corrupt and struggling society rather than a poor and miserable one. We would like the tourists to click our politicians with their growing bellies and smug faces and caption those photographs with a tag that says "Worms Eating Away Rich India".

[moviegeeek]

donno what s with them!!

[munnakv]

It will take time to get this stereotype picture out of people's mind. Until then....

Be patient friend :)

munnakv