Do people in the West still think all Indians wear turbans and ride elephants?
@slashragnarok (137)
India
September 13, 2010 11:34am CST
This question popped up in my mind as a result of reading Tintin comics and chatting with a few young people online. Indians have been portrayed as naked fakirs, snake charmers and some as turban wearing people riding elephants to school. Do some youngsters in the West still think the same? I mean some Indians definitely do wear turbans as a religious symbol but it's a tiny fraction of the population. What are your thoughts?
3 responses
@enterthehole (111)
•
13 Sep 10
I would guess that only some very elderly people in the west still imagine all Indians like that :)
My first thought of Indian people would be of industrious, family-centred people, or the bollywood thing these days :)
@slashragnarok (137)
• India
13 Sep 10
Your actually quite right. Some people really are bollywood-ish in their attitude. From marriage proposals to melodramatic comments, they prefer to do it Bollywood style. However the vast majority of the population think them to be quite weird. Yes, most people here are family centered. Family forms the base our society here. And as for as industrious is concerned, you couldn't be farther from the truth. Nothing more said about us being hard working.
@enterthehole (111)
•
13 Sep 10
3honor, I just meant that on the whole, the image of Indians on elephants is something people born in the last 30 years just didn't have in their upbringing. Books, school, TV etc doesn't show Indians like that any more. If folks were born before that then the chances are they saw a whole lot of stereotyping throughout their youth as that was western societies norm at the time concerning all other nations.
:)
@kris182_2000 (5469)
• Canada
13 Sep 10
We have plenty of Indians living here, and some men wear turbans, but I don't see that many. They certainly don't ride elephants.
@Catana (735)
• United States
13 Sep 10
Tintin was created a long time ago. Anybody who hasn't been living under a rock for the last 50 years or so knows that India is a mix of the old and the new. Internet forums and sites have a lot of Indian members, and it's hard to imagine that people who are educated and comfortable with modern technology are going to be riding around on elephants. Ignorance and prejudice exist everywhere and probably always will, but I'd say that most people do understand that in many ways Indians are much like people from any other country.
