10 things I hate about India

Frenchman bitches about India. Claude Arpi makes some decent points in his column about the 10 things he hates about India. It pains me to give any compliments to the French because of my general disdain for them as an Indian-American. While it is annoying when a foreigner writes about things he hates, some of his points are valid and well-known to anyone Indian or who has visited the country. Although 10 things I'd change about India would be a better title.

His hates in order are:

1. Power cuts - agreed
2. Indian babus aka the bureacrats - agreed
3. No access to historical documents - agreed although I don't really care
4. Discrimination against the white tourist - I'll address below
5. Paranoia about maps - weird but if true, I'd agree
6. Photographs - agreed. Had my camera seized at Jodhpur airport when snapping a pic with me and my masiji. She presented some national security risk which I was unaware of.
7. Politicians - agreed. Hopefully when the current group of monkeys die of (who represent the majority), the new young breed may be better.
8. Neglect for the environment - I'll address below
9. Traffic - agreed
10. Corruption - agreed

As for discrimination against the white tourist, I think more former colonies should learn from India and do this. This is basically a tax for prior barbarism that countries like France, England, Portugal and Spain executed on the rest of the world. And to a degree payback (albeit immaterial) for the riches plundered from the likes of India, China, Africa, etc. It's amazing that jewels from India remain on display in London. That's like me stealing something from someone and then displaying it and charging others to see it. Why you wouldn't return something you've stolen is beyond me. Unfortunately, the Japanese and the like all get roped into this price increase but in a world where white people have been amongst the biggest thieves, murderers, etc, paying a little extra to chill at the Taj or Oberoi is hardly commensurate payback. Plus, white tourists pay more and actually get better service than Indians staying at the same places. The exact opposite as I recall when flying Air France. I sat in business class and was treated with disdain from the snotty French who exhibited more overt racism than I've seen in a long time.

As for care of the environment, Claude again is a bit wrong. The west represents very little of the world's population but consumes a huge amount of its resources. Global warming and the like is not due to India, but to the USA and other western countries who've developed with little regard for the environment. Now that India is emerging on the world stage, why should they be held to a different standard? Because the western countries have already done their damage and now it's wrong. I'm not advocating that ruining the environment by India is a good thing, but one should keep things in perspective. The current environmental predicament the world finds itself in is not due to the developing world but due to the West and their wreckless policies of the past and even today.