Before we talk about the ‘Ugly Indian’, a little background. All the ugliness started with Americans in the 1950s, when they developed a reputation for arrogantly touring the world, throwing their money around, and treating the people of the countries they visited like dirt.
I am not sure if within America they were aware of how their globe-strutting was regarded around the world. But that changed in 1958 after Eugene Burdick and William J Lederer wrote a best selling novel that was actually called The Ugly American. Though the book’s focus was primarily on how American diplomacy was failing in Asia, it popularised the concept of the ugly American and made Americans conscious of how unpopular they were around the world.
Since then, other nationalities have faced the same kind of opprobrium. If you travelled through Asia in the 1970s, you came across the Ugly Australian: entitled and racist. That, however, changed after the White Australia policy was abandoned and the country became more multi–cultural and less racist.
In Europe, other nationalities became well-hated too. For instance, the behaviour of British football hooligans led other countries to dread hosting fixtures that involved Brits. In Asia, there has been, for the last decade or so, a pronounced anti–Chinese feeling caused by the behaviour of tourists from the mainland who are seen as being rude, pushy, and unpleasant, especially to other Chinese in countries such as Singapore.
Not all of these caricatures are entirely accurate: there were always well-meaning and polite American visitors to foreign countries even in the days when The Ugly American was a bestseller. But there was enough substance in these characterisations for them to stick.
Many countries took care to ensure that the caricatures did not stick. The counter culture of the 60s and the 70s led to the growth of a new kind of American traveller who respected local sensibilities. The Brits clamped down on football hooligans and the yobs in question were seen as a national disgrace.
So caricatures can change. And, we better hope that’s true because over the last few years the characterisation that has prevailed globally is the Ugly Indian.
The Indian abroad
The Ugly Indian is quite different from the Ugly American. Indian visitors are not seen as rich and arrogant. They are seen as badly behaved cheapskates who flout every country’s norms of civic behaviour. They will book a hotel room for two and then seven people will occupy it. They will get into fights over restaurant bills. They will raid hotel minibars and then refuse to pay for the drinks.
They will push their way to the front of queues. In quiet train carriages, they will be the ones talking the loudest on video calls. In aeroplanes, they will watch videos at maximum volume ignoring the disturbance to other passengers. They will be the parents who let their noisy children run around making a nuisance of themselves. At restaurants, they will bring their own samosas and theplas and try to eat them quietly. They will never bother to clean up any mess they have made. And if there is a discount or a concession they are not entitled to, they will aggressively demand it anyway.
Over the last week or so, our own social media has been filled with videos of Indians doing garba on the tarmac at airports. There have been horror stories posted by other Indians mortified by the behaviour of people from our country.
And now foreigners are also joining in. Last week, Thailand ended its 60-day visa-free scheme for India, among other countries. This was a huge reverse because the Thais had exempted Indians from requiring visas only relatively recently. As Thailand desperately needs tourists, the decision seemed inexplicable.
But the short explanation is this: they would rather do without our tourist dollars than allow us visa-free entry. On social media, there were so many hate-filled posts from ordinary Thais of the stay-at-home-we-don’t-want-you variety that I was taken aback. I love Thailand and, in my experience, Thais love us back. What have we done to make them change their minds?
But the more I thought about it the more inescapable the conclusion was: we have abused the goodwill of our hosts in the countries we travel to so much that they are glad to be rid of us.
Also read: A social contract protected Indians abroad as the ‘model minority’. It’s tearing now
What has changed?
Well, I have no answers but I have some theories. Over the last decade, we have begun to believe our own bulls**t. Many of us genuinely think that we are a global super power and so we can do whatever we want in other countries. Of course, the truth is that we are a country with an ailing economy and a currency whose value collapses more and more each week. So, we really don’t have the financial capacity to enjoy foreign holidays in the way that we used to a few years ago. So we resort to jugaad. We try to get out of paying for the things we consume and demand discounts we are not entitled to.
In the 1950s, Americans were arrogant, inconsiderate, and ignored the sensibilities of the people of countries they visited. But they were also rich. So they tended to get away with their arrogance.
We are just as arrogant. But we are far from rich. That’s why we have become the world’s least welcome visitors. People may tolerate a rich fool. But nobody likes a fool who doesn’t have much money.
The good news, ironically enough, is that we will see less hatred of Indians in the months ahead because as our economy splutters we will find it cheaper to holiday in
India and not go abroad. The Prime Minister has already asked Indians to cut down on foreign travel, so in the years ahead we can all stay at home, watch movies, and keep telling ourselves that we are citizens of a super power.
The bad news is that too many Indians still don’t realise what we are doing wrong. One response to the shock over the garba dancers at a Vietnamese airport has been to accuse the critics of bowing before the white man. (In Vietnam? Are these people colour blind?)
Others have accused those criticising the behaviour of Indians abroad of being anti-Gujarati. (Yes, really. Clearly I’m a self-hating Gujarati in that case.) Or we fall back on that old Indian standby: everyone from every country behaves like that when they travel.
First of all, that’s not true. And whenever people have disgraced their countries by behaving badly, they have been told off by their own countrymen. The Ugly American was written by Americans and was a bestseller in America. The campaign against British football hooligans started in Britain.
So, isn’t it time we stopped making excuses for ourselves and looked into the mirror?
Vir Sanghvi is a print and television journalist and talk show host. He tweets @virsanghvi. Views are personal.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)