It is time that the world should get past their misconceptions about the country and look towards the emerging new India. Let’s dispel some common notions about India in this story. One thing that generally irks Indians abroad is the strangest stereotyping of the country. Of course, there are generalizations everywhere, but it is terribly annoying to be asked about India in a way that it is a regressive place filled with a sea of poor people who are orthodox and ritualistic. Their image of India is defined by the books written by the British, who viewed the country through western lens. However, after nearly seventy-five years of independence, India has come a long way. Some weird notions about India are as follows- Misconception: India is the land of snake charmers, and people use elephants to commute to work Fact: you will only find elephant rides and snake charmers in some parts of the country, which is nothing more than selling a myth to tourists. But there is no way to prove that Indian people keep elephants instead of motor vehicles. Most of these animals are safe in wildlife sanctuaries. As far as commutation is concerned, we have our metro, local buses and even local trains. Misconceptions: All Indians are spiritual, and they practice yoga, fire rituals and Vedic chants. If you mean that these things are practised in an average Hindu household, you need to understand a few things. First, most families have small temples at their homes where they pay their respects every day. Second, however, there are very few people who are spiritually awakened or perform elaborate rituals. In fact, life in our cities is as hectic as any other metropolitan in the world. And religion is a matter of personal choice and not a compulsion. Misconception: People in India speak Indian. Fact: Our country has hundreds of languages and thousands of dialects. So there isn’t a specific Indian language. Most of us understand Hindi and English. And India has 23 official languages, which includes English too. So which 'Indian' language are you talking about? You need to state it clearly because people don’t speak Indian here. Misconception: All of us have arranged marriages Fact: First, we do believe in dating and have a lot of love marriage too. Indian arranged marriages have evolved over the years. The parents want their children to meet and date the person before giving their nod to marriage. It doesn’t work out many times and matures into a relationship sometimes. You could consider our parents playing cupid in most of such relationships. It is seldom a forced affair these days. We hope that some of your misconceptions would be debunked about our beautiful country. You are welcome!
