In terms of narcissism, Modi is 10 times worse than Trump. in lying, breaking laws, rules he is 9 times worse.

Drinking Ganges river during Covid is a very mild offense compared to what he and his cronies told people - shower with cow dung and drink cow urine.

True

Do you know there are many old people who have been saying that the British Raj was better?

There is a popular line that is often used in India.... "The White English left and the Brown English came (to loot)".

The Brits were not always that civilised there. They broke the thumbs off Indian weavers to safeguard their own weaving industry. And look how they treated the Irish.

@Jolanta
Exactly, well said

I fully agree and I hope you get a chance to tell this to every Indian you meet in the U.S. and elsewhere. You will meet many who have a false pride of what that country is and many will say it is becoming a superpower and all world leaders seek Modi's advice.

@St-Sinner My old boss there put it beautifully. They think they are the master race but their country is a shithole. Even had some cunt pull down his bottom lip to show me his Ayrian square jaw. We got into an argument, I was saying the caste system holds India back. He said the problem is they let half castes enter politics. I was truly shocked, the correct meaning of the word.
Another instance, stinking hot day so I gave my Nepalese driver a bottle of water from camp. The Indian manager actually wrote a letter of complaint, sent to my company in Australia, complaining I gave "high caste" water to a Nepalese. I did laugh at that one and told my boss back home to make sure he frames it.

@St-Sinner Whenever they pull the racist card, which is often, I always ask what caste they are. Shuts them up straight away.
I was unaware the caste system is race based, but it is. I can now guess someone's caste from their facial bone structure. EG High caste ones have no chin. West Bengali's the worse (Kolkata)

@puff

Ugly and funny about the water. How did the Australian company respond?

I believe, no I know that a very few people understand India's ugliness so up close than I.

@St-Sinner Company finished the contract up and pulled out of India completely (other dodgy shit going on). They didn't care about a complaint about giving someone water on a hot day, who would?.
I found the lower caste's fine eg the guards, kids (played cricket with them) and cleaners etc. Muslims were fine as were the Sikh's.
I was FIFO from Thailand. My first break I went to see this Monk I'm friends with, very popular always a room full of people waiting to see him thus listing in. My Thai is good enough. I said G'Day, told him working now India and then told him that I understood Buddha now. Understand why in his first sermon he stated "Fuck off the caste system". Because Hindu is really fucked up!! He laughed, so did everyone else.

@puff

I know it better because I was born an the most upper caste Hindu Brahmin and have seen very closely how lower castes are treated. I have written here before that I was treated almost with reverence since childhood in the neighborhood because I was a Brahmin. I was invited to lunch and dinner and on auspicious occasions since I was 7 years old because people believed that if a Brahmin ate in your house you would go to heaven. At school I had privileges, at work I did and the minute people heard my last name, people in government offices did my work early. Talking down or mistreating was out of the question. Not happy to say but similar to how the white landlords were like in the U.S. South in the 1800s? So you would wonder why the heck I would leave that and go overseas? It was because of nepotism, rampant corruption, broken roads, long lines, red tape etc. The life for most is a struggle for survival, not progress. Upper middle class still struggles with shortages, inflation and it takes so much energy out of you.

I am one who would never complain about racism in the U.S. or any Western country.

@St-Sinner I hear you. I used to fly into Kolkata then drive out, or fly on to Ranchi then drive out. So West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Odisha for 8 months, digging holes looking for Coal Seam Gas.
Mao flags everywhere, burnt out police cars. Driving rural just 100's of people walking............where? Rubbish everywhere, increasing as you approach towns.
The best description of India I have heard is it is "confronting". It confronts all your senses, your morals and most importantly your view of your own life/ struggles. An amazing place. Very glad I had the experience as everything doesn't look so bad now

Some army got ambushed by the Maoists in a car just down from our camp, 3 killed. Freaked us expats out. Police told us it was a "car accident". I asked my main man (I was supervising 8) "What's the go with these Maoists? Do they target expats?" He assured me no, he was one of them and he had informed the local commander and all was sweet. Maoists fight the caste system so can sympathise.
I did have a funny encounter at the airport at New Delhi one change. Got chatting at the bar to a business man going to the US. First up, he asked me what I thought of India. I can recall my exact words. "Different". Then "Where have you been?" and I told him. "WTF did you go there for?" "Working". "Oh". End of conversation.
From my little chat with him, you may be able to confirm but it appears I was working in the armpit of India. I did want to head up the Alps, Goa, Kashmir etc but never got there. So my view is somewhat tainted, only saw a little of a big country and had to be accommodating to Indian superiors to get the job done. So not a normal, tourist experience.

@St-Sinner My friend’s wife is from a lower caste in India. She shared with me some shocking stories about how she was treated under the caste system. Apparently if she moves to a neighbouring state, her caste status is improved. I couldn’t make sense of that one.

Her skin is quite dark, she was told by classmates that she would never get married because of that.

She wouldn’t live under the restrictive system there now.

Funnily enough, most of her friends here aren’t Indian….I wonder why.

The Indian government screwed up her Mum’s passport application by misspelling her name. Three months later, still not fixed. So Mum can’t fly out to see her first grandchild yet, which is understandably causing a lot of heartbreak.