Boyfriend’s comment gave me the ick

[Siyasiyasiya]

We were watching a programme on India and he said he never wanted to go because it looked “filthy”

I replied that was quite a bold thing to say about the whole country and he rowed back and said there were some areas that looked nice

but in a nutshell I feel quite put off by his point of view here

Lots of India is dirty - a lot of it has a very hot climate, and is prone to dust. People travel there for adventure because it's absolutely fascinating with an array of cultures that we just don't see in the UK, for the most part. Visitors just look beyond the dust.
If you want "clean", go to Switzerland.

People think nothing of taking a shit as and when the time takes them, wherever they may be.
You may want to look at India through rose coloured spectacles but your bf isn't wrong.

I think OP may have assumed MN would jump to the ‘Leave the Bastard - he’s clearly a twatting racist!’ 👏🏻

Was just discussing a recent ranking of the world’s top 100 cities, and I consider a good half a dozen of the top 50 to be shitholes. I’m sure plenty of the residents would disagree. Opinions are fun!

Having visited India before I would agree that certain parts of the country were indeed filthy. The traffic in some areas were so busy that the air was filled with a deep smog and in the heat made it actually hard to breath when I was travelling in a tuk tuk.

I would say that about certain parts of Paris where a lot of litter etc was just left lying strewn across the streets.

I don’t think his comment was actually ‘racist’ more just a statement based on fact.

You got the ick because he said somewhere looked filthy?

I'm not racist, I've been to India many times, I married an Indian man. Parts of India are dirty. That's just a fact. My Indian in-laws are the first to complain it's dirty in places. It's also a very beautiful, colourful country. I'm going there next week because we love it so much!

Any adult using the term ‘ick’ gives me the ‘ick’. 🤮

It's not racist to say you think a certain place looks filthy - If he'd said "all Indians look filthy" that would be very different.

India is pretty well "known" for issues with hygiene and poor sanitation. That doesn't mean the people are bad or filthy or unpleasant in themselves.

India doesn't spring to mind when I think of clean countries

I'm guessing that you're interpreting his comment as saying 'Indians are filthy'? Op. If that's the case, I understand your reticence but it's true that parts of India are filthy - as are parts of Brighton, parts of France (Christ - the amount of dogshit on the streets of boulogne was disgusting), Australia (cockroaches everywhere in Sydney) etc.

Sanitation and hygiene standards aren't the same in all parts of India or indeed the world, so he's correct in that sense, but if you suspect he's painting an entire population of people as filthy, well that's different.

Exactly - absolutely not saying Indians are dirty. Quite the opposite in fact. The Indians I know are very interested in hygiene and cleanliness.

Totally agree!

Awful, throw away comment. I would definitely get the ice too.

I have heard India defined, amongst other descriptives, as "filthy" by people who have travelled there, worked there and have lived there for their whole lives. So he's not alone in his opinion.

I personally have never been there so I don't have one.

What are you saying about British people? That they are dirty?

Tbf I think as a nation we are quite dirty.

Shoes inside houses and lack of bidets ate disgusting. I have been to India and it was very dirty but even there you could wash yourself with water after using the toilet. Here everyone just uses paper 🤢

It was a bit tongue in cheek. Like we can't call India dirty as a country (no idea, not been, don't care) but we can say British people as a collective are dirty? Just seeing what's ok and what's not 😉

Well it was a strange thread to start and then just go to bed OP.

People there wash with water and their hand - how could that be more hygienic than paper? It's why a lot of people don't eat with their left hand in Asia because it's used to wash their butt.
India is dirty, some bits are filthy. I'd love to go there to see the sights and the culture but I don't think there's a need to pretend it's sparkling clean is there? If you want somewhere more sanitary then head for Singapore.

Does this mean you have now "icked" yourself? 🤔

How will you manage leaving yourself? Will you only pack half your bags? So many questions...

I’ve been to India so I wouldn’t have taken offence at his remark. I had a lovely Indian friend so that’s not a dig at individual people but it’s not a country I’d revisit.

When I went to Mumbai, the first thing I saw on my way from the airport to the hotel was a young street child about three or four years old, shitting on the pavement just outside the tent its family were living in. I was young, free and single at the time I went but I don't think I could return now as a parent. I'd find it too upsetting.

India is a vast and amazing country but the child poverty I saw while I was there was off the scale. Also all the pictures I took had this grey haze over them because the air quality was so poor. Your boyfriend isn't wrong. It's not in-PC to acknowledge that parts of India are shitholes. But I also have family that live in the south of India and it's lush and green and beautiful and completely different from the big cities.

Well yes London is filthy. It's my hometown and I'm very fond of it, but nobody would wax lyrical about how clean it is. Being a bit grubby throughout history hasn't harmed any of the major cities in the world

New York is also disgusting. The garbage bags piled high in the streets and the rats! I read recently that NYC is only just now introducing wheelie bins for all the refuse!