I am sorry to hijack the thread, but I had to reply to this utter non-sense.
whiplash2411 wrote:
To realize that English is almost every Indian/Asian's second language is important.
wow! where did you get that fact from? Not only you are including almost all Indians, but you are including other Asians as well. Do you really think all those Chinese sweat-shop workers actually know English?
I wasn't talking about the sweatshop labor, I was talking about people who actually spoke English in the sense that most Indians/Asians are not native English speakers and the fact that they speak English over their language itself is quite amazing. whiplash2411 wrote:
If you go to India and get diarrhea from drinking tap water, there's no bigger fool than you are, because no one drinks tap water in India.
another wow! what a gross generalization! My family still does, and so many other people that I know of. Perhaps, we are talking of a different India here. Do you think people in villages and even in other cities buy bottled water? My parents do not even have Aquaguard. In my last visit to India, I filled up small aluminium utensils using municipal corporation's water line and took it to the second floor. It is a morning ritual for many.
Erm, I know the Metro Water rituals and all that follows. I was referring to the foreigners who go to India and end up drinking straight from the tap water and start complaining about how it's so poor in quality.whiplash2411 wrote:
Everyone has access to toilets and if they don't, they chose to have it that way.
what??? They chose to have it that way? No, many people do not have access to toilets, let alone hygienic ones. Do you really think all those people enjoy **** on the train tracks? (Take a local in Mumbai)
Perhaps, this was my mistake. This was my response to a collective opinion expressed on the chatrooms which ended with people making fun of everything Indian and I guess I took my frustration out too far.
whiplash2411 wrote:
Stop believing in Hollywood and read the newspaper instead.
No, I have, I promise. Not everything is as hunky dory as it seems to be. My dad comes from the same rural background you describe. He couldn't get into IIT, because he didn't have access to the Rs. 500 deposit and he walked some 5 kms to go to school each day and all that. I do know how life is. I was merely referring to this from the stereotypical "Oh India is so poor that everyone from there must be doing stuff they did in Slumdog" angle. There is poverty, yes and to deny that would be foolish on anyone's part, but my point was that India is not ALL about poverty, and perhaps my qualifiers need to be worked upon. GMAT Fail
Perhaps it's hard to explain my reasons for that post, but I guess it doesn't matter anymore. I am not ignorant about the situation. I merely wanted to point out that not ALL of India is like that. But I guess that's immaterial now.