"Don't go to India because ..." Prejudices and Misconceptions Collected

You think he said anything wrong, then? By and large, I don't think so at all --- and we are talking about the country that I continue to choose to live in.
What, exactly, was not what India is about?

The real discussion, in this thread, is the absolutely daft reasons that people quote as why not to go to India, not the description of actual experience.

And mostly we are very tolerant of the daft reasons and reasonings here on IM - Tolerance is one of those wonders of India that folks wonder about and will hopefully in departing, have had their own tolerance level enhanced... including Jim, as he has been impressed one way or t'other.

dont come to india or u will get delhi belly..

The title of this thread is Prejudices and Misconceptions.

It is not prejudiced or a misconception. It is very common to get Delhi belly Hence the name!!

Try again, there are still plenty of real prejudices and misconceptions!!

But what if I land in Mumbai? (The Mumbai djembe? Hmmm...)

my favorite for Mexico "toltec trots"

Ah, I thought that was Montezuma's Revenge (good one, though ).

The Kolkata Meshuga? The Madras Gas?

Er, methinks I'd better go shopping

Yes, that too--Mexico can easily compete with India in the gut issues!

dont come to india or u will meet a nice indian man... hahaha...

Real dangers? Most of all the danger of stomach infections (dysentery), so many visitors go down with sever forms of this.I take antibiotics with me but never had to use them yet (I did give some to other travelers) In the North (Bihar, etc) you have to be careful or robbers. On the trains you have to be careful of thieves. People who get upset by sever poverty and beggars should chose another destination. But, all in all, it's not more dangerous than other places and its a lot more exciting..

Nice try but this thread is about PREJUDICES AND MISCONCEPTIONS not about real dangers!!! It has to NOT be true. What you wrote IS true!

Touché! Camelgirl, you have got me there, but, in my defense, all of the things that people mention here are, to some extent, real dangers. There is not much that doesn't happen somewhere in India.If you go to India, statistically, you even have a one in one billion chance of being beheaded. That's real!

Probably less than that, but there you go, an excellent prejudice and misconception!! I knew you'd have one.

I have zero percent chance of donning a saffron robe, converting to vegetarianism & resurfacing as a 70's style Hare Krishna with my hand out at the local airport.... but that's what some of the locals here are sure that I'll eventually become. As with many warnings/messages in life - it's not so much as what they say - but how & with what facial expressions (& MO) they say it.

As an example a buddy of mine on one departure eve, wished me a good trip & drove off ..... then suddenly hit the brakes, slammed it into reverse, drove back up the driveway .... and in a dead serious face like he'd just been given a day to live by his doctor said ' AND FOR FCUK SAKES DON'T DRINK THE WATER" .......... Too Funny.

Now Common! Be fair, Camelgirl! One tourist did get beheaded. It was reported on Indiamike, so it must be true. That means that, in a population of about one billion, I would have a demonstrable chance of being beheaded of about one in one billion. Statistics never lie.
However, comparatively, the chances of it happening in India are no more than at home. In fact, I have a statistically higher chance of being murdered, even by beheading, in my home country (Thailand) than in India, so that, in fact, by going to India, I reduce, not increase, my statistical chances of being murdered. It’s this comparison that makes it a misconception, not the fact. Crossing a busy street in Bangkok probably carries as high a risk as anything India has to offer.

Dangers in ‘strange’ and ‘foreign’ places tend to be greatly exaggerated and locations become blurred by the ‘out that way’ concept. My aunt says that I should not go to India because they have had an outbreak of bubonic plague there. She read about it in the Daily Mail. “No, aunt! Say I, That is in a remote province of China” to which she replies, in all seriousness “Well! That’s out that way.” So that makes bubonic plague a genuine misconception, I suppose.

“Now! What about Japanese encephalitis.” I hear you say. Yes, there has been a reported outbreak of this in the north of India (just where I am going). I’m glad my aunt hasn’t read about that yet. Also Swine Flu is in Vietnam and moving this way. By going to India I could increase my chances of getting Japanese encephalitis but reduce my chances of getting swine flu. Oh dear! Decisions! Decisions! On the positive side, as an elderly, fat male, my chances of being molested by amorous Indian men, are pretty close to zero (amorous Indian women as well, I’m afraid)

As for those perils facing Peakxv, don’t be too sure. I am now a Buddhist and a vegetarian and I live in a house on the shores of the Gulf of Siam. If you had asked my when I was young what they statistical chances of that happening, I would have said, with total confidence, that they were zero. Unforeseen changes of heart do happen and life and India has a way of doing strange things to people. But look on the bright side, you might look good in saffron robes and that Hare Krishna tune is catchy.