Fat Tourists

Sharonov

An overweight friend of mine said she won't go to India until she loses a considerable amount of weight, because she heard that Indians have great contempt for fat people. Is this so??

SHIMLA

No ! Your friend is mis-informed.

Plenty of Indians are overweight themselves, how can they have contempt for fat people?

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sillylilly

There is scope for rude comments especially when groups of young men are involved. People in India stare at you to begin with and if you are fat, you will be stared at even more. Fewer people in India are grossly obese in comparision to USA and people WILL call you names or make straightforward comments about your weight - its just something you have to accept. Also, seats, etc. in India are made for thinner people and there could be a logistic issue involved. The bottomline - if you are terribly overweight, no country accepts you as much as the USA does. In India, where the average woman weighs about 55 kgs (about 120 pounds), any overweight woman is fair game for comments.

mountaingirl

People will pass comments irrespective of your weight - especially if you are Blonde, blue-eyed, white-skin blah blah blah.....

so, don't take things personally!

Most of these people (passing comments) have nothing to do - OR, they can be travelling alone/ in a group (school/ college children etc) - thereby meaning freedom for the first time in their lives - so they can be pretty wild!

The trick is to NOT take things personally cuz they don't really mean harm.
As it is in India people often tend to give names to people refering to their habits/ features like starry-eyed, baldy etc - and it is NOT considered a bad thing here.

cyberhippie

Hey mutu!! (sorry spelling) is something I hear sometimes as a fatty!!
It means fatty more or less. Indians in general are not backward about coming forward.
They will tell you in english "you good body" "you big size"

I think generally this isn't seen as insulting behaviour more mild fun!!

Helps to understand mutu (spelling) though, I had great fun in a village when someone passed the remark, I confronted the speaker (in fun of course) and about 20 people flew indoors mortified that the white guy had understood, it was hilarious!!

In general though Indians are not concerned about the weight issue so tell your friend to go, she'll lose a few pounds whilst having a damm good time!!

Happy Traveling

lobo

In delhi the were loads of fat indians. Especially the men over 30 who had huge bellies.
I read in lonley planet that about 35% of the delhi populance is obese!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So dont worry its quite normal, watching indian music channels etc there are definetly some larger stars out there.
Im sure your friend might hear something said in other parts of india but hopefully your friend will be of the opinion that "I am who I am, I like who I am".

cheetah

Hey, Don't worry about the weight.....Being overweight myself one does hear people pass remarks sometimes, but its more of a time-pass(a very favourite phrase used here ) remark rather than malicious....I don't let it interfere with anything I want to do...ultimately its WHO you are that counts and not HOW...same same but different! (thats another one you'll hear often) So move it and get over here fast if you really want to !!

opensea

Im obese, and still going to india, ya only live once.

beach

The only real issue for your friend here is walking & climbing. India is a staircase country unlike the US
(now you know why people are slim)

IVAN

Hey, India is THE PERFECT country to lose weight!

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DianeN.

All the middle class/upper class Indians that I met had a weight problem. Lots of entertaining...having cocktails and fried snacks after 8 in the evening, dinner is served around 11, and then as soon as the meal is over, rush off to home to bed. Sometimes there is a lunch and a dinner in the same day. I had the chance to have a food orgy day like that and felt like my stomach was distended for a week. Great eats...but if you do that on a regular basis you will become portly for sure.

I found that the poor people were all thin, the middle class and up were all basically fat. Middle class children (boys in particular) seemed chubby because their mothers were always asking them to eat something.

The poor people are probably also thin because they are doing all the physical work for the middle class. The middle class doesn't have to get on their hands and knees to clean a kitchen floor.

A person does need to be in relativly good condition to travel in India (or most places) because you can see more and do more. I was the only person in our group that climbed to the top of one fort...my daughter was too lazy, and my Indian friend had knee problems. I'm not thin, but I'm in pretty good condition for my age.

sudheer poppa

You can ask your friend to get some Churidhar's stitched in the first location she is landing in India. She would feel very comfortable in them and it kind of normalises the body structure. This would invite lesser attention as against tight outfits or shorts.

All said and done, she would feel the experience a lot easier than what is is worried about. Tell her to go for it!

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skell

Have your doctor prescribe a "trip to India diet."

Then, you could write it off!

opensea

-m2-

I was really, really, hoping I wouldn't have to sit next to you on my next flight -- but I wasn't going to say anything