most people hate India

Hi there Indiafreaks . I am like you but most people in my surroundings tend to dislike this beautiful country . There is this saying about India: you hate it or you love it. But most people hate it if you ask me. Also people who have even been there say it is a dirty place, you must be crazy to go there. I have been in India in 2003 for several months and fell in love with it. In 2 months I go to Kolkata for internship and no one understands why I should go to such a filthy place . I am glad you guys are like me, such a relieve......

Cheers to you all

Most people have never been to India.

Guinness ran an advertising campaign which went along the lines of:

"I don't like Guinness, which is why I have never tried it..."

I hated it and loved it. I think that's normal too.

A friend of mine grew up in Mumbai and he mentioned you could not pay him a million dollars to retire there. Talking to him later I found out there is some family issues, people's attitude, politics.

Don't offer me Million $ to leave Calcutta parmanently.

In the beginning yeah....but for me India is something that never bores....

Probably they haven't been to India, but have met some dirty uncouth Indians in their own country .
Every country has its fair share of black sheep?

I think people fear India more than hate it. it's way outside their envelope of experience and it just scares them. This is in part due to the rather negative image on India constantly displayed by the Media!

Aaah the Media. Takes the blame for just about anything and everything.
India is a beautiful country with a huge diversity in culture, religion, flora and fauna, topography.......... What does put people off; is its huge population. At times chaotically unorganised. That, I feel, scares people. The squalor, dirt pollution and congestion is attributed to the overcrowding of cities.

The post is too generic, people who hate crowds and love wilderness can not be expected to embrace Delhi anymore than they would embrace New York, Tokyo or London. Many people visit New York City and tell everybody they hate the US, would they hate the US as much if that plane landed in Yosemite, and then again there are people who love the city and hate wilderness (go figure)

Not only is India diverse, we are also diverse

So on etc.

Ask any businessman , you will hear "I love India".....hahahaha

well, it is hard to love India when you are there.
I landed here last night and so far I am hating it...
maybe I will love it tomorrow or in a few days after I get use to it.
I just have to get out of Paharganj.

India born Mother and western born Daughter sitting behind me on the flight to Delhi says to her mother upon landing at the aiport "Welcome to YOUR country Mother" Emphasizing the your part and then going on ranting about how bad the air smells and how you need to wear a mask because of the pollution....etc....

Spot on, MeCasa. It's a pity that landing in India is often such a chaotic experience...puts some (not all) people off from the very beginning of their trip. If people arrived in a smaller, less-crowded (ok, at least relatively less-crowded) town or city, maybe they wouldn't be so overwhelmed?

Yup, I landed in Madras (refuse to call it Chennai) and it was surprisingly civilized. Madras was a good intro to India, IMHO. Bangalore might not be bad, either.