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By:

Naresh Kamath

5 November 2024 at 5:30:38 am

Indian Tourists Need a Reputation Reset

India has long taken pride in the philosophy of ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ - the belief that guests deserve warmth, respect and dignity. It is an idea deeply woven into the country’s cultural imagination, often been projected as a defining Indian value. As millions of Indians travel overseas every year, the conduct of a small but highly visible section of Indian tourists is increasingly shaping how India itself is perceived abroad. The issue is not about a single incident or a handful of viral...

Indian Tourists Need a Reputation Reset

India has long taken pride in the philosophy of ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ - the belief that guests deserve warmth, respect and dignity. It is an idea deeply woven into the country’s cultural imagination, often been projected as a defining Indian value. As millions of Indians travel overseas every year, the conduct of a small but highly visible section of Indian tourists is increasingly shaping how India itself is perceived abroad. The issue is not about a single incident or a handful of viral videos but a pattern that is drawing notice from hotels, tourism operators and local authorities across the world. The debate gained fresh momentum after reports emerged of a Swiss hotel issuing a notice specifically addressed to Indian guests. The advisory reportedly requested guests not to pack food from breakfast buffets for later consumption and reminded them to maintain silence in corridors and balconies. Hotels routinely issue guidelines. But when a particular nationality becomes the subject of a specific advisory, it inevitably raises larger questions about perception. “It is a sorry state of affairs. Indians, especially in groups, are displaying atrocious behaviour. This was anyway bound to happen,” says Subhash Motwani, founder of Namaste Tourism. Embarrassing Incidents Whether the notice was justified is another separate matter. The question is why such perceptions are emerging in the first place. Recent months have seen several incidents involving Indian tourists gain traction on social media. One widely circulated video showed travellers performing garba on an airport tarmac in Vietnam. Garba is among India’s most vibrant cultural traditions and a source of immense pride for millions. Yet airports are highly regulated spaces where safety protocols and discipline take precedence over celebration. The incident became symbolic of a larger problem. The rise of social media has encouraged some travellers to treat foreign destinations as stages for content creation. Public dancing, loud celebrations, disruptive behaviour and attention-seeking stunts may generate views and engagement online, but they can also leave lasting impressions on locals and fellow tourists. India is hardly the first country to confront such a challenge. During the 1950s and 1960s, American tourists acquired a reputation for arrogance abroad, giving rise to the phrase “Ugly American.” Britain spent decades dealing with the international embarrassment caused by football hooliganism. China faced similar concerns as outbound tourism surged during the early years of the twenty-first century. A nation’s image is shaped not just by its economic achievements and diplomatic influence but also by the behaviour of its citizens overseas. India today finds itself in a similar situation. Indian tourists are now among the most visible traveller groups across Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. This is, in many ways, a remarkable success story. However, with visibility comes responsibility. Hospitality professionals across destinations frequently point to recurring concerns. Excessive noise, queue-jumping, disregard for local regulations, overcrowding hotel rooms and attempts to bypass established rules through jugaad are among the complaints often cited. Collectively, repeated experiences can create lasting perceptions. The most revealing aspect of the debate is that Indian travellers often display exemplary discipline in countries known for strict law enforcement. In destinations such as Singapore, the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, compliance with rules is generally high. Complaints tend to emerge more frequently in places perceived as relaxed or lenient. That suggests the challenge is not one of awareness. Most travellers understand the rules perfectly well. The problem is often a mindset that rules can be negotiated when consequences appear unlikely. Changing that mindset is far more important than introducing additional regulations or issuing fresh advisories. Every interaction at an airport, hotel, restaurant, tourist attraction or public transport system contributes to how a country is viewed. These everyday encounters often shape perceptions more powerfully than government campaigns or tourism advertisements. As India stakes its claim to a larger role in the world, its citizens must recognise that national prestige is shaped not only by economic achievements and diplomatic successes, but also by everyday behaviour abroad. The overwhelming majority of Indian tourists travel responsibly and leave behind positive impressions. Their conduct rarely becomes news because courtesy seldom goes viral. Yet a handful of highly visible incidents can overshadow thousands of positive experiences. The challenge is to encourage responsible travel and a greater awareness that behaviour abroad carries consequences beyond the individual. The conduct of Indian citizens overseas should reflect the confidence and values of a nation seeking not merely recognition but enduring respect. (The writer is a senior journalist based in Mumbai. Views personal.)

India is Drowning in Its Own Trash

Updated: Mar 6, 2025

India’s streets, beaches, and highways are drowning in garbage. Will we ever learn to clean up after ourselves?

garbage

A recent journey along the Maharashtra-Goa coastline should have been an ode to natural beauty, with verdant cliffs meeting the endless blue of the Arabian Sea, stretches of golden beaches, waves lapping against pristine shores. Instead, it was a waking nightmare that revealed an alarming truth: there is no ten-meter stretch free of waste. Discarded snack wrappers flutter in the wind, plastic bags tangle in the undergrowth and empty water bottles bob along the surf. Once-scenic cliffs are now dumping grounds and the highways are lined with garbage. The sheer scale of the problem is overwhelming, yet strangely unsurprising.


India produces over 9.3 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, and much of it is strewn across our landscapes or dumped into rivers and oceans. Mumbai’s air is already a toxic fog, its AQI levels frequently breach hazardous limits, yet we compound the crisis by burning plastic waste - releasing dioxins, furans and other carcinogens into the air. Mumbai, often dubbed the city that never sleeps, finds itself in a relentless tussle with waste. As per reports, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s Environmental Status Report for 2022-23 unveils a staggering statistic: the metropolis generates approximately 6,300 metric tonnes of refuse daily, with over 72 percent comprising food waste. This organic avalanche predominantly consists of vegetables, meat, tea, coffee remnants, and garden debris.


The city’s humid coastal climate exacerbates the challenge, leading to higher moisture content in waste, complicating treatment processes. While the Kanjurmarg facility employs Bio-Reactor Technology to process about 88 percent of daily waste, the Deonar dumping site, one of Asia’s oldest, still receives nearly 12 percent of the city’s refuse.


Landfills overflow while streams and drains clog with trash, leading to urban flooding and outbreaks of disease. Livestock graze on plastic-laden garbage heaps, their stomachs filling with indigestible toxins, slowly killing them.


Pune, Maharashtra’s cultural capital, mirrors Mumbai’s challenges. The city generates around 1,600 tonnes of solid waste daily and its dangerously burgeoning populace has made waste disposal a nightmare.


The beaches of Goa, which once drew backpackers and sun-seekers from across the globe, are now strewn with abandoned fishing nets, broken glass and disposable cutlery. The state generates 22 kg of waste per capita annually, surpassing the national average of 15 kg. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s recent revelation that 70 percent of village panchayats lack proper waste management systems underscores the severity of the issue.


In all this, the deeper malaise is an ingrained civic apathy. For too many Indians, cleanliness remains someone else’s responsibility, often that of municipal workers or overburdened sanitation staff. The sight of a pile of garbage doesn’t elicit shame but rather a passive acceptance. Even in Bollywood films, VFX teams have begun allocating budgets to digitally erase garbage from scenes, painting an illusion of a cleaner India that does not exist.


Broken Promises

At the policy level, India has toyed with environmental responsibility but failed in execution. Plastic bans exist on paper, but enforcement is laughable. Maharashtra’s ambitious 2018 ban on single-use plastics was heralded as a game-changer, yet within weeks, the familiar sight of polyethylene bags, thermocol packaging, and disposable cups returned to markets and roadside stalls. Goa, too, has repeatedly announced crackdowns on plastic waste, but take a stroll through its flea markets or riverside haunts, and you’ll see the evidence of failure.


Single-use plastics persist because they are cheap, available and easy to discard - out of sight, out of mind. Corporations flood the market with non-biodegradable packaging, but consumers, too, are complicit. The chaiwala still serves tea in flimsy plastic cups; the street vendor still wraps snacks in polyethylene; and the middle-class shopper, despite carrying a cloth tote, still picks up a plastic bag “just in case.”


Change, if it is to come, must be radical. No more feeble awareness campaigns or bureaucratic half-measures. We need fines for littering that actually hurt, not token penalties that go unenforced. We need mandatory waste segregation at the household level, with strict monitoring. We need an aggressive push for alternatives to plastic, subsidizing biodegradable options and phasing out non-recyclables.


More importantly, we need a cultural shift. Indians must begin to see littering as a shameful act, an offence to the nation’s dignity, not a minor inconvenience to be ignored. We must call out friends and family when they toss wrappers onto the street. We must demand accountability from our elected representatives and shame businesses that continue to flood the market with wasteful packaging. Name and shame must become a tool of civic pressure, whether through social media campaigns or public reporting.


Community-driven initiatives, like the clean-up efforts by Mumbai’s Afroz Shah who single-handedly transformed Versova Beach, show that change is possible. But one man, one organization or one government scheme will not be enough. India must decide whether it wants to remain the world’s garbage dump or take responsibility for its future.


We are already dangerously close to the point of no return. It is time to stop pointing fingers and clean up after ourselves. Indians, we need to stop littering!


(The author is Founder and Creative Director at Trip Creative Services, an award-winning communication design house.)

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