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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.)

Let’s Talk About That Banana

Updated: Feb 5, 2025

From sacred relics to rotting fruit, the art world’s strange journey offers more than just a tasty bite.

Banana
Maurizio Cattelan, Comedian (banana taped to wall), 2019

The most talked about art work last year was an innocuous grocery store banana duct-taped – without much finesse – to a wall by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. Titled Comedian, the 2019 conceptual art piece comes with a certificate of authenticity and instructions on care and replacement when it rots. The 2nd of this limited three edition work was bought at auction in November 2024 by cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun for $6.2 million including buyer’s fees. Soon after, he ate this very expensive banana. Predictably, this theatre of performative lunacy on the part of the artist, Sotheby’s auction house, and the collector, was taken as evidence that the art world had indeed gone bananas. Author Brian C. Nixon wrote that it was “a commentary on the wild world of contemporary art, communicating how culture understands, interprets, and engages with the arts.”


How did we get from the serene Bodhisattva of Buddhist art to the rotting banana of Contemporary art?


It would be difficult to compress the entire history of art into this (or any) article – a task better left to wiser academics and scholars. To compress it in extremely broad strokes, suffice it to say for our purposes here, that there has not been a time in human history when art has not been created, and it has served a wide range of purposes and agendas over time. From the earliest very basic act of marking one’s presence, to decoration, documenting life, creating imagery for mythology and the supernatural, art was in a sense in service of society. Through a period of patronage from the church and crown, nobles and wealthy merchants, the artist belonged to a certain school, atelier or tradition and largely worked within the confines of stylistic and typological rules of an accepted canon. Of course, artists still found ways to innovate within the boundaries. Raja Ravi Varma went further, blending European romanticism with Hindu iconography to create original work that pays homage to more than one artistic and cultural tradition. As societies progressed and grew technologically advanced, forms of government changed and artists were no longer dependent solely on patronage. Nor were they bound to representing or narrating for an institution or higher authority of any kind, except by choice. Very quickly, artists moved from being the storytellers of a civilization’s traditions to breaking free of those limitations. They became critics of the very society and artistic culture from which they emerged. Many of the 19th and 20th century isms – Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Cubism, challenged whatever came before, and were constructed on manifestos and theories encompassing ideas from literature, linguistics, architecture and philosophy to opine on socio-political concerns. In the same vein, members of the Progressive Artists Group in Bombay sought to reclaim a post-colonial identity through Modernism, seeking a new vocabulary for Indian art which broke from European academicism.


Catellan’s banana is perhaps best understood as a direct descendent of the Dadaist movement which originated in Zurich as a reaction to the first world war and used satire, leaning towards the absurd, to critique dominant political and cultural ideology. The most well-known example of Dadaist art is Marcel Duchamp’s 1917 piece titled Fountain which was a store bought porcelain urinal hung upside down. Duchamp often repurposed readymade objects of mass production, to suggest that art was a “concept” rather than the “object” itself. Hence the term Conceptual Art.


Catellan has said that his 2019 Comedian, (the title itself announces that it is a spoof) is a “commentary on what we value.” In an earlier interview he posed the question: “On what basis does an object acquire value in the art system?” Does an everyday perishable become art to be gaped at because it is taped to a museum wall? Is a rotting fruit a metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life? The act of its ingestion was a not at all subtle reminder that the money spent on its acquisition was literally going down the toilet in the morning. The publicity it generated led to a world-wide discussion about the meaning and value of art in an increasingly commercial world where it is bought and sold like a commodity. Didn’t the banana then achieve what every artist wants their art to: engage with an audience, hold up a critical mirror to prevailing norms, start a conversation.


Not convinced? You are not alone. It may help to ponder these words from the recently deceased filmmaker David Lynch as you consider the $6.2 million banana: “I don’t know why people expect art to make sense. They are fine with the fact that life doesn’t make any sense.”


(The author is an architect, writer, editor, and artist. Her column meanders through the vibrant world of art, examining exhibitions, offering critiques, delving into theory and exploring everything in between and beyond.)

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