NRI student’s rant against Indians triggers outrage: 'Homeless people have better manners'

An NRI student who relocated to India for higher education has shared a candid review of his experience, sparking a wider debate on civic sense and the state of development in the country.

The student took to Reddit to share that he was raised in the US but moved back to India for an undergraduate degree. He said his year living in India had been "interesting" and shared his "honest thoughts".

"The country has no civic sense. I've been to ghettos and have met homeless people in USA with better manners than many Indians. The entire country seems to be in a perpetual rat race. No one takes the time to slow down and enjoy the small things in life. But this can be attributed to the massive population and horrible job market. I see kids just studying and studying and for what?" he said.

"Infrastructure is pathetic'

The NRI student also highlighted that despite the steady GDP growth, the infrastructure and services even at educational institutes were poor and "pathetic".

"Corruption seems to be a way of life. I've met people who have condoned the practice and recommended I do the same. I truly don't think this country will get anywhere with corruption. It also seems honesty and morals are frowned upon by everyone around me," he wrote.

The American student proposed that the common people of India pitch in and change the country for better. However, his post resonated with only few users as many were outraged by his comparison of US with India.

Indians slam post

"Comparing US to India is like comparing apples to oranges. Compare developing country to a developing country. Not trying to defend India but this is just not a fair comparison," said one user.

Another user criticised the post for being yet another repetitive rant about India’s flaws. "Here comes another boring opinion about India and its short comings. India is poor and largely populated. Number of people littering is greater than the people who clean it. It is like 100 people living in a 2bhk apartment and only two people are concerned about cleaning," they said.

"I have lived abroad for quite sometime. While one could excuse the everyday corruption and lack of civic sense in a developing country, the difference couldn’t be much starker when I visited another country with similar per capita income levels. It was a huge eye-opener," wrote a third user.

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