India and China have so often been
mentioned in the same breath – whether the conversation is about economy growth,
GDP or our collective contribution to world population.
Despite having so many differences
though, the Indians and the Chinese share so many similarities. Nehru was right
after all.
Take for instance, the way we are
travelling. Both, the wealthy Indians and the rich Chinese are an emerging breed of globetrotters
who seem to have recently discovered the joys of travelling.
But with this bullishness has also
come a bit of obnoxiousness – something which we Indians have perfected over
the years. Take for instance, the recent hubbub that occurred when a discerning
Ding Jinhao scrawled his name followed by ‘was here’ in Chinese letters on a 3,500 year old temple wall in Luxor, Egypt.
Now we all know that making graffiti
on World Heritage Sites is our forte.
Hell, we invented it! The only difference is that when we were on the upward
curve as China is right now, there wouldn't have been such uproar on any social
media platform. That is possibly because social media hadn't taken off in India
at that time. But that is beside the point.
There are certain etiquettes that we
as travelers need to learn. Some years ago, I was browsing through some
perfumes in the duty-free section of Frankfurt Airport. I couldn't find testers
for the one I wanted so I asked the woman at the counter for it. She politely
asked me to wait till she got one, throwing in “some Indians helped themselves
to them before the last flight” for good measure.
Just like Shen, the embarrassed Chinese
tourist who photographed the Luxor graffiti and posted it in on a microblogging
site, I didn't know where to look or what to say. Hoping that a purchase would
serve as an apology, I shelled out 80 euros and bought the perfume.
The truth is – the attitude of the
wealthy Chinese matches that of the wealthy Indian. Both think that money gives
them a right to expect anything they want. The recent Gupta wedding scandal is
a good case in point.
Often referred to as “the next China,” India in this particular instance has managed to precede its Chini bhai.
Hurun Research Institute recently published a report that reveals details of the travel habits of the Chinese luxury traveller and makes for interesting reading.
Often referred to as “the next China,” India in this particular instance has managed to precede its Chini bhai.
Hurun Research Institute recently published a report that reveals details of the travel habits of the Chinese luxury traveller and makes for interesting reading.
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