Indi-Chini, bhai bhai

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.