After 2.5 months in India, I know what I like and do not like about this immense country. I feel like India is so different from any other country I have been to. Today I will be sharing 8 things I don't like about India, as that might be interesting. Please, take this article with a pinch of salt 🙂
And do not let this be something to keep you away from India. I absolutely love India, but there will always be things I also don't like about certain countries. So please go to India if you are thinking about going!
What to expect in this article
1. Dogs
The first thing I do not like about India is the street dogs. You can find them on every street, on every corner. On the road where Nai (my boyfriend) is living, there are a couple of dogs that are always there, one always lays in front of our door even, so I felt like that was ‘our dog.’ Some look normal, but most look pretty sick, unhygienic, or unhappy.
After a while I couldn’t handle it anymore, I am an animal lover and can’t stand to see these dogs so sick. I hope one day I can start a foundation to help them. Whether it will be through castrating, there won’t be any puppies, which means the dog population might increase in India.
Or if there is another solution to it, I hope I can help. If that is possible with such a big population is a different question, but if I can help at least a couple of dogs, my animal-loving heart will be happy.
Would you like to read more about my adventures in India? Then read these articles!
2. Insects and dirt
Another thing I do not like about India is the dirt and the insects. There is a lot of trash everywhere. Literally everywhere… Even when there is a trash can outside, you will find trash next to it (sometimes even more than inside of it).
The sad thing is that you can also find dirt in the rivers/ditches, which makes the waterbodies stink. Near to my boyfriend’s house, there was a ditch we crossed every day and every single day I covered my nose to not smell.
I am used to the Netherlands, where everything is clean and there are not that many scary insects.
I am terrified of the bees, wasps, and mosquitos in the summer. But luckily we only have that in the summer, due to the cold weather.
In India, you can find them all year round. Even though I said I am a big animal lover in the previous section, I am afraid of insects. In India there were too many insects I did not know and that came into my room from out of nowhere. I do not miss this and am happy I don’t have random visitors in my room in Holland.
Would you like to read more about India?
3. Restrictions for women
In India, you can wear shorts, but if you would feel comfortable is a question. Beforehand I knew I would not wear shorts that much in Asia, so I bought a lot of long cotton pants, which I am super happy about. The few (maybe 2) times that I wore shorts in Pondicherry, people were staring at my legs. If you don’t mind that, you are lucky, but I never felt comfortable like that. You should know that Pondicherry is a bit more modern than some other towns, but still…
People in India are known for staring hahaha. Sometimes when you wave back, they smile, but sometimes they do it without geñe. That is also a reason I did not feel comfortable wearing shorts.
Next to that, I think it is a pity women don’t swim in the sea. I have seen a lot of men, but I never saw women swim, while Pondicherry is a coastal town. You can still feel there is a slight difference between women and men in this sense, even though I have heard that it is improving these days.
I have heard many stories that it is not safe for women. It could be that this is the case in the north, but in the south, I felt pretty safe. Not that I have been anywhere by myself, as my boyfriend or friend was always with me.
4. Child Beggars
I know that you can find child beggars everywhere in the world, but this was another thing that hurt my heart. Seeing children from 3 years old asking for money, and hungry for food, broke my heart. Sometimes I was so sad that I did not have food with me or that I could not give them money. Because to be honest, if you give children money, you will keep the system intact, they will only give the money to the ones that guide them (bad people).
That’s at least one more thing I did not like about India, but actually, it is Asia in general.
5. Traffic
No rules, honking everywhere, noise, colors, danger… That’s what I think of when I think of the traffic in India. No footpaths, which makes that I never could cross the road or it took me 5 minutes to just cross a street when I am walking…
Actually, once you are in traffic for some time, you will get to understand that there are certain rules. For example; honking is just to let others know you are close by. The other rules I have not figured it out yet, but luckily I (mostly) felt safe at the back of my boyfriend’s bike. Will I ever drive in India myself? That is a question I can’t answer yet haha.
6. No vacuum cleaner
One thing I can’t understand, at least in my boyfriends house, is that there is no vacuum cleaner. It might sound stupid, but in a country like India, where there is dust everywhere, you need something like a vacuum cleaner. That’s at least what I think, but maybe I am too Western.
To give you an example; once my boyfriend broke the cup that I gave him (by accident) how do you clean that? In the Netherlands, we would sweep the pieces and throw it in the dust bin and after we vacuum clean them to make sure there is nothing left, so there won’t be any glass in your foot. We did not have that option there, so we had to make sure we swept every single piece, which takes more time and effort.
Anyway, I think this might be a very Western thing to have at home.
7. Spicy food
Before I visited India, I always thought Indian was my favorite cuisine. Until I visited India and everything was so spicy…
After 1.5 months I finally found a biryani I could eat and it felt like I had achieved my Indian goal because I normally loovee Biryani!
Even the butter chicken was spicier than I expected. There are dishes that are not spicy, but in Pondicherry it is often hard to find, to be honest.
If you love spicy food, you can eat your heart out!
Same if you love vegetarian food. I was happy because I only eat Fish and Chicken and so do many Indians. But sometimes I also love to eat vegetarian and vegan, and luckily there are many options for that. There are more and more vegan restaurants in Pondicherry and probably other restaurants as well.
8. Tourism
India is not the easiest country to travel through, as tourism is not as I am used to in Europe. For example; Chidambaram is a beautiful place filled with amazing temples, but outside that, there is nothing to guide the tourists somewhere else.
We wanted to visit Bangalore, as it is a great city and the Silicon Valley of India. But next to amazing restaurants, there is not much to see, except for a lot of traffic. It might be different in the bigger places, but I have not seen the greatest tourism.
I think this is also an advantage because I feel this makes India very authentic, and unique, which I love. It is actually the reason why I love India so much.
But what do I like/love about India?
I hope I did not make you not want to visit India, because I know it’s actually amazing. So here are a couple of short reasons why I LOVE (south)India:
- Maybe I am biased because my boyfriend is living there and I got a whole different experience than others, but I feel like it has become my home. I love that I can read Tamil letters, and understand most of the Tamil culture, and every time I see a flight to India, I want to take it. Tamil Nadu <3
- I love how hospitable the people are.
- Like I said in the last point; I love that India is so authentic. It is like a different world where everything is different. It is a very unique country where you will never get bored.
- I love the cows that you can see everywhere. Every time I saw one, I had a smile on my face. Same as the dogs, the dogs in our street are adorable.
- After a while when I was not overstimulated anymore, I loved the madness. I love that there is always something to see on the road. Whether it is people or animals or whatever. You still get amazed after some time.
- I love Indian clothes, it is so colorful and in my opinion one of the most beautiful in the world. I hope to get married in a Lehenga.
- I love the food! When it is not spicy, it is bloody good. Biryani, butter chicken, pani puri, muruku…. yumm!
- Regarding food; what I already said is that there are many vegetarian restaurants. It is vegetarian heaven!
- I love that it is such a diverse country. Nature, animals, deserts, jungle, beautiful palaces, everything you can find in one country. The people are so different everywhere, you can’t compare the north with the south.
What do you like or not like about India? Let me know on one of my socials!
Interested in reading more about India?
The perfect weekend in Pondicherry: Where to stay, eat, and explore
ALL my tips and tricks for your visit to the Taj Mahal (India)
Hoe vraag ik een visum aan voor India? Alles over reizen naar India.
