michaelm
3389331355034814
Very dangerous place in general at present according to a good friend who is an (ex-) native.
I hear this nonsense from Indians who leave and become over-accustomed to living where there's a
police camera overhead every 20 feet and big brother watching. But really - India's not dangerous
for Westerners. Only people who really go out of their way to put themselves in dangerous situations
or those who provoke violent situations by being bullheaded or or culturally insensitive ever seem
to get into any real trouble. Them, and greedy idiots who get sucked into tranparent sucker schemes
for ilegally transporting "precious" stones out of the country.
A perfect example would be illustrated by two women who were at a dinner I threw a while back.
One was a six-foot tall Amazon with a big mouth and the other was a quiet mild-spoken gal.
The big-mouthed women insisted at every turn that the locals should uphold her Western
style values and she actually got into numerous fist fights over the course of a three week visit.
The other girl had been (and continues to do so) all over India for without everr bein molested
once (if you don't count the time she got bit by a dog she tried to pet) for years.
I was just in Pakistan a few years back and everybody freaked out when I said I was going.
Everywhere my wife and I went we were well treated. Too much press-generated hysteria.
It's the old cliche/truisim.... Pakistanis don't hate Americans, it's just the press-image nonsensical
IDEA of America itself that they object to.
I have many friends who travel to India two or three times a year who always stop by my shop to
relate their latest trips to me and I've heard nothing to indicate that the situation has changed in
any meaningful way. There are the occaisional sad incident like the man and his son who were
missionaries in the south a few years ago who were burned in their car by right-wing Hindu extremists
but in country of that size one such incident can't be considered indicitive of any general hostility
to Westerners. I always feel very safe in India.
I suppose if I were a Muslim - I would feel differently. The right-wingers are constantly generating
hate-hysteria against Muslims to shore up their voter base. But for Westerners - India is quite safe.
