Indians very welcome. Not.

This story may or may not be true I think it probably isLate last year an Indian looking for a longstay visa in Thailand was directed by his German buddy to a onestop agency that took care of everything from opening a bank account to getting the visa legally stamped with a reentry permit as requestedldquoAll the Germans go thererdquo he was told ldquoTheyrsquore very reliablerdquoThe Indian aged about 52 visited the agency and was impressed by the courtesy clarity and efficiency of the team there Yes they could do everything to get him a visa Yes hersquod just have to show up just once for a photograph and perhaps a couple of signatures Yes it would all be completely above board and legal with proper receipts for everythingTrusting that an agency that could make exacting Germans happy was probably good at their work he asked if they could process his visa application and get him a longstay visaThey could came the reply and it would cost him 25000 baht for the whole serviceAs he waited for the paperwork to start the visa agent asked him ldquoYoursquore from Germany rightrdquoldquoNordquo he replied ldquoIndiardquoThere was one of those moments when you sense something has shifted and not for the betterOver the next 15 minutes or so the visa agent called the bank the police station and immigration Shortly she returned smiling ldquoItrsquos all okay sirrdquo she said We can handle your visa But the cost will now be 35000 bahtrdquoSomething had pushed the price up by 10000 baht about Rs 23500ldquoWhy the price increaserdquo he askedldquoIrsquom so sorry sirrdquo she said managing to look genuinely sorry ldquoItrsquos the rate for IndiansrdquoI wish could say this was the first time Irsquove heard a story of the subtle disparagement and distancing of Indians in countries not India In Thailand where Chinese and Indian tourists are among the top five big spenders Indian tourists may enter visafree until May 10 and perhaps the rest of 2024Yet as the tourist department rolls out the red carpet street civility is restrained and smiles donrsquot reach the eyesA young Indian in his 30s and working with Trip Advisor told me in a low voice so that others wouldnrsquot hear that in some online dating sites some profiles include the line ldquoMuslims and Indians swipe rightrdquoHere are some of the reasons for the distaste that I found in a subReddit discussionLashay_Sombra responding to the plaintive question of a scorned Indian traveller who asked what he was doing wrong wrote mdashYou You seem okay Your fellow countrymen Shit yesndash Hygiene issues More than one Thai has told me that Indians smell and I donrsquot mean fragrantndash Not respecting other peoplersquos personal spacesndash Not respecting staff especially women In point treating air hostesses like waitressesndash Queue cuttingndash Overbargaining or bargaining for the fun of itndash Leering at women Trying to get lsquogroup discountsrsquo at massage parloursndash Try to get away without tippingMore recently I have come across the following mdashThey donrsquot know how to talk softlyThey think anything can be done by offering a small tipThey seem to think India is superior to all other countries and Indians likewiseBeing the greatest country on the planet requires even great behaviour and deep values As India changes and shines perhaps smugness and hubris need to be replaced by civility and humility In my travels I have met outstanding Indians respected and even adored but the disrepute we also seem to enjoy comes from the poor behaviour of an entitled and arrogant few Herersquos an exampleStanding on the immaculate platform of Bangkokrsquos BTS waiting for the next skytrain I was struggling to explain to a schoolboy what it meant to be an Indian Born to Indian parents he had only visited India for short vacations and knew neither any of its languages nor its culturesA sudden increase in the volume from the escalator area signalled the arrival of a crowd of about 30 young Indians perhaps salesmen attending a sales conference Now that the sun had set they were excitedly hitting the land of smiles bars temples and massage parlours Within seconds all semblance of peace and calm had left the platformThe train when it arrived was packed wall to wall even trying to get in was futile so neither we nor the Thais there tried However the young Indians seemed instantly challenged and energised Entering Churchgate mode they darted back and forth between coaches shouting out to each other elbowing and shouldering their way in Every man Jack of them somehow managed to squeeze inMy adolescent companion eyes wide with astonishment asked ldquoIs this what it means to be IndianrdquoI wrote about the incident in a bitter disappointed article which was widely shared and garnered almost 2000 responses evenly divided between abuse and appreciation The letter that stayed in my head referred to the incident on the platform which I had deprecated soundly as shamefulldquoMr Gopinathrdquo wrote the reader ldquoYou completely missed the point The Indians got in while everyone was hanging around being politerdquoYou can reach C Y Gopinath at cygopigmailcomSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper