A British tourist, Richard La Ruina, recently took to social media describing his second trip to India, saying it was “sad to see” how much of the content about India online is negative and far from reality.Every place has two stories. One is the story its own people live every day. The other is the story strangers tell about it from far away. And most of the time, the second type is based on superficial experiences that are gained not by longer stays or quiet conversations, but by short clips that float on the phone screen.And then the reality turns out to be completely different from what we imagine, when a visitor comes up and experiences the reality that stands far apart from preconceived notions.Let’s dig in to find out what the British tourist has to say about the country’s reality.
British tourist challenges stereotypes about India, calls the country full of surprises
British tourist Richard La Ruina, a former author, recently posted on Instagram about his second trip to India. He said that he was tired of how the country is shown online. In that post, he said it was “sad to see” how much of the content about India is negative, and he added that much of it is also racist.La Ruina said that people online rarely show what makes India special. They skip over its beauty, its warm and welcoming people, and the excellent hospitality that sets it apart from many other places.He said, “It is sad to see that pretty much every single post on social media, and every single video on YouTube about India is something negative, and I’d say usually racist too”. In his view, many creators visit a poor country with a huge population, look for the worst things they can find, and end up with millions of views. He thought that was a cheap way to get attention.He also said these stories are believed so easily because India gets far fewer visitors than people expect. According to him, the whole country gets only about half the number of tourists as “just one kind-of-boring Japanese city, Osaka”.He further added, “Basically people go to a poor country with 1.5 billion people and try to find all the worst stuff and then it usually gets millions of views. Lame”.Finally, he pointed out that most of the world feels quite similar these days, and he usually knows what to expect when he travels. India, however, was still ‘different and full of surprises’.La Ruina adds, “I assume that we could have asked to go to slums or to the “worst and most unhygienic Indian street food” to make some content, but instead we went to all these lovely places”.“Everyone was very very nice, service was the best we’ve experienced in the world (they have a “guest is god” culture), air quality was fine during the time we were there, and everywhere was totally safe,” he added, expressing his appreciation for India.ID@undefined Caption not available.
Social media reactions
The post has since gone viral and received numerous comments, likes and shares online. One user wrote, “Amazing perspective. Hope you enjoyed your stay in India,” another added, “Richard, I totally agree with you, this year will be my second visit to India.”A third wrote, “If you have not been to India, you cannot call yourself well traveled.” A fourth, who is Indian, admitted he had not travelled much within his own country, but said the post made him curious to explore it.
