‘Obnoxious India-India mantra’: Professor says he felt embarrassed as ‘Delhi brothers’ created ruckus at Iguaçu Falls

‘Obnoxious India-India mantra’: Professor says he felt embarrassed as ‘Delhi brothers’ created ruckus at Iguaçu Falls

Gaurav Sabnis, an Indian-origin professor at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, shared his experience of visiting Iguaçu Falls and how embarrassed he was as an Indian because an Indian group there heckled, created a ruckus and jumped the queue. Sabnis recalled that it was a boat safari and tourists had to change three vehicles and stand in queues several times to reach the boat. There were a lot of Indians there but he told of a group from Delhi who were “intended to win Delhi Stereotype Bingo”. Others were getting upset with the Delhi group as they were jumping the line and calling others present with them to join the line where they got their place by pushing others. There were many cars and the lines were moving very quickly and there was no reason to rush or jump in line, Sabnis said. Four people jumped in the queue but it soon became eight as they called more people and it became 15 as they claimed they were traveling together. “Now other tourists started rolling their eyes and getting angry. Also the group was very loud and chattering constantly. There is no concept of reducing volume in public,” Sabnis posted. Sabnis said that when she protested and said that if they were traveling together, they should queue together instead of jumping the queue, he asked her to go ahead of them. He told them that standing in line was not the only issue but their behavior was having a bad impact on Indians. Sabnis said he refused to go ahead of the rowdy group as he was in no hurry but the ruckus they were creating was completely unnecessary as they were saving at most 4-5 minutes.Even during the boat ride, these people chanted “India! India!” Started shouting. Sabnis said as if it was a cricket match. Sabnis said, “The looks and reactions of the non-Indians around us were very telling, and with good reason. I felt like writing “I’m not with them” on my T-shirt. They would all go away and tell stories of this disgusting behavior of some Indians in a very polite and soft-spoken country,” Sabnis said. Many of the Indians in that tour group were polite, soft-spoken, who didn’t push boundaries. Used to go, but they will be forgotten and people will only talk about the loud ones. “And they don’t even realize that “India” is being called so loudly! India!” Isn’t it good for India and Indians when others are taking pictures and videos of lifetime memories in a shared boat,” the post said.

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