After Returning From Europe, Indian Woman Claims ‘Causal Stereotyping’ Is Common In Continent: ‘It Sucks’

A trip to Europe left a 25-year-old Indian woman returning home with more questions than memories. What stayed with her were “some uncomfortable thoughts” about Indians. She poured these thoughts into a detailed Reddit post.

Her experience has started a wide discussion online with social media users talking about stereotypes, civic sense and the uncomfortable space many Indians find themselves in when travelling abroad.

Redditor Shares ‘Uncomfortable Thoughts’ After International Trip

In her post, the woman wrote about travelling across Europe with two friends close to her age. She said that in multiple cities, they encountered what she described as “casual stereotyping.”

“Nothing dramatic or openly aggressive, just the kind that stays with you.

Long judgmental stares. Strange glares. People changing their tone the moment they had to deal with us,” she wrote.

It was also the first time she had experienced this so directly, so she was unsure of how to react.

“I wanted to argue with everyone who made us feel that way,” she admitted.

Train Incident Becomes A Turning Point

The post then described an incident on a train journey that significantly changed how she processed those experiences.

“The other side of the story was what made me think a lot, though. I started to realise that the actions of some are all it takes for foreigners to form an opinion about all of us. And some of us really need to learn civic sense & hold ourselves accountable,” the post mentioned.

According to her, the cabin they were seated in clearly expected passengers to remain quiet or speak softly. Most people were following the unspoken rule. But she claimed that an Indian family in the same cabin was “extremely loud.”

“When I tell you they were loud, I am not exaggerating; all you could hear were the loud talks of the family, even when you’d go far off,” she wrote. Other passengers were visibly uncomfortable and kept “giving looks.”

At one point, a member of the family asked the others to lower their voices. Another family member responded loudly, “Why are you bothered by others? We have paid for the ticket. Why should we not talk however we want?”

“That sentence stayed with me,” she wrote.

She said she had heard versions of the same logic throughout her life, in “trains, planes, theatres, housing societies, on the streets.”

“This idea that paying for something means you owe nothing to the people around you. No sense of shared space. No responsibility towards anyone else,” she mentioned.

Caught Between Racism And Self-Criticism

The woman made it clear that stereotyping is unacceptable, saying, “No behaviour justifies degrading an entire group of people.”

At the same time, she said ignoring “internal issues” does not help and added, “Lack of civic sense is something we see every day.”

“You grow up being told how proud you should be of where you come from, how great everything is. Then you step outside and daily life feels chaotic, unhealthy, and exhausting in small, constant ways,” the woman said.

“The air is toxic, water is undrinkable, food standards are a joke, and living cost in cities like Gurgaon or Mumbai are touching the roof. The Government either doesn’t give AF (as f***) or is dealing with such a huge myriad of problems that any visible impact will take decades to show,” she added.

She also expressed fear about speaking openly as honest criticism often gets labelled as being “anti-national or self-hating.” She mentioned being anxious about hate messages and threats for sharing her thoughts.

“I will probably be dead before I get to see India improving, and the image of Indians change in the world. I think we have been failed by systems, enforcement, and social norms that we have normalised for far too long. Until we admit that without getting defensive, I do not see how things change,” the Redditor mentioned.

In the end, she said, “I do not want to feel this way, but I will be honest; on giving a deeper thought I guiltily regret being born in this part of the world. Not because I hate my identity, but because living with this constant mix of judgement from outside and dysfunction at home is exhausting. It just f***ing sucks.”

See Her Post Here

Some uncomfortable thoughts after an international trip
byu/Far_Trainer_6989 ingurgaon

People Share Similar Experiences

The post triggered a strong response from other users, many of whom shared similar observations.

One person commented, “We can’t change what others think of us, but Indians should learn the civic sense, that is for sure.”

Another shared a personal incident from Europe: “I was in Amsterdam 2 months back, it was clearly mentioned that you’re not supposed to walk on the bicycle strip, but a group of Indian aunties were walking on it and almost crashed into a cyclist. He shouted ‘stupid Indians’ and went. Instances like this increase racism against us.”

“I know how you feel, it’s because some people decided that it’s okay behave in a certain way and not respect other countries’ culture,” someone else wrote.

“Money can’t buy common sense. Every single time I have been abroad, it’s that same thing, rich loud families,” a person wrote.

“Indians need to unlearn many things in life,” an individual remarked.

A Redditor shared that they had felt the same during international corporate training programmes as well. They further described the contrast between how Indians believe the country is perceived globally and how they are sometimes treated in professional and social spaces abroad, saying, “we’re really looked down upon.”