Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Sorry, but this is not accurate at all. This type of filth exists right here in the United States. At least India has an excuse, it's a third world country with little resources.. what is the excuse for the USA?
This is quite misleading, since you're taking an area around Skid Row known for public filth and masses of bottom feeders and using it as a representation of USA as a whole to compare to India. That's why your pictures come from a tabloid article, it has a shock factor because it's unusual for USA.
Of course USA has dirty areas, just as India has clean areas, but to pretend those pictures are representative of the environment most Americans live in is disingenuous. In India there is often trash everywhere, people just toss garbage on the ground without even thinking of it, in developed countries the scum among us at least tend to check to make sure nobody is looking before doing so because it's against our cultural norms.
India is indeed one of the filthiest countries in the world, and USA is not even close in comparison.
India is indeed one of the filthiest countries in the world, and USA is not even close in comparison.
I did not disagree that India has a lot of filth in abundance in it's cities... my point was that exists in copious amounts in American cities as well and that India is the third world so it has be excused to an extent, the resources to serve 1.3 billion people is challenging. Improvement of this situation will take time. India is a poor country per capita so to a certain extent this is expected. The poor people living in the slums on $0.50 a day do not have sanitation services so where do you think they will defecate?
However, the US has no excuses to have so many homeless people, so many on drugs, so many barely able to make it etc. The situation in the US is more shameful than India when you take into account that it is supposed to be the richest country int he world.
As I said, India has an excuse as it does not claim to be a developed country, it's still fixing it's problems. The US is supposed to be a superpower and can't even provide it's people with basic healthcare. Fall sick and you have a good chance of being dead. A shame as I said.
I traveled throughout India over the course of three weeks in early 2010. I spent time in New Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Diggi, and Mumbai. I was in culinary heaven throughout the entire time there, though I did get tired of eating nothing but Indian food (and, to be clear, Indian food is quite an extensive category) and had to chow down at a McDonalds during the last few days of the trip to mix things up ). I did get sick once after having a bad meal from a local fast food joint in Chandigarh, which made me miss the Taj Mahal, but the trip overall was a great one. I'd love to go back one of these days.
As for recent conversations of filth in India, outside of slummy areas (which were not as numerous as one would think), I did not notice a whole lot of trash/filth when out and about. Now, there are parts of India with open street sewers (especially in some of the smaller towns/cities), but that's something that comes with the developing world.
I have been on every continent except Antarctica, and have visited around 100 countries. India is the only one that I left thinking "I will never come back here". It was truly gruesome and horrible.
That was in 1978 while backpacking around the world. I have revisited most countries at least twice but still have no desire to return to India. The Taj Mahal was the only noteworthy site yet it was still in appalling condition.
Reading the comments on this thread make me think it hasn't gotten much better in 40+ years.
There's a lot to see in New Delhi. Also, in Jaipur.
Very historic places.
From what I hear, the Taj Mahal is a pretty nice place today, so I'd imagine that it's been renovated in the later decades since India's independence. I was outside on the bus sick while my group toured the site so can't vouch for that myself
From what I hear, the Taj Mahal is a pretty nice place today, so I'd imagine that it's been renovated in the later decades since India's independence. I was outside on the bus sick while my group toured the site so can't vouch for that myself
I visited the Taj Mahal in 1999. Agra was dirty, but the Taj Mahal itself looked fine and pretty clean.
The other poster went in 1978. So, maybe things were different then.
I visited Taj probably 10 years ago. It was clean on inside, but outside was typical India with lots of trash everywhere and those little streams of running water on either sides of the street where locals toss whatever garbage they feel like tossing.
Agra is also pretty bad for beggars and scams. We arrived on the train, and went to little window to get a taxi slip and some dude tried opening up my backpack (on my back) behind me, but a couple of taxi drivers waiting for our fare stopped him by yelling and pelting him on the head with smackings. Got in taxi, driver stopped right outside the train station to let some other guy he knew into the front seat right, we threatened to get out until he finally relented and took us. He tried to sell us on a tour the whole way there, then waiting in the lobby of our guest house all day after dropping us off to harass more about tour.
Every time we left that place street urchins would follow us everywhere we went begging the whole time, sometimes including a pedicab person or two trying to sell tours. We'd eat somewhere and when we came out sometimes they'd still be there waiting for us. When we left town we had the guesthouse call a taxi to the bus station, that taxi took us to a travel agency and tried to say it was the bus station. Of course that would have led to buying expensive tickets in some private tourist van, not the big long distance bus we wanted. Argued with taxi driver and tour company person who had come outside until relented and took us to the bus station.
All that stuff is harmless and no big deal, even the guy who tried to get in the cab was likely the "good English speaking guy" who works with taxi drivers to get a cut of any tours he can arrange, but overall we found Agra to be our least favorite place in India.
Regarding filthy. I went to Nepal first, which is about double Indias GDP, about equal to the rich state of Delhi. Most of my time in India was in the poorer states, including India's second poorest, Assam. Compared to Nepal, I found India pretty comparable in all respects, but travelers seem very fond of Nepal. If there is trash in the streets, walk around it. Cleanliness is an expensive luxury, compared to so other things the poor don't have.
I entered Inda with trepidation, but I actually found it to be quite manageable. A city of a million in India seems like a small town, and I wasnt in any cities bigger than that. Just avoid cities if India scares you. The rural countryside is lovely, and there is plenty of it everywhere. Walk along a country ox-cart road, and brightly colored birds don't even fly away off the fenceposts.
I visited Taj probably 10 years ago. It was clean on inside, but outside was typical India with lots of trash everywhere and those little streams of running water on either sides of the street where locals toss whatever garbage they feel like tossing.
Agra is also pretty bad for beggars and scams. We arrived on the train, and went to little window to get a taxi slip and some dude tried opening up my backpack (on my back) behind me, but a couple of taxi drivers waiting for our fare stopped him by yelling and pelting him on the head with smackings. Got in taxi, driver stopped right outside the train station to let some other guy he knew into the front seat right, we threatened to get out until he finally relented and took us. He tried to sell us on a tour the whole way there, then waiting in the lobby of our guest house all day after dropping us off to harass more about tour.
Every time we left that place street urchins would follow us everywhere we went begging the whole time, sometimes including a pedicab person or two trying to sell tours. We'd eat somewhere and when we came out sometimes they'd still be there waiting for us. When we left town we had the guesthouse call a taxi to the bus station, that taxi took us to a travel agency and tried to say it was the bus station. Of course that would have led to buying expensive tickets in some private tourist van, not the big long distance bus we wanted. Argued with taxi driver and tour company person who had come outside until relented and took us to the bus station.
All that stuff is harmless and no big deal, even the guy who tried to get in the cab was likely the "good English speaking guy" who works with taxi drivers to get a cut of any tours he can arrange, but overall we found Agra to be our least favorite place in India.
I hope you took pictures of everything like what the asians always do.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
). I did get sick once after having a bad meal from a local fast food joint in Chandigarh, which made me miss the Taj Mahal, but the trip overall was a great one. I'd love to go back one of these days. 
. It was truly gruesome and horrible. 
