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Scottish traveller’s verdict on India and Pakistan sparks debate online
A traveller from Scotland was asked to compare India and Pakistan on different metrics and gave a clear reply.
People of the Indian subcontinent are always very curious to know how foreigners feel about their country. So, whenever a traveller or influencer comes to this region and expresses their opinions about this part of the world, it leads to a variety of reactions.
This is even more so if he compares India and Pakistan. In that situation, the opinions come to be seen through the prism of the political rivalry that exists between the two countries. The same thing has happened with Hugh, a Scottish traveller who, through his Instagram page, shared his experiences of travel across the world.
He recently hosted a Q&A session about his experiences in South Asia and, unsurprisingly, many saw this as an opportunity to get him to compare India and Pakistan.
When asked which country between the two South Asian neighbours is more developed, he favoured India, pointing out the infrastructure, public transport and UPI as being decidedly superior to Pakistan.
“I feel India is slightly more developed than Pakistan, especially in cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Some areas in those cities, with the skyscrapers, honestly, feel like a different country at times. They feel like countries in the West,” he explained.
Hugh then emphasized the better public transport facilities in India.
“Most of the cities in India have very good and very efficient metro systems, especially Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad and I was pleasantly surprised (that) they were clean, they were efficient and the only thing I didn’t like was the pushing…,” the Scotsman added.
The intrepid traveller then heaped praise on the expanse of India’s UPI payments system and noticed how even small shopkeepers are using QR code to take payments. But, he pointed out, foreigners are unable to use this facility, and this makes them depend entirely on cash. He hoped that it would improve in the future.
Which country is cleaner?
So far, it has been a good listen for an Indian. However, things turned a bit tricky when the question of cleanliness came up, and he was asked, “Which country feels cleaner in day-to-day travel?”
Hugh had a categorical answer to this. “This, for me, is quite an easy one and based on my experience, I felt Pakistan was cleaner than India. The streets are cleaner, there is less trash on the ground, especially in Islamabad. Absolutely spotless wherever you look….”
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Netizens react
Several of the Indian commenters were candid enough to accept it, while some of them said this is positive feedback that needs to be taken on board.
“As an Indian I will take it positively and will try to improve myself more...Criticism should be accepted,” one person wrote. Another added, “As an Indian, It's true”. A third person wrote, “Really... We need to work on things”.
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FAQs:
Which country did Hugh find cleaner between India and Pakistan?
Pakistan.
Which aspect of public travel in India did this traveller find most impressive?
Hugh was especially impressed with the metros in major Indian cities.
What was the one shortcoming of UPI that he felt needed to be looked at?
The fact that foreigners can’t use UPI is what he found a bit of an inconvenience.
