In 2008, about 50 images posted with the first-hand account of a visitor who had spent a few months in India, had gone viral in China. Many Chinese forums and columns published them. The images are disturbing, but not for the government and Indian people except some activists and NGOs. Surprisingly, the images depicting the ugly side of India did improve sanitation condition in China.
China has its own flaws, but it can’t be denied that Indian aren’t treating the scared river as it should be. On the other hand, Indians don’t mind such embarrassment or they don’t actually know how India is perceived by the rest of the world.
India enjoys an image of ancient civilization with spiritual values. There is no country in the world like India when it comes to cultural and social diversity. Tourists are nuts for places like Varanasi. Every state has something unique to offer to the tourists.
From the Himalayas in the north to the coasts in the south, from billion-dollar buildings to the poverty stricken slums, India makes a perfect destination for those who seek exposure to world’s biggest and successful democracy.
But India and Indians are ridiculed and embarrassed by other nations for its filth and religious hypocrisy. The River Ganges is considered the holiest river for Hindus, and also the most polluted. Despite being so sacred, there is nothing that is not dumped into the river.
Raw sewage, plastic bags and bottles, industrial effluents, human waste, the chemical from tanneries, discarded idols, cow dung, partially cremated corpses, flower-garlands, human remains, animal carcasses, butcher’s offal, chemical dyes from sari factories and construction waste, everything ends up in River Ganges. Daily, people defecate on the banks of this sacred river, while many others come a long way to take a bath in the same water.
The condition hasn’t changed much in 2015. In January 2015, more than 100 corpses, including children, were found washed up in shallow tributary of the River Ganges. The bodies were decaying and dogs and birds could be seen feeding on them. About 102 bodies were spotted near the village Pariyar, in Uttar Pradesh.
All credit goes to India’s age-old customs to give a water burial. Many people do it because they can’t afford proper cremation.
For Indians, it’s a bitter reality that foreign countries, especially China find images of Indian filth effective for scaring their people about the ugly reality of poor waste disposal habits and littering.
The Prime Minister of India has vowed to clean the River Ganges. The government has also built around nine million (90 lakh) toilets in the past one year to eradicate open defecation, as claimed by the PM.
However, India still needs an awakening. We are re-posting the images posted in a Chinese forum. India can do better.
All it needs is a motivation, and we guess, these images might wake (if not all) then some citizens.
View Comments (41)
What filthy vile disgusting people. Worse than rats or cockroaches! Bathing in water full of rotting corpses, being devoured by stray dogs? Build that wall!
Clearly someone does not have any knowledge on geography or how immigration works here.
Clearly, someone does not want to see how things ARE and prefers to believe that everything and everyone are as they "should be".
My thoughts exactly...death is real. If we are horrified and outraged by reality, that is our problem we need to work with. That being said, there are good public health reasons to dispose of corpses in sanitary ways.
You do realize that India does not border the U.S., right?
Bullsh*t, then how come we have Indians in the US?
That was a joke, right? Because it was funny as F! LOL
Indians tend to enter the US under work visa (as skilled immigrants, as many of them graduate in computer science or medical schools and have really good skills and experience of work).
Of course it was a joke lol
wow, look at you. Like to see your city after a thousand years of occupation, aggressive and violent colonisation. Industrialisation that is invasive and unconsidered and then a serious blow out in the population. I promise your city would look no better. I'm startled at your ignorance.
Your disgusting yourself...completely ignorant. You think the majority of these people live like this by choice? You think this is what they want? You sit at home and watch your big screen, get water from your tap, throw wasted food down the drain and call these people rats. This all they know....children born it this and don't know life any other way.
Bathing in water where putrid decomposing bodies float in the water? Openly defecating? These people are not brain dead.... de-sensitized perhaps, but no less disgusting!
eew.
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Dirty place, ignorance and religion hand in hand.
Primitive people with primitive culture.
I wouldn't even wet my lips with water from that river for MILLIONS of dollars. Absolutely disgusting. What a terrible country. India/China/Pakistan are destroying the planet. Erase these countries already.
You think that India is destroying the planet because the corpses of poor people end up in a river? That doesn't make any sense. What is destroying the planet is consumerism, corporate greed, war and mass pollution. Poor people on the river ganges have next to nothing to do with it!
No, the third world shit holes ARE destroying Earth with their extreme overpopulation, ridiculous levels of pollution, and inability to administrate their countries effectively with zero regulations and untold levels of corruption. THAT many people and they still can't figure out a proper way to do . . . anything.
LOL @ you criticizing consumerism as you use your technology to make posts. How many Apple phones have you gone through? How much do you love payday because you work hard for your money to do with as you please?
Go move to one of these places if you hate the West so much, chickenshit!
These pictures are really sad to accept that people are terribly using the pure and divine water of River Ganga. We call Her Ganga Maiyya means Mother Ganges. But this one thing just cant prove India a bad country. Dont even keep India with China and Pakistan. There are lot many things in India and Indian culture. I can explain everything here in this platform. But My country is really nice and beautiful. I am proud of being Indian.
That is indeed disgusting but what is destroying the planet is global weather
weirding and environment pollution from carbon emissions and industrial effluents driven by self-centered consumerist life styles.
Let's let more Indian people into our country!
Never thought that I'd say disgusting would be an inadequate word to describe this filthy place
INDIA: 1.6 BILLION PEOPLE, ZERO GOLD MEDALS. LMMMMMMMMMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
This is more heartbreaking than anything. For the earth, for the people that live there and for the desensitization to corpses. They can't actually believe this water is safe, can they?
These ignorant people take this water to be mirth due to false religious conditioning i won`t put my foot in this dirty water
Me neither - it used to be pure in the ancient times when ancient writers wrote about it but things change with time unlike people's mindsets... it is indeed sad that people do not have money for proper funerals and therefore dispose corpses in the river - but it is worse that people consider this a good place to bathe in.
These are very disturbing Images, But this is reality. how our rivers has been used in the name of spirituality and Faith from the last decades. I can't believe people spill the corpse in The river Ganga rather than cremating them. This is seriously very disappointing. Rather than blaming system we should try to change ourselves, we should try to take the responsibilities rather than blaming others and system.