‘Do you know SRK? Do you ride camels?': Indian woman recalls bizarre questions from foreigners

Hindustan Times

14 hours ago

An Indian woman living abroad recently shared a viral video about the strange and funny questions foreigners ask her about India. From riding elephants to having WiFi, the questions show curious misconceptions about the country. A video of am Indian woman highlighted surprising questions foreigners still ask about India.(@sheenamgautam/Instagram)
Sheenam Gautam, a digital creator, revealed some common questions she hears every day while living abroad.
'Living abroad as an Indian is basically a free stand-up comedy show every day,' the caption of the post reads.
Foreigners are often curious about India, asking quirky questions that mix fascination with surprise. From daily life to culture, their queries reveal funny misunderstandings.
Questions foreigners often ask about India:
Gautam revealed that people often ask if she rides elephants to school or if India has WiFi. She joked that India does have WiFi, sometimes even faster than their brains.
Other questions include whether it is always hot in India, if people eat curry every day, and if cricket is the national sport. She answered these with humour, saying it is not always hot because India has mountains and deserts, curry is eaten only on days ending with 'Y', and cricket is more like a religion.
People also asked if she speaks 'Indian' or if Bollywood is like Hollywood but with more dancing and drama. She explained that she learned English in England's 'favourite colony' and that Bollywood has ten times the drama.
"Do you know Shahrukh Khan ? I replied Sure, we have chai together every Sunday… in my dreams,' she adds.
Some questions even touched on culture and religion, such as whether she is a vegetarian because of religion, whether people live in joint families of 50 people, or how many gods India has.
She was asked if India is just villages, to which she replied, 'Yeah, with 5G towers right in the middle.'
Check out the post here:
Social media reacts:
Instagram users reacted with a mix of amusement and surprise to her post. Many found her witty replies refreshing and enjoyed how she used humour to challenge common stereotypes about India.
One of the users, Puja Agarwal, commented, 'Lol, I get asked this a lot by my foreigner friends. I am gonna use these replies now.'
A second user, Bharat Tagra, commented, 'Your response to these questions is hilarious.'
Another user, Abhi, commented, 'I started asking the equivalent opposite questions to them. Like if they asked about the caste system, I would bring up the race system. It makes them scramble real fast.'
Some users shared their own experiences of similar questions, showing that misconceptions about the country are widespread.