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Comment by sremani | Hacker News Reader

#Culture - Culture makes societies and societies make cities. No really, all you have to do is walk down Newark St (aka Indian Street) in Jersey City or Little India in Singapore, yes Singapore, we have some how found a way to screw one of the world's cleanest city. The bright spot is, there is a movement called "Ugly Indian", in which enlightened Indians have acknowledged their "Culture" and working on the remedy.

http://theuglyindian.com/

If you live in India join this movement. If you live outside of India, please do not mess public spaces esp. the ones with high density of Indian businesses.

(note: I am an Indian living in US).

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Don't generalize. Looks as if you have a especial hatred for fellow Indians which is coming out so evidently in your threads.

Now, let us go over your examples. Both of the areas you cited have traditionally been inhabited by not-so-well-to-do Indians which could be one of the reasons why they aren't well maintained. Little India in Singapore was originally inhabited by Indian immigrants - many of whom were very poor and uneducated and the area generally took its cue from there. Newark St in Jersey City, too, has largely been inhabited by poor early immigrant Indians (such as those who drive taxis in NYC) and Indians who come onsite (and thus are in heavy savings mode).

To give a counter to your example why don't you visit Sunnyvale and Fremont on the west coast which are heavily populated by the Indian community. Given how you have generalized, those areas should be dumps. The difference here is that the Indians who tend to live here are much more affluent and educated.

The difference here is between affluent and poor as well as educated and not. Such differences exist even within the white or black communities in the US.

You sure do rush to conclusion, do not mistake a harsh tone for hatred. So why is Hillcrest in Houston, TX not so appealing. You only want me to account Cities with average house price is about 500K+ ? Sure, while at it, why dont we not take Beverly Hills, CA as a sample to discuss crime in California. My point is, go to a place where there are a group of Indian business and you can see the contrast. If you are happy and satisfied, all the power to you.

As an Indian, I felt a real contrast when visiting Singapore. Everywhere we went around it was clean and beautiful but Little India. There was noise, trash, and what not. That walk was really insightful about us, begged questioning my values.

I visited Singapore before coming to India. I stayed in Little India because it was the only part of town with cheap hostels. It was also, I am told, the unofficial red light district. It may be more that Little India is one of the poorest parts of downtown Singapore, than that it's the "most Indian" part of Singapore.

Many Indians in Singapore occupy higher social classes, similar to Indians in America (from what I was told by an American-educated Singaporean friend). But Little India is where a different sort of Indian lives - the cheap, expendable, poorly treated laborer. In fact, there were riots there under a year back because such laborers were being treated so poorly, that caused many Singaporeans to reflect on how they were treating these people (from what I was told).

Did you visit the residential heartlands? It can be dirty there too, just in more of a Chinese way. A friend of mine works in the Singaporean police, and cited a number of recurring embarrassing incidents in these neighborhoods that are symptomatic of poverty elsewhere.

tl;dr: Little India isn't "Indian", it's just "poor".

My brother's friend, an electrician from India, worked in singapore. He was like $400 USD per month (20,000 Indian rupees) like 6 years ago. He used to live in a place whose roof is corrugated mental, and this was in Singapore. There are lots of laborers in Singapore, whose incomes don't allow them to live in nicer parts. So, glorified shanty town type homes exist there.

Yes, Singapore probably couldn't exist without its poor guest workers. One of my in-laws is a long-time truck driver there for construction companies, and he and his colleagues live in makeshift shanties on construction sites, making 450 USD per month while working 12 hours a day.

It is sickening to see people boasting of the beauty of civilized Singapore and shaming the poor laborers, the ones who make the city beautiful and are massively underpaid for their effort.

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