'Rich culture, amazing people': Aussie traveller calls out negativity bias against India

An Australian tourist has gone viral for challenging negative portrayals of India on social media. Duncan McNaught, currently travelling across the country, said the online narrative often highlights extremes, misrepresenting the reality on the ground.

"Social media has done India wrong. There is negativity bias on social media and for India this means people filming its extremes. In reality India is a beautiful country full of rich culture, diverse landscapes and amazing people," he said in a widely shared video.

McNaught acknowledged that India, like any country of 1.5 billion people, has its challenges, but said the way it is shown online is "disingenuous."

"I'm not denying its problems... but as someone who has good Indian friends, it's sad to see how India is portrayed to the world," he added.

He also promised to showcase the “beautiful parts” of India over the next three months.

The video has already racked up over 2.5 lakh views and hundreds of supportive comments. One user wrote, "Hands down India is the coolest place I've been to." Another said, "I loved India!! Spent 3 months there!"

Others echoed similar sentiments: "Totally agree with this! I visited India last year and expected it to not be that great but I absolutely loved it and I'm visiting again in just a few weeks," said one commenter. Another added, "Still my favourite country! Honestly, they have the best people and food in the world."

In a separate clip, McNaught was seen rescuing a cow stuck in a dry drain with the help of a local man. The video ended with him showing a minor scrape and joking, "Scraped my finger up."