A social media user has sparked debate after she called out the Indian student communities abroad ‘bringing toxicity’.
Shreya Pattar, whose profile mentions her as a writer and business owner, took to X (formerly Twitterer) to share her thoughts and advised the Indians planning to move abroad for studies to keep those universities with more homeland students “lower on the list”.
“The more the number of Indian students, the lower that university should be on your list of places to join,” she wrote. The user backed her statement by saying, “A big Indian community of students doesn’t come with a “homely” feeling. It comes with toxic Indian patterns.”
According to her, the “toxic Indian patterns” of these Indian student communities of abroad include “too much drama, lack of professionalism, no good role models, no leadership or responsibility towards juniors, self-centred behaviour, “group-ism”, back bitching, no seriousness towards the future.”
She further recommends to stay away from “that mindset” and “attitude,” in her social media post. She wrote, “If you plan to move out of the country, make sure you are also staying away from that mindset, attitude, and nature of people.”
Any Indian student planning to move abroad for higher education should check how many Indian students that university has. The more the number of Indian students, the lower that university should be on your list of places to join.
A big Indian community of students doesn’t come…
— Shreya Pattar (@ShreyaPattar) May 12, 2024
She received hundreds of replies over the same with mixed reactions. Few agreed with her while some didn’t.
A user asked her to avoid “generalising” and wrote, “I spent about a decade studying & working abroad. There’s all sorts. Generalizing and avoiding South Asians is not helpful. Neither is only sticking to them outside of work. Take each one as an individual, regardless of origin, accent, appearance, income. That way I found friends.”
While another user approved her statement by saying, “I can not agree more with you. In 2011 I went to Australia to work in a hospital and there the most toxic people and most envious towards Indians were Indians only. It was a shock for me once I reach there and till the time I left Australia I could not come to terms with it.”
Meanwhile, some other user’s response talked about “finding the right balance between comfort and exposure to diverse perspectives”.
Another person wrote, “This advice might applies to mediocre or low quality institutions. Point is you should try to go to the highest quality university you can go to.”
