Bombay: Rude City
Reader’s Digest reviewed 36 cities in the world to judge the “politeness” of the citizenry.
New York City came up trumps as the Politest City in the world. I know, I know, its hard to believe.
What sucks, is that Bombay came out last. What is wrong with Bombay.
The only consolation I can gauge is that no other Indian city was even considered to be evaluated and hence is lower down the ladder. 
Check out the entire article, and see how your city scored.
Another detailed article here
[ Hat Tip: Prabhu ]
That was an interesting research! Thanks for the link. One of the tests they conducted was whether people hold open the door. Hahaha..well we all know what happens in Mumbai. But something interesting was 8 out of 9 cities in Asia fared equally bad when it comes to holding the door open. Mumbai definitely lost all 20 points on that :-)
That leads me to think the nature of the tests conducted were probably based on western social customs. Maybe Mumbai would have ranked higher than other cities in a different kind of test, say getting lost on streets and asking for directions.
Mitesh : How many of us really thank a autowallah or a driver,salesman after their service,let alone holding doors ? We surely are not courteous enough to everyone. Most Indians does have an attitude ,and act accordingly based on a persons outlook. Get real Mitesh .
I put this question to people on this Travel Forum on Lonely planet and this is what they had to say.
As a Bangalorean who now lives in Mumbai, I think that Mumbai is the friendliest place I have been to in India.
Being Indian I feel sad,to know one of our famous city is voted as rudest city in the world,bit no surprise,,as an Indian when i visit India rudest shock and unpolite well for me starts from air port coustom officers and than taxi drivers, ,,leave about hwaker and other elements,, some time police protected goons,,,only thing that of recntly noice which is disappearing is panprag’s holy in every nooks and corner,, it is time to analyse not to brow beating,,,
Akshay
Thanks for the pointer to an interesting discussion.
Sloganmurugan
I completely agree with u.
Dr.Ilyas
If you notice, I have labelled the post as “…Rude City..”
The Times of India in its usual sensationalism labelled it the “Rudest” city without clarifying that it was the rudest of the 36 surveyed.
Come to think of it, no other Indian city was even considered. Therefore to call Bombay the rudest, as you have in your comment is not accurate.
Mitesh
You bring out a very valid point about the whole basis of the test being judged on western morals and standards of society. However that does not excuse the fact that we fared so badly.
Desi
I think Mitesh has a valid point. About the thank you part, you are right. Everytime i say thanks to a cabbie, or autowallah, they are surprised and sometimes a bit taken aback !
Arzan : Mumbai might have topped NewYork, had the tests been conducted by a gori chikni !
Why are we so indifferent to our fellow country men ?
I mean..a firangi
as a guy who has moved from bangalore into mumbai, 6 year back, i do not belive mumbai is rude…everyone has their bad days.
guess where i have come across the most helpful set of people? mumbai….
go mumbai…you are great.
Our standards of politeness and their’s (meaning the rest of the world) are very different. SO are our definitions. Why should we take into consideration the ranking of a set of people who are not correctly and precisely aware of our culture??
I was a short term visitor to mumbai and was impressed thoroughly by the warm attitude. And thts what counts. Go Mumbai! I’ll second it.
I’m surprised no one’s brought up the one issue that’s more important than anything else- context..! Holding a door open for people, returning a newspaper someone dropped and expecting a thank you from the person behind the counter when you purchase your groceries… These seem to me very American concepts of politeness…
Rude/ polite is always culture and context specific (as the HSBC ads like to remind us time and again). Maybe if they’d factored that into the tests I’d have taken them a little more seriously…
I’ve lived in Bombay. I love Bombay. And I’ve never thought of it as unfriendly. But that’s besides the point. Bombay may be the rudest city in the world (as an outside, off-chance) but this test certainly doesn’t have the credibility to say so, methinks…
Cheers.
Indian ppl are full of pride (for no apparent reason) and thats what’s masking your ability to see that Mumbai IS a rude city. Its not being compared to other Indian cities, so why are you guys comparing to other Indian cities? Its a global comparison, so your opinion that you need to be familiar with the culture first is negated. Asian people ARE rude, and Indians even more. Why not just accept it and try to improve on it, rather than try to deny it? Are you guys ACTUALLY saying that Mumbai people are as courteous as Toronto ppl? Gimme a break.