- Sunday, March 09, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
For many in the west, India is still seen as a country of the snake charmers and it was proved again when a newspaper in Spain came up with a unique caricature of a snake charmer to reflect the growth of the South Asian nation’s economy.
La Vanguardia’s choice of the caricature that went with the article titled ‘The hour of the Indian economy’ on the front page triggered a controversy with reactions pouring in from India.
The depiction showed a snake charmer with his double-reed instrument playing to make the graph of India’s economic growth head north, comparable to a rising snake.
Nithin Kamath, the founder and CEO of Zerodha, an Indian financial service company, shared the post on Twitter which was criticised for an allegedly objectionable depiction. Kamath also slammed it saying the “cultural caricaturing” to show a snake charmer to represent India was an “insult”.
“Quite cool that the world is taking notice, but the cultural caricaturing, a snake charmer to represent India, is an insult. Wonder what it takes for this to stop; maybe global Indian products?” he wrote in the caption.
"The hour of the Indian economy," says La Vanguardia, a leading Spanish daily.
Quite cool that the world is taking notice, but the cultural caricaturing, a snake charmer to represent India, is an insult.
Wonder what it takes for this to stop; maybe global Indian products? pic.twitter.com/YY3ribZIaq— Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) October 13, 2022
The post includes a picture of the front page that shows a snake charmer with his double-reed instrument playing to make the graph of India’s economic growth go up.
Here are several reactions that emerged to Kamath’s post. While some resonated with what Kamath felt, there were others who said how snake charmers continued to be a symbol of India’s mysticism. There were also people who did not find an insult in the Spanish newspaper’s take and rather called it a “tribute”.
I don't see any problem, infact I see that the paper is mocking the stereotype that India began it's journey with. Quite smart on that bit.
TBH, there were snake charmers in India, and it is quite unique to us, why even get offended.
— animesh bajpai (@anim2407) October 13, 2022
Snake charmer hangover will be lost only when India creates global products for global audience! https://t.co/SRiuTtd9nV
— Ranga (@sarangakaranga) October 14, 2022
It's not done with bad intentions.
However, "snake charmer" doesn't represent India(ns). What else can be used in places like this? https://t.co/AGfNOQUZg6
— Sanjay (@SanjayaSpeaks) October 14, 2022
It’s been used as an analogy to depict India’s fast rising graph. Nothing wrong with it. A snake charmer is an symbol of India’s mysticism.., which differentiates us from the rest https://t.co/9cvrRl2SI9
— vijay amritraj (@vjamritraj) October 14, 2022
Nothing’s an insult unless you choose to see it as one. You are over reacting. It is a tribute. The snake charmer is one of the world’s most enduring symbols of magic. La Vanguardia sees India as magical. Don’t enlarge the circle of offence takers in India. It’s already too big! https://t.co/z93SI3dbhB
— Pritish Nandy (@PritishNandy) October 14, 2022
Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund predicted India’s economic growth this year at more than six per cent, the highest among the world’s major economies.
On Thursday (13), IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva praised India’s economic growth and said the country deserved to be called a bright spot on an otherwise dark horizon.
