Mickey Ashmore, a guest writer at Mridula’s blog, tries to understand how and why India gets stereotyped in a certain way in the West:

Before stepping off my Lufthansa flight into the Hyderabad airport, I had no idea what was in store for me. India is a mysteriously enchanting place that is constantly stereotyped, mislabeled and consequently misinterpreted by the average American and previous to my time in India, this included me. While everyone has heard about the enormous call centers and outsourcing operations, many still base their opinions of India from the mass media and pop culture. Shows like The Simpsons for obvious comedic reasons choose to highlight the country’s stranger side.