Let’s start this article by admitting that we Indian do not hold very good image abroad. Call it Arab invasion or British occupation; we have been living in poverty for long-long time.
Did that change us?
Perhaps!
Now the things are changing, so is our overall status and image.

I have been living in Taiwan for over seven years. Not many Indian come here stay for so long.
Let me give a little information of this country. It is a beautiful island, full of natural beauty and technology. Yes, it is a hub of latest technological applications.
It used to be a poor country, manufacturing locks and umbrellas. But when our great leaders throw IBM and Coca-cola out of India in late 70’s; Taiwan grabbed the opportunity and build a huge technological empire.
I remember a dialog from a Hollywood science fiction, where two space ships from Russia and US are cooperating deep in the sky. One Russian scientist tells during a small spat, “Why are you guys fighting? Your components are made in Taiwan and my components are also made is Taiwan, so what is the big deal?”

Coming back to the point, we Indian in Taiwan are very well off, as far as educational and employment factors are concern.
There are mainly three types of Indian living here; first, engineers working in big technology companies; second, Doctorate holders, doing their post-doctorate and some professors; and third, diamond and jewels businessmen. Total population is about three to four thousands.

It was very hard to convince people that not every Indian lives in a hut and eat rat, during the beginning years of my stay here. Call it ignorance of people, but I had some very weird queries in early days, like someone asking, “Do you have universities in India?”, or “Did you see computer before coming to Taiwan?” (Trust me, I am not exaggerating).
Thanks to Lakshmi Mittal and likes, things have come to a long way since; so did the image of Indians. More and more, we are rightly accepted as good brains and hard working people, and we do our best to keep up to that image.
This change is followed by another change; Indian men are more and more accepted by local girls for dating, which was and is heavily dominated by white folks. Lately I saw many Indian guys walking with local girls, and I feel nice about that. But that is where the good part ends.
Being from a relatively closed society, we are not very much trained to date. Hardly know how to behave and what to expect from a girl we are asking to go out with us. That sometime gets us into some not so nice situation.
Not trying to be “I am better than thou”, but I had more than fifty girls telling me, “If I never met you before, I would really have a bad impression of Indian”.
I wonder why so?
Because there wasn’t anything extraordinary from my side. And I am sure many other friends here might have similar experience.

Few things I might want to point out though:

No, telling that how poor are you back home and how hard was the life for you, etc., might earn some sympathy, but it brings bad name to country and society.
Girls wearing open cloths because it is accepted in their culture. That does not means they are sexual object only.
Hugging and holding hands in public is fine here. “What other people will think” is considered strange.
I think it is polite to pay, while going for a dinner or coffee in the beginning of your date. Asking to share or making some situation to let her pay, make us look cheap. People are smart enough to understand it.
Giving a miss call, and waiting for her to call back also make us look cheap.
Asking her not to wear this or that, considering too much about others, make us look too conservative.
……..
Well, the list can go on and on, but the bottom line is, “It might be a nice idea to be more diplomatic and considerate while dealing with people from other culture. After all we carry an India with us”.