Ghazal Alagh Gets Geography Lesson After Comparing Mumbai-Nashik Aerial View With Maldives

Co-founder of Mamaearth, a cosmetics firm, Ghazal Alagh, joined the India vs. Maldives debate. She posted a video of herself seeing Maharashtra from above earlier this week while traveling by helicopter from Mumbai to Nashik. She made a comparison between the scenery and the Maldivian island country. The business owner wrote, “You would believe me if I told you I was in the Maldives right now, huh? However, I’m really traveling from Mumbai to Nashik via helicopter. India really is on par with the overseas nations we like to visit. We just must do more research on it.

Many people were quick to point out that it is unfair to compare the Maldives to a helicopter view of India, even if her tweet received hundreds of likes.

“No I’d not believe you were in Maldives when I can clearly see the red, volcanic soil of Maharashtra, home to all my known forefathers,” a user named X remarked in response to her post.

“Therefore, it’s important NOT to miss one’s geography lessons in school,” said someone else cynically. Had one paid more attention, they would have been able to distinguish the appearance of an island and would not have mistaken it with Nashik.

“I don’t see any obvious view—good or bad,” said a user of X. It’s just an aerial photograph. Where is the foreign country question? Not to mention the Maldives? I just understood that you are riding in a helicopter and not what you were saying.

Others noted that although India may not lack natural beauty, it does lack infrastructure and civic sense, which is not a problem in nations like the Maldives that rely heavily on tourism.

An X user made this point when they stated, “India is beautiful.” Wonderful. Even better at times than many foreign nations, but India still has a long way to go if you want the conveniences and pleasures of the outside world combined with sanitation and last-mile tourist infrastructure without breaking the budget. “Every landscape looks beautiful from the top,” another commenter said. As we approach, reality sets in. It shouldn’t be a problem as long as we are operating a helicopter.”

With a population of around 22,000, Indians are the second-largest expatriate community in the Maldives, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. Indians made up 11.2 percent of all visitors to the Maldives as of 2023.