When this engineer traveled to India for work, his sister-in-law—who’s from there—excitedly asked him to take lots of photos of her home country.

But when he returned, she was furious when she saw his pictures.

Now he’s wondering if he actually was disrespectful.

Read on for the story.

AITA for not taking more pictures for my sister in law on a trip abroad?

I (34M) spent a couple of months in India earlier this year for a consulting project with my engineering firm.

Before I left, my sister-in-law (29F), who is from India, asked me to take plenty of pictures during my trip.

She said she wanted to see the places I visited and was excited for me to experience her home country and see how things might have changed since I was in the state she grew up in but hasn’t been back in years.

But she did not specify what pictures she wanted.

He wasn’t all that interested in the touristy spots.

Since the project lasted a while, I had free time outside of work on weekends and holidays. I used that time to explore.

I did visit some of the popular landmarks with my coworkers, but to be honest, I didn’t find them that impressive compared to places like Rome or Paris, so I only took a few pictures.

What I found more interesting was seeing how people actually live in different parts of the country. As an engineer, I like observing housing, infrastructure, and sanitation, even in poorer areas.

I have done the same thing when I visited Egypt and Somalia. It helps me also appreciate what I have.

Makes sense.

So most of my pictures ended up being of slums, rivers full of trash, people washing clothes or bathing in polluted water, and just the daily life of people in less fortunate areas.

For India it was particularly intetesting to me since my country has a lot of immigration from there recently and I was looking to understand their culture and roots more deeply.

When I got back, my sister-in-law was eager to see the photos.

Oh boy.

I handed her my phone, and after scrolling for a bit she got upset. She asked why I only took pictures of “filth” and said I made her country look terrible.

I told her that was not my intention and that I just find those things fascinating.

She got really angry and said I must be insane or obsessed with poverty.

My wife thinks she overreacted but also understands why she was upset. I genuinely did not mean any disrespect, and I do the same kind of photography everywhere I go.

AITA?

Reddit mostly ruled that the man was the AH. While his curiosity wasn’t wrong, people said he showed a total lack of empathy and cultural awareness.

Instead of capturing India’s beauty or balance, he chose only the worst imagery—and then acted confused when someone took offense.

This person has questions.

This person is pretty mad.

And this person understands he may have had good intentions…but he is still a jerk.

Curiosity isn’t the problem—turning someone’s homeland into a highlight reel of misery is.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.