The present study investigated the connotation of the label "handicap" in a conservative Asian Indian community. Specifically, the research examined how using or not using such a label affected Indian students' evaluations of another's apparently successful or unsuccessful task performance. The results of the study supported a patronization pattern of effects in which students tended to both blame the handicapped individual less when he failed but also praise him slightly less when he succeeded than the non-handicapped individual. The implications of these results were discussed.