The more I think about it, I should not have been so shocked about it in the first place. For the signs were all there, it had just not registered somehow or subconsciously I had hoped India was above all this. But, no. India adores white people. I cannot find a font size to get the word adores highlighted adequately. So, I will just let it go.
White people are actually mini celebrities especially in places like Kerala. The way Indians gush while speaking to the white people is sickening to the stomach. I was always aware that fair skin is what is considered beautiful. I remember having conversations with my male friends in my teens that they wanted to marry a girl so fair and had a complexion like cheese. I always wished them they would find their cheesy girl. I somehow thought in 2009, such things would have gone away. I was taken aback to what extent it is practiced by common Indians everywhere.
While I was in Kerala, there was this international film festival going on. I wanted to watch Nandita Das’s Firaaq. So, I go in on the very first day of the festival and ask for a pass. I was told that the last date for registration is over and there is no way I can participate in the festival. I was thoroughly disappointed.
Then I meet some new classmates in my Kalari class, just landed the previous weekend from France. They tell me they checked out the movies at the film festival. I asked them how they managed to get the pass. They said it was easy. They were even interviewed on a local TV channel asking for their opinion about the movie. They said they loved being in India and how friendly the people were at the festival. These new friends of mine even managed to get a VIP pass for the closing ceremony. Boy, was I pissed with Kerala.
It took me a while to understand it was not just Kerala that loves the white people. It continues into Chennai, Madras. I go to this hotel called “Paradise” with a couple of my white girlfriends. It is a cheap hotel and I wanted to stay there until I found a better place to stay. I was told I could not stay there as I was an Indian. I thought I didn’t hear the manager right, I told him to repeat what he said. Indians are not allowed to stay here is what I hear. I had never heard anything like that before, ever. I do not know why the images of Rosa Parks and Gandhi are flashing in my mind. It was so weird that I could not feel my feet and said this is simply wrong. I asked the manager why Indians cannot stay there and he says it is just their policy. I stomped out of the place after yelling at him and my white friend who was already staying there checked out of the place saying it was wrong that Indians are not allowed in Paradise. It was quite a scene.
Then back to my hometown Bangalore. I had gone to an awful place just outside of Bangalore which I did not want to go. I remember having made fun of the place about a year ago. Then somehow I ended up there with my white girlfriend. It was quite pseudo called “Our native village”. A super expensive place where you can play simple games like gilli danda and learn to milk the cow and churn butter. They had advertised the bullock cart ride and I remember seeing it on bbc news website. We went on this bullock cart ride for six hundred rupees, for 10 minutes! I thought it was included as part of the package. But, no. I could have bought the bull and the cart for six hundred rupees.
Anyway, I wake up in the morning and go to the dining place. I see there is someone in the kitchen. I waited for him to ask me if I wanted anything. He did not bother. Then I go inside the kitchen and ask for chai. After a few minutes he leaves the chai at the counter which I was not aware of. I ended up having a luke warm chai. Then my white girlfriend shows up at the table. The guy comes running out and offers her all different types of beverages- decaf, full caf and what not at “Our native Village”. He even makes small talk gushing awkwardly. It simply makes me sick, how Indian men can act so dumb.
Just being white makes one a star in India, yikes.
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Indeed it is sick. I think that the problem is that Indians don’t know the best parts of their own culture, and are therefore not proud of their culture anymore.
I am reading Suketu Mehta’s Maximum city. He mentions in his book that traveling in India is such a pain. He says that he was not allowed to stay in a backpackers inn in Varanasi, as the people that run the place think that he might rape the white women. He also says that a lot of apartments in Bombay/Mumbai is reserved for foreigners only. He has an American passport, his wife a British passport, but they are not good enough as they are both of Indian origin. Pathetic.
My wife never had a problem when we went to India in 2007, but then again she was traveling with me, a white man of very good looks. I did notice I was able to breeze by customs while Indian families were stuck getting harrassed by police. Seriously, don’t forget the Indian rate vs Western rate. Indian establishments over charge Westerners or bilk them out of bookings through third party travel sits so they are charged more. (Happened to us by the Taj). Also, being white means touts and scammers target you a lot more, which is why we relied on her family to get us stuff. I’m not sure where you went, but with my wife’s wide reaching family, they’ve never have a problem traveling in India. But we had her mother to rely on to take care of our bookings. So maybe having an Aunty pre-book for you would be most helpful – nobody messes with an Aunty. But I do feel sorry for your experiences.
I agree with you. When I travel with my white girlfriends, they get hounded every where we used to go. My friends would get proposals just walking around in markets, hand delivered by small boys who used to be messengers for the men sitting in shops and grinning like the idiots they are. That gets annoying after a while. Being Indian saves me from all that when I travel.
Most of these clashes happen in places that are more yoga related or places that are used to catering to the whites, I think. For instance, like Kovalam in Kerala. I am one of the very few Indians among a huge population of western folks.
why you say white man of very good looks? Is obvioous, no? If you white, you be good looking, no need say separately. Is like saying i am black man with big dick. Dalai LLama once say good looks not equal intelligence – is very true.