Indians and Westerners
Indians certainly have their fair share of
contact with westerners, so why is it that wherever we go people want to touch
our children and take their picture?
It began on our first real outing (described in
the entry "Our first outing"), and has continued ever since. Indians see us, or
more specifically Claire and Luc, and stare. If they have a camera with them,
they take pictures. If they're polite, they might ask first. At the zoo the
other day, a man who was holding his own son, put him down next to Luc to try to
take their picture together. At Sagar last night, the people at the only other
occupied table in the restaurant happened to have a camera and came over to take
pictures of the white kids eating their dinner. It also happened a couple days
ago at McDonald's.
On a side note, I had the McAloo Tikki Burger and it was quite delicious. We kept wanting to compare the experience to McDonald's in the U.S., but our kids have never eaten at a McDonald's anywhere in the world, and neither Marion nor I have eaten at one in the last 10-15 years. So we had no basis of comparison. Funny, perhaps in a sad sort of way, that later that night Claire asked "What was that cafe where we ate and got a balloon?" At first I did not know what she was talking about, then realized she was calling McDonald's a "cafe."
But back to Indians and their fascination with white kids (or maybe it's their blond hair and blue eyes). Our friends Dev and Chandra said we should start asking people who want to take our kids' picture that in exchange we want to be invited to their next family function.
My sense is that the answer to my question has to do with the relative lack of contact with actual westerners (though they may see many of us on our TV shows and in our movies). Furthermore, they probably see very few children. The answer is not really important. It seems to both Marion a little more than me. My view is that Indians probably get stared at in the U.S., especially if they have a bindi (the little dot women wear on their foreheads), are wearing a turban, or in other ways appear different.
On a side note, I had the McAloo Tikki Burger and it was quite delicious. We kept wanting to compare the experience to McDonald's in the U.S., but our kids have never eaten at a McDonald's anywhere in the world, and neither Marion nor I have eaten at one in the last 10-15 years. So we had no basis of comparison. Funny, perhaps in a sad sort of way, that later that night Claire asked "What was that cafe where we ate and got a balloon?" At first I did not know what she was talking about, then realized she was calling McDonald's a "cafe."
But back to Indians and their fascination with white kids (or maybe it's their blond hair and blue eyes). Our friends Dev and Chandra said we should start asking people who want to take our kids' picture that in exchange we want to be invited to their next family function.
My sense is that the answer to my question has to do with the relative lack of contact with actual westerners (though they may see many of us on our TV shows and in our movies). Furthermore, they probably see very few children. The answer is not really important. It seems to both Marion a little more than me. My view is that Indians probably get stared at in the U.S., especially if they have a bindi (the little dot women wear on their foreheads), are wearing a turban, or in other ways appear different.
Posted: Wed - December 7, 2005 at 07:49 AM
Quick Links
Zavelogue Overview
The Zavelogue chronicles the travels and travails of Stephen, Marion, Claire and Luc during our six months in India on a Fulbright.
Categories
Archives
Calendar
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
XML/RSS Feed
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jul 15, 2006 12:54 AM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jul 15, 2006 12:54 AM