"Hello Miss Beauty Queen! Welcome to India!"

Being a celebrity has never been a life that I have been very interested in. Oh sure, I danced and sang around my room while I was growing up (and I plead the 5th about whether I still do it now that I'm an "adult"...) pretending to be a famous singer or actress or what-have-you, but the actual life of someone famous has never appealed to me. Let's just say that the past 2 days in India have introduced us a little to what it must be like to be recognized everywhere you go. We, of course, are not being recognized for who we actually are, but for who we are as foreigners - light-skinned, light-haired foreign girls (although the two guys on the trip have gotten lots of stares, too). Today especially as we toured the Red Fort (with our absolutey hilariously ridiculous tour guide Mr. Kohli who deserves a post to himself), weaved our way through a busy crowded market, and visited the Jama Masjid (one of the largest Mosques in Asia) we realized how much we stand out because of the literal crowds that we attracted. And many of them took pictures of us! Some of us started taking pictures of them if they pulled out their phones to take pictures of us, haha. At the Jama Masjid, a man approached Grey and me and said his mother would like a picture with us, so we took one with this sweet petite old woman in her lovely pink sari. A few other people throughout the day asked for pictures with some of us as well. It was quite an odd feeling to have people be so intrigued with us!

As has been made clear to us by the crowds and by people's reactions as we walk places, Indians have no problem staring openly. In America, if we get caught staring at someone, most people would immediately look away or feel awkward. Indians feel no such shame. And unfortunately, not all of the attention is just out of fascination or curiousity. Most Indians know enough English to be able to compliment you in hopes of you stopping at their stand (hence the title of this post - as flattered as I could have been, I was pretty sure from the sweat dripping all over me, flushed face, and dehydrated panting that I was not looking my best so he either had ulterior motives or has no eye for beauty!). Some young men walked along with us in the market for a ways with persistent murmurs of "Come over here, please. Come with me, come over to me, please" - thank you very much, but NO. And I learned a lesson about Indian culture when we were waiting for our cars and a man got out of his car and asked for a picture (his friend in the car had a camera phone). He put his arm around my shoulders for the picture and I was not uncomfortable because we do that in the US and I was with my group, but I learned -after Hemanshu came over, took his arm off me, and told him off in Hindi- that it is completely inappropriate for a man to touch a woman who is not a family member in India! In response to this situation and a question about homosexuality in India, Hemanshu explained that Indians are very physically affectionate, but ONLY with their own sex. It is not uncommon to see men walking down the street with their arms linked or holding hands, but it is inappropriate for men and women to be physically affectionate (or really even touch at all) in public. Well, I've now learned my lesson!

One of the interactions I had today that simply amused me was with a young man at the mosque. He approached me as I was looking around with a pleasant smile and asked me what country I was from. We stumbled through some communication problems when I was trying the United States, but once I tried America we understood each other. He asked where in relation to New York I was from because he has a brother who lives there, he asked my occupation and, once he learned I was a student, he asked what my subject of interest was and I learned that he is a professional of some kind. I asked if he lived in Delhi and he said that yes, he has always lived here. He then asked if I was married or unmarried. Upon hearing unmarried, he said "Ah, I am unmarried, too." I think I said something along the lines of "oh, that's nice...well I'm going to keep looking around, it was nice to talk to you" and he said something about oh ok understanding I wanted to see more. It had been a very friendly smiley conversation to that point, but I decided that I wasn't interested to find out where that question might lead, haha. A few miscommunications and confused nervous inaction on my part and I could have found myself agreeing to move to Delhi to marry! As pleasant as he seemed, I'm happy with my decision to continue meandering through the Jama Masjid :)