Thursday, May 31, 2007

The Foreigners

My stereotype of the foreigners in India has held true for the most part. They consists mostly of hippies and creey old white men. I've found more of a diversity here in Mysore. I've seen a couple of instances here where 2 or 3 young women are traveling together. The Australian guy is also 25. But there have been hippies and especially creepy old white men in Mysore too. One of the latter sat near our table the last two nights at dinner. He was a British guy who seemed like he was on some pretty hard drugs. I guess he's still trying to get over the end of the Raj.

There aren't any short foreigners for whatever reason, especially traveling alone. Come on short people, get out there and see the world. The Australian guy is pretty normal, but other than him, there aren't any normal guys. Guys that just like to watch sports tv and eat pizza. Come on normal guys, get out there and see the world. There are a few solo travelers, but not too many, and like I said, I'm the only short solo traveler I've seen. Indians are very surprized that I'm by myself. Their eyes inevitably grow large in shock when I tell them, "Nope, just me."

I couldn't seem to find the Australian guy to go to dinner tonight. Hope he didn't leave for Chennai yet. It's been nice having someone to talk to at dinner for the last 4 nights. So I had two meals alone today. For lunch I brought in a Sprite to a chain called Pizza Corner. After I ordered, the waiter said that outside drinks weren't allowed so I got up to leave. He sat me back down and explained that I could keep it, he just wanted me to pour it in a glass so it wasn't visible. That was really nice of him and I felt like an ass. Oh well, I apologized.

One last thing, I was watching cricket a few days back. It was a match between the West Indies and England in England. There was a group of 3 white guys covered in blackface, wearing wigs with dreads, and that stereotypical Jamaican hat. They showed them on tv and no one said anything. Clearly they were rooting for West Indies, but that's not right. What the fuck! That's racist as shit.

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