My Experience as a Foreigner in India

I went to India for the first time six years ago, which was to attend a learning program in Bangalore. After that, I have taken quite a few trips to the country, each of which has contributed to enhance my perception about India. During my last visit in Bangalore, I was volunteering as a teacher in a distant village. Wherever I went, kids and even adults would call me akka. They would point and stare at me, and some kids even followed me wherever I went. However, all these staring never made me uncomfortable because I had understood it quite early that these villages had never seen a foreigner in reality!

Well, this was not easy to grasp, but I had become habitual of these stares.

I would go to school, and every children in the school would beam up and shout, akka, in the loudest voice possible. The mother of one student once remarked that I looked like someone from the TV, maybe even more gorgeous than that. I had picked up a few Kannad words by then, and I felt immense gratitude towards that woman. People in India, I had heard, are sincere at heart. I would constantly witness there kind behavior every now and then.

The adults would often come to me and ask about my home, my husband, my studies, my salary, and my friends back home. Every person I met wanted to know about my life. After a few months in the village, one fellow-teacher pulled me aside and asked me,

“Why don’t you behave like other foreigners?”

That left me perplexed and I asked for further clarification. She said, “akka, I am surprised that you are American, and yet, you don’t smoke, drink, or consume drugs. You don’t go for late night hangouts, don’t have a boyfriend, and you don’t eat non-vegetarian food. You respect all of us, share our food, pay with children and teach them. You have already learned a bit of Kannad and you seem to be a decent person. You are like family to us now.”

I explained it to her that the smoking, drinking, and eating meat are considered right and wrong in different parts of the world. I don’t do any of it because it is my choice and that I prefer to live a simple life. I realized that she had made a perception about foreigners just as I had made the same about Indians. I helped to clear the stereotype image in her mind, and she was happy to hear my views.

When I had to leave from the village, had booked a Car Rental in Bangalore without driver. The entire village gave me a warm farewell, and a couple of villagers helped me reach the place to pick up the car. It was a profound moment for me as I said goodbye to those dear people. Although I may never visit them again, I will have their memories in my heart forever.