All those who know me a little bit know how
much I hated (and notice I’m using the past tense) having my photo taken! Not
anymore! I had so many pictures taken with people all over India that now I
kind of miss it! (Just joking!)
People wanted to take snaps with me as if I was
some sort of freakish carnival attraction! It happened everywhere every day.
Thank you, mobile phones with cameras!
When this one was taken this family saw me,
screeched to a halt and asked me to pose with them. Why shouldn’t I? If that
made them happier…
But the funniest picture moment was with a yogi
and his mate. I was walking along a country road alone. I was actually quite
close to the boarding school when a van approached me and stopped the engine. One
man got out of it from each side. Both of them dressed as you can see in the
picture. I panicked! I just froze! I didn’t know what they wanted. I thought,
‘This is it! They’re going to rape me or kidnap me!’ (One listened to so
many stories about tourists being raped in India). I think they saw the horror
on my face and took out their mobile phones. They just wanted a picture of me
with them! So there we were, in the middle of the road, having a photo
shooting! In return for this they gave me a poster with the different yoga
positions.
Once I was even asked for my autograph! Yeah!
As if I were Madonna! So, Malika, if I ever become famous, that autograph will
be worth a fortune!
In the beginning I attracted constant stares
from people on the street (children and adults alike). I was greeted like a
celebrity by the village kids whenever I visited any of the four villages
around. And later, they became less shy and they shouted my name or ‘telaama’
(which means white woman in Telugu) and came running after me. Later on they
touched me since they liked my fair complexion. And they even beat me
(affectionately) or pinched me so that my skin became red! They found it
peculiar!
And although at first I lost a few kilos (since
I didn’t like hot food) I soon put on quite a lot of weight since I got invited
by strangers into their houses to have something to eat. And as it’s rude to
reject an invitation…
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