One thing was clear - the white boy could dance. Situated on the roof of a popular hotel with an incredible view of everything from the Fort to the Palace, Jodhpur's best vegetarian restaurant has live music and traditional Rajasthani dancing nightly. No one expected the tall, skinny twenty-something French guy to not only get up and join the dancers, but to out-dance them.
Wearing traditional Jodhpur pants - the poofy, loose pants favored by camel riders of yore and backpackers today - he started off just drinking his beer and clapping. Then he left the musicians money and ordered them Cokes - which was cool. When he got up and started sort of dancing in place like a white guy at a rave, it was cute. But then - he got funky Rajasthani-style to the great enjoyment of the crowd and the musicians...and the embarrassment of his girlfriend.
"He clearly got more out of India than learning he likes cardamom..." Emily said.
It was true - this was someone who either was really cutting loose on vacation or who had some spiritual revelation and was embracing life and joy. Either way - why not?
Our blissed-out French friend may have been the only white-boy - and possibly only Frenchman - with rhythm, but he was far from being the only white-boy or Frenchman for that matter.
Fifteen minutes earlier, a group arrived with two darker people in it - I'm guessing of North African background. It went through my head that they were the first non-Indian dark-skinned people I had seen in quite some time. It also turned out they were French. Once at Keraleeyam there was a mulatto British guy and his girlfriend were there for a night. These are the only shades of color in a sea of white tourists.
I looked around the restaurant and listened too. Not only was everyone else caucasian, but there was more French being spoken than at a cafe in Cannes.
If I didn't know that the British had colonized India and that the French had only possessed Pondicherry (now called Puducherry), I would have assumed that it had been a French colony. We've encountered more French than Napoleon had in his Grand Armee.
That's not to say that the rest of the EU and the Commonwealth haven't shown up - Dutch, Germans, Austrians, Swiss, Swedes, Italians, Spanish, Belgians, British, Aussies, Canadians, South Africans - India is a caucasian enclave. The only ones missing are the Greeks - because why would they want or go to the trouble to go anywhere?
I began to wonder - why just whities?
The easy and somewhat horrifying answer is that they can afford it. Plane tickets aren't cheap - and even if you're going budget backpacker-style, you need the money to exist and travel for an extended period. Europeans, Canadians, British, Aussies, Americans - they have the GDP and standard of living to be international tourists.
But it seems too simplistic. After all, Japanese, Singaporeans, and Hong Kongers can afford it too. So can many African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Latino-Americans. The same goes for these ethnicities in British, French, Australian, South African and Canadian nationalities. Does celebrating diversity end at the airport?
What is it that has caucasians and only caucasians flocking to India?
For many, there seems to be the search for spirituality and meaning in an ancient, religious and mostly welcoming culture or set of cultures (I have an increasingly difficult time referring to India as having a unified culture or outlook).
"Eat, Pray, Love" was written by a forty-something, white, recently-divorced, professional American woman looking to find herself. India is where she went for her spiritual search - aka "Pray". Maybe the secularization of educated, middle and upper-class America has led people searching for meaning and going to places different enough to really shake them up? Maybe the same is true in other developed nations?
Perhaps the Asian segment of our society has a greater tendency to connect with family or to connect with their backgrounds in Asia?
Although this doesn't really explain why we don't bump into African-Americans. There seems to me no reason why someone of any race or color couldn't come to India, feel safe, be treated respectfully and enjoy.
It also doesn't account for the lack of tourism from Southeast and East Asia. Where are the Japanese and Korean tourists? Where are the Malaysians who are looking for someplace within a few hours they can get to and afford? India has a large muslim population and ethnic Malays would not encounter any hassles or awkwardness for being muslim or dressing in traditional garb.
We have heard there's some Chinese and Japanese tourism centered around Buddhist shrines and history. Nepal, by contrast is flooded with Japanese tourists so much so that there is an area of Kathmandu which caters to them with Japanese restaurants and guesthouses.
Many Israelis come to India - especially after they finish their military service - in part because India is a safe place for them and gives them visas easily. They also seem very attracted to the party and beach scene in Goa.
As for the rest of the caucasians - I don't have anything more than this small handful of guesses and conjectures.
Is there something about India that acts as a whitie magnet? Or is it that India repels people of other races and backgrounds? Does India need the travel equivalent of an EEO officer or an ombudsman?
I'm not sure we'll find the answer in our guesthouse frequented by Europeans and Canadians. I doubt we'll find it in the remainder of our time in India. I have no idea who to ask. Even George at Keraleeyam wouldn't know the answer to this one.
For the time being, I'll accept these questions as the mystery and enigma left to me by India. Just when I thought cardamom was all the Indian wisdom I ever needed....
Wearing traditional Jodhpur pants - the poofy, loose pants favored by camel riders of yore and backpackers today - he started off just drinking his beer and clapping. Then he left the musicians money and ordered them Cokes - which was cool. When he got up and started sort of dancing in place like a white guy at a rave, it was cute. But then - he got funky Rajasthani-style to the great enjoyment of the crowd and the musicians...and the embarrassment of his girlfriend.
"He clearly got more out of India than learning he likes cardamom..." Emily said.
It was true - this was someone who either was really cutting loose on vacation or who had some spiritual revelation and was embracing life and joy. Either way - why not?
Our blissed-out French friend may have been the only white-boy - and possibly only Frenchman - with rhythm, but he was far from being the only white-boy or Frenchman for that matter.
Fifteen minutes earlier, a group arrived with two darker people in it - I'm guessing of North African background. It went through my head that they were the first non-Indian dark-skinned people I had seen in quite some time. It also turned out they were French. Once at Keraleeyam there was a mulatto British guy and his girlfriend were there for a night. These are the only shades of color in a sea of white tourists.
I looked around the restaurant and listened too. Not only was everyone else caucasian, but there was more French being spoken than at a cafe in Cannes.
If I didn't know that the British had colonized India and that the French had only possessed Pondicherry (now called Puducherry), I would have assumed that it had been a French colony. We've encountered more French than Napoleon had in his Grand Armee.
That's not to say that the rest of the EU and the Commonwealth haven't shown up - Dutch, Germans, Austrians, Swiss, Swedes, Italians, Spanish, Belgians, British, Aussies, Canadians, South Africans - India is a caucasian enclave. The only ones missing are the Greeks - because why would they want or go to the trouble to go anywhere?
I began to wonder - why just whities?
The easy and somewhat horrifying answer is that they can afford it. Plane tickets aren't cheap - and even if you're going budget backpacker-style, you need the money to exist and travel for an extended period. Europeans, Canadians, British, Aussies, Americans - they have the GDP and standard of living to be international tourists.
But it seems too simplistic. After all, Japanese, Singaporeans, and Hong Kongers can afford it too. So can many African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Latino-Americans. The same goes for these ethnicities in British, French, Australian, South African and Canadian nationalities. Does celebrating diversity end at the airport?
What is it that has caucasians and only caucasians flocking to India?
For many, there seems to be the search for spirituality and meaning in an ancient, religious and mostly welcoming culture or set of cultures (I have an increasingly difficult time referring to India as having a unified culture or outlook).
"Eat, Pray, Love" was written by a forty-something, white, recently-divorced, professional American woman looking to find herself. India is where she went for her spiritual search - aka "Pray". Maybe the secularization of educated, middle and upper-class America has led people searching for meaning and going to places different enough to really shake them up? Maybe the same is true in other developed nations?
Perhaps the Asian segment of our society has a greater tendency to connect with family or to connect with their backgrounds in Asia?
Although this doesn't really explain why we don't bump into African-Americans. There seems to me no reason why someone of any race or color couldn't come to India, feel safe, be treated respectfully and enjoy.
It also doesn't account for the lack of tourism from Southeast and East Asia. Where are the Japanese and Korean tourists? Where are the Malaysians who are looking for someplace within a few hours they can get to and afford? India has a large muslim population and ethnic Malays would not encounter any hassles or awkwardness for being muslim or dressing in traditional garb.
We have heard there's some Chinese and Japanese tourism centered around Buddhist shrines and history. Nepal, by contrast is flooded with Japanese tourists so much so that there is an area of Kathmandu which caters to them with Japanese restaurants and guesthouses.
Many Israelis come to India - especially after they finish their military service - in part because India is a safe place for them and gives them visas easily. They also seem very attracted to the party and beach scene in Goa.
As for the rest of the caucasians - I don't have anything more than this small handful of guesses and conjectures.
Is there something about India that acts as a whitie magnet? Or is it that India repels people of other races and backgrounds? Does India need the travel equivalent of an EEO officer or an ombudsman?
I'm not sure we'll find the answer in our guesthouse frequented by Europeans and Canadians. I doubt we'll find it in the remainder of our time in India. I have no idea who to ask. Even George at Keraleeyam wouldn't know the answer to this one.
For the time being, I'll accept these questions as the mystery and enigma left to me by India. Just when I thought cardamom was all the Indian wisdom I ever needed....
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