Staring, being talked about, someone talking to you so they can practice their English, all standard stuff around here and, on the most part, it doesn’t bother me… until it does!
The Sunday before Independence Day Evelyn and I went to Tower Chowk to pick up our saree blouses from the tailor. The monsoon fair was coming to a close that weekend so the market was very crowded, but along the way I managed to pick a stranger up and the usual introductions were made. Where I was from, where he was from, what we are doing here etc. We then stopped in front of the tailors to say goodbye (or so we thought) and he offered to come in with us, which was fine. He then viewed Evelyn in her blouse and I told him to hop off (which he ignored). We gave the blouses back to the tailor to make them just a touch bigger so we could actually breath and decided to go down to Big Bizarre as the sales were on and our little friend followed us! I tried quite forcefully and politely to shake him off declaring we could find our way to and around the super market. Luckily it started to rain then, so we ermm, ran… oh yes we ran away from an 18 year boy!
We made it to Big Bizarre and the crazy sales – imagine a small supermarket stacked up to the hilt with goods, with far too many people around and staff with mega phones shouting at you from the moment you step in, to the moment you step out of the market… relaxing it is not! So I stood outside waiting for Evelyn and I caught a group of men sitting just around the corner from me. One caught sight of me and they assessed me for a while and obviously decided I wasn’t a) albino or b) had vitiligo so they then decided I was fair game to stand around 6 to 10 feet in front of me and stand either opened mouthed or talk about me. I have to say this is a little unnerving. So then I ran out… again!
Blissful in our ignorance Evelyn and I strolled back to the market only to be found by the 18 year old again! I am not joking it is a busy place and although I stick out like a sore thumb I am still not 100% sure how he found us again.
Then came the gifts. Now to get something straight before I start I am allergic to a lot of washing powder and soaps out here, now I have that straight I will proceed. The nice 18 year old had gotten Evelyn and I gifts, of hand wash and tissues Fair enough they were in a presentation pack but really, hand wash?! Anyway the nice boy was thrusting said gifts upon us and I must admit alarm bells rang so I declined his kind gifts as I am, after all, allergic. He also tried the same tact with Evelyn. So we were chased, and I mean chased up the market back to the tailors. At one point I asked Evelyn if this guy was Robocop, well a small gift giving Robocop but still, you get the picture. He also tried to give me a torch and Evelyn some keys (not sure what to, could have been his heart). One gentleman even pulled him to one side as we did look a bit stressed and told him to leave us alone. He followed us back to the tailors and after refusing all the gifts he tried to give me his shopping bag… with the excuse that my shopping bag didn’t reflect my personality! I didn’t realise I had to carry shopping bags to reflect me and anyway my bag is boring and white, a perfect reflection I think.
At the risk of sounding like an ungrateful mare I didn’t want to accept the gifts, just in case. You need to be able to judge a situation which I could have gotten very wrong, perhaps if I had of accepted the gift he would have left us alone, or, I could have unwittingly become his betrothed! Who knows, but I have had many pleasant conversations with people walking along the street and what I can say is that I am glad I was with Evelyn, in a crowded market and that my heart cannot be so easily won with hand wash and torches!
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