Selfiies
Everyone wants a photo?
It took a little while to get adjusted to India. In another newsletter I had reported feeling like people were suspicious of us, or had a watchful eye. In reality though, it was more of a curiousity. We are a family of 7 of white skin folks and with two of kids with blonde hair. Where we were staying, that isn’t a common site. We had many people take photos of us, or ask to take photos of us. To be honest, it really got old. I felt like I was some roadside attraction and they wanted selfies so they could show their friends. A lot of attention was focused on our youngest, Rebekah. Being the youngest at 9, a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, there was an extra attention with her. I can tell you how many times women, older women would just reach out and grab her cheek. I don’t think they meant any harm or wrong, but they had no qualms doing that. I finally just started saying no to people’s requests for photos. There was also an incident at a monument my sons and I were visiting. We had already been approached once for photos and we declined. Later in the day I was trying to take a photo of my sons in front of the monument and a different group of people kept moving and getting in our way. I was a little frustrated and moved to get the photo, then I see the guy taking a selfie trying to get us in the background. I didn’t respond the best and said if you want a photo ask. So I took a selfie with him. Later I was feeling convicted on how I responded. I saw him later and apologized for being rude. Below is a guy I ran into at the bank one day. He reminded me that he took a selfie with me a few weeks prior. As you can see from his facebook post, white folks in this town are quite the talk.


