Although I'm half Indian I don't really look it. When I'm dressed up in traditional South Asian clothes I tend to look more like an Afghan Muslim than anything else (especially with the 10 day beard I have going). Up north in Delhi folks are fairer and my features and skin blend in well with the crowd. In Mumbai foreigners and people from mixed backgrounds are more common so I rarely get double takes on the street. But in Hyderabad, even if I were to don a silk shirt, polyester slacks and leather sandals (standard attire) my light skin would give me away. And when I walk down the street wearing Nike Frees, white Jordan basketball shorts and a KU shirt with a big Jayhawk on the back everyone looks at me like I'm from another planet. Actually, not quite that much staring but I do have a good comparison for you.
I want you to picture one of those guys that does street performing in your city. I know you know this particular guy because I've seen variations on him all up and down the west coast. In Seattle he's at Pike's Place, in Portland at Saturday Market, San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf and Venice Beach or Santa Monica Pier LA. He's the fully clothed guy who looks like he's been spray-painted silver or gold from head to toe. He's usually on a box posing as a statue until someone gives him money to burst into action/dance. Now I want you to imagine taking the dog for a walk around your neighborhood early one morning. You turn the first corner and see this guy--in full costume--walk right past you. Now, this would be someone you had seen before under rare and select circumstances but most likely never in your neighborhood. This is exactly how people look at me when I go to the store, the movies, walk through the park, anything in the neighborhood. I'm not something they've never seen before but I'm someone they've never seen in this particular context.
I want you to picture one of those guys that does street performing in your city. I know you know this particular guy because I've seen variations on him all up and down the west coast. In Seattle he's at Pike's Place, in Portland at Saturday Market, San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf and Venice Beach or Santa Monica Pier LA. He's the fully clothed guy who looks like he's been spray-painted silver or gold from head to toe. He's usually on a box posing as a statue until someone gives him money to burst into action/dance. Now I want you to imagine taking the dog for a walk around your neighborhood early one morning. You turn the first corner and see this guy--in full costume--walk right past you. Now, this would be someone you had seen before under rare and select circumstances but most likely never in your neighborhood. This is exactly how people look at me when I go to the store, the movies, walk through the park, anything in the neighborhood. I'm not something they've never seen before but I'm someone they've never seen in this particular context.
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