Westerners travelling or living in
India tend to avoid the glances of other foreigners. We’ve labelled this “Get out of My Fantasy
Syndrome”, or GMFS for short. Someone
who believes that they are on a grand adventure to the far flung corners of the
globe doesn’t like to see, purely for example’s sake, a white family holding
hands (with a baby in a sling) sauntering down their Silk Route. So we’ve made it a point to lock eyes with
all tourists and flash them a big
smile. Their physical response reveals a
lot about their character... in particular if they’re suffering from GMFS or
not. Last month, a grey headed Caucasian
man was sitting on the edge of Bidhan Bazaar next to a tin trunk and several jholas full of supplies, I figured he
must be a “local” foreigner. He lifted his head and met me with a blank
stare. I smiled and slowly a smile crept
across his face. Rounding off the
encounter with a head nod, I was getting on my way when suddenly he said, “Where... you... from?”
“Would you like to know what country
I’m from or where I live?”
“Yes... Where you from.”
` “Well then, I’m from America but live
a couple hours outside Kalimpong.”
“America. I American too!”
It was a surprising to hear
considering his broken and awkward sounding English.
“Kalimpong. You live in Kalimpong. Here look.”
He dug around in his bag and pulled
out a stack of photos. The next thing I
knew there was a picture in my hands of a young Nepali girl with her breasts
exposed and a large tumour on her side.
He said with an honest smile on his face, “This girl is from
Kalimpong. That’s where you live.”
