If you are a tourist in India and if you happen to be White (you could very well be a very fair-skinned Indian), then you would surely have been stopped anywhere and would have been asked for a Selfie. This would have generally been a polite request asked with such humbleness and doe-eyed facial expression that you would’ve agreed after telling yourself, what the heck, it is just a harmless picture!
To be honest, it is indeed a harmless picture. Your photo might only be used on barbershops and beauty parlors, and most probably on nothing illegal. In fact, thank you for letting us do it. It made you smile and amazed by us, so we are happy with that itself.
I am not going to rant too much about the practice and the Indian Obsession of still going gaga over such things. But, this is 2019 and this is getting more and more common as more and more Indians get mobile phones and travel opportunities.
But then, how does it matter! Except for everyone owning a mobile phone, not much has changed when it comes to getting validation by a foreigner. It might also be giving some bragging rights and if one thinks deeply, everything will be obvious.
We as a society are yet to come out of the mindset which makes us feel inferior. And when someone does come out of this mindset, they leave no time in making their peers feel inferior.
I recently read on Twitter that the Indian Brigade on Twitter is more hateful than followers of ISIS and all. That also reinforces the fact that once we are given freedom from the pressure of society, we break all shackles and just vent out everything we have and grab everything we get a chance to grab on to.
Maybe someday we would feel better.
You may read this too if you have 10 hours of free time: http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/society/the-ugly-indian-tourist