I'm fairly used to travelling to exotic lands and being the "other," but Ahmedabad is unique. It is not a tourist destination, and our hotel was predominantly a place for Indian businessmen. In the entire 10 days I was there, I saw one Chinese couple and one white family, both of whom were at our hotel. As such, we were stared at wherever we went (particularly as women) and whole groups of men on the street would simply stop and stare. Phillip, our program head, calls it "being a rock star." We never got harrassed, only the odd "hello where you from?!"
At first, it was somewhat unnerving, but I did get used to it once I realized that being stared is more about curiosity and less about threatening behaviour. After a few days I even began to enjoy the attention of being the novelty act for a while. Upon reflection, I realized that I appreciated the attention because I'm not someone who naturally stands out in a crowd. It felt nice to be unique.
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