Sunday, October 24, 2010

The Tourist Space -- October 21

We started class today with an interesting discussion on space and what it means in the tourist realm. As tourists our space is a tourist bubble where we are removed from the unpleasantness of life. We don't make our own beds, deal with corrupt police, argue with the phone company, or struggle with the day to day frustrations that most Indians face. Even sitting in a restaurant provides a certain level of distance from reality, as does renting a lounger on the beach, as hawkers and beggars are shooed away.

We opted to explore our space at Baga beach. It's a large and busy beach with plenty of people ready to offer massages, manicures, jewellery and sunbeds for rent. In spite of all that, we had a great time listening to the waves and walking on the beach, which we claimed as "our space."

My reflection

Being in Goa, as beautiful as it is, it's hard to avoid the constant harrassment of hawkers. Seemingly every 10 seconds I was approached by someone offering something. Sometimes they arrived in large groups, sat down in front of us, and would not leave. I often felt like I had ceased to exist as a human being but rather was transformed into a commodity to be exploited. Attempting to be respectful to the sellers (who clearly had learned from tourists before me that I was in fact there to buy all sorts of goods and services) quickly faded as my patience grew shorter as time passed. What I realized was that in the bigger picture, the behaviour of the sellers was not the problem; it was the thousands of tourists who came before me that had contributed to this conflict. As tourists we want comforts and access to goods and services, but we also want it on our terms. What we find annoying, they view as an opportunity to earn enough to feed their family for one more day. And with limited opportunities for economic prosperity for so many Indians, who can blame them?

1 comment:

  1. The notion of "space" is an interesting one. In the place you are in, the convenient isolation between where we perceive to be and the context of the sometimes grotty context of the place as it is is starkly obvious. The windows are rolled up as crippled beggars tap on the glass. In our environment, how often do we do something similar but unconsciously? Not necessarily panhandlers or other obvious intrusions. What are the unobvious 'uncomfortables' that we conceal ourselves from?

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