bomad.com™: I Used to Want to be Famous

December 07, 2004

I Used to Want to be Famous

Not anymore.

Being a Western tourist in India, we have concluded, is a lot like being a celebrity. Here's why:

1) Crowds of children incessantly scream 'Hello!!', want to shake our hands, ask our names, and follow us wherever we go. (For a laugh, Dale has started introducing himself as Julia Roberts and I say Tom Cruise, but the names go unrecognized in this land where Bollywood dominates, not Hollywood.)

2) At tourist destinations, it seems the locals are as interested in taking pictures and videos of us as of the monuments. Yesterday we must have posed for a dozen photos with strangers who weren't even interested in having the looming Taj Mahal in the picture alongside us. For them, we were the 'tourist attraction.'

3) We are constantly stared at -- we're talking uncomfortably long direct staring, sometimes through an entire meal -- to the point where we now call ourselves 'Fox TV.'

4) The 'paparazzi' (touts) chase us down all the time. The only escape is to enter a 'protected area' such as a hotel or tourist restaurant. I have newfound empathy for Princess Di.

5) We're about a gazillion times richer than most of the people around us. We live high on the hog for $20/day (compared to $0.65 a day for a local Indian). But we are consistently nagged by a sense of guilt about it -- as, I imagine, are most stars who earn $1 million plus per film or TV show.

6) Train, plane or bench at the chai wala stand all full? No problem! There's always a seat available for a VIP. (Airlines and trains even maintain a 'tourist quota' and silently boot locals off to gain access to the hard currency spent by foreigners. I bet that engenders goodwill...)

While fame has its advantages, on the whole I prefer anonymity. There's something to be said for just being able to walk the streets, relax on a sunny lawn, or eat a meal in peace. I'm giving up any lingering dreams I had of celebrity. Although hey, I'd still take a bestselling book some day!

Posted by Dale Fox on December 07, 2004 at 06:58 AM | Permalink