Defining Diversity
I suppose I never gave much thought to defining diversity in my everyday life. It wasn’t until I started attending Allegheny that the term popped up more often and I began to ponder it a bit. However, these passing thoughts did not manage to prepare me for being in the minority. I grew up in and have been attending college in small, predominantly white towns where my skin color is by no means extraordinary. Needless to say, this is not the case in India. I have no way of shielding the fact that I’m a white female foreigner (unless I wrapped myself up entirely, but it’s rather warm here and even then my light eyes would be visible) and have received quite a bit of attention because of it, some good, some bad. Once tourist season began, I started noticing white faces peppered among a sea of dark skin and immediately felt a superficial kinship with them (though, through an odd phenomenon, I’ve noticed that foreigners tend to glare at each other, almost with disdain…).
When I was preparing myself mentally for this journey, I often thought of how I would perceive others but never considered how I would be perceived. Thus, I’ve had a glimpse of what it’s like to be judged based entirely on how I look—I must be rich (Rs. 100 for a 10 minute rickshaw ride?!), I must be dumb (I may only speak “tora tora” Hindi, but I know when I’m getting ripped off), and I must be easy (after numerous rump pinchings). Clearly, these are only negative examples. There are some benefits to being a foreigner—press coverage at big events and express lines to various temples. While I’m not quite sure I can “define diversity,” I’ve at least been given the opportunity to see another side of it, of which I’ve been unaware for most of my life.