Say Cheese
The story of when tourists become the focus
It starts with the word “selfie”. Then before one can mutter a yes, there is a swarm of locals around a tour group of student journalists from Australia, fighting for a chance to get a photo.
The caucasian group went to the Amer Fort in Jaipur ready to take photos of others, however the camera was on them.
Student Jasmine Hines,
posing with her new fans.
It was never just one picture. It was an inundation of family members all eagerly awaiting a photo.
First it was the kids, followed by the parents and then someone would run off and find the Grandparents so they could get their shots too.
The students joked, "Is this how it feels to be Beyonce?"
These four locals were taking many photos
with the group. I turned the camera on them.
For the three on the left it was a family affair.
They insisted they each have a solo
photograph with the students.
The boy on the far right took many
selfies with his selfie stick.
However, behind the surface there is perhaps a much larger picture occurring here. Why do groups of locals want to take a photo with a bunch of average Joe’s from Australia?
As their English was limited to “Can I have a photo?”, “Selfie?”and “thank you”, the local's quest for photos remained a mystery until local tour guide Mr Devender Singh, gave some insight into the selfie mission.
He believes that most of the time, this mentality occurs in many parts of India as some Indians have never had a chance to interact with Western culture.
“The British ruled here for a long time and most of the people living in India have never got in touch with the British at all,” Mr Singh said.
“People coming from villages and people coming from small towns have never seen this colour skin. It is a part of curiosity that they want to take a picture.”
“To them, everyone with pale skin looks like they have come from England, even if they are from Australia or Canada,” he said.
It was quite a confusing situation when strangers ask for a photo with the students they did not know. Especially when the students are not famous.
Student Jasmine Hines' pale skin and blue eyes were a favourite amongst the locals.
She said she was fine taking photos with the intrigued locals however she was confused.
"It made me a bit uncomfortable as I was very surprised when I was being swarmed by large groups wanting to take a photo," Jasmine said.
"What makes us so special?" she said.
Jaipur local Triya Basu, said the locals have good intentions at heart.
"It is special for us to see people from different cultures and religions," Triya said.
"Locals get over excited when they see people who do not look like us."
"Those photos will give people lots of the Facebook likes," she laughed.
