This time it was Stumpy and Nutty, with their 11 month old baby, Holly. Many photos of Holly were taken on this ten day visit. This one is unusual, in that it was taken by Rod and not by some random Indian for his own personal collection. For Holly became a celebrity while in India. Everywhere we went, polite people would stop us and ask if they could take Holly's photo. Less polite ones just took the shots. And it didn't stop with photos - people in the street wanted to hold her. Some asked, others just lunged for her. We all got very good at anticipating these movements, and placing ourselves between Holly and her adoring public. We were just like a group of bouncers, except that no-one was muscle bound, and other than Rod, no-one was over 5 ft 6 and a half!
While we were out Holly got hungry, as babies do, so we found a quiet area under a tree. I would've called it a quiet grassy area, but grassy might be stretching the truth just a little. It wasn't exactly secluded, but this is India, so not much is. But we were away from the main India Gate strip, the two cricket matches and the busloads of school children, so it was as good a place as any. Or so we thought...
It transpires that in India, there's nothing quite as interesting as observing a white baby eat baby food. Some school children saw us, and came over to watch. Some of the cricketers saw the schoolchildren watching, and came over to see what was happening. Children from a different school joined in too. The first group of kids had kept back like we asked them to, but with each new wave of watchers the gaggle was getting closer and closer. A souvenir seller saw the crowd and decided this might be a good place to set up his pitch, and came over to join us. When Nutty noticed the change of tone in Rod's voice she glanced over her shoulder and decided while Holly might not think she'd finished her lunch, for safety's sake she had.
Feeding time at the zoo when we only had one school and half a cricket team. The boy in the black jumper really didn't want to move back...
3 comments:
That is quite scary really isn't it. Was it just the idea of a white baby that was so interesting?
I think so. We brought Thalia to India when she was the same age and we encountered similar reactions. Never had a crowd pushing in on me, but a man came up to me and just took Thalia out of my arms and handed her to his wife for a photo op. Which was a little freaky...
You could think of white babies as a bronze medal, ones with blue eyes as silver. Ones who also have blonde hair are gold! Holly was definitely gold. Thalia was only a silver, The kind would say she had dark hair, the less kind would describe her as bald...
I've just found your blog, and am intrigued. You're a terrific writer! This post really struck a chord with me. I lived with my parents in the Philippines from the ages of 10-13, and it sounds so familiar. An audience of 50 for a picnic lunch on a bench. People wanting to touch us (I was blonde back then, too). And worst of all, needing my family as bodyguards to fend-off the marriage proposals, since despite my age I was taller than most locals.
Now I want to explore further and see your quiting...
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