The Real India Part 2: What Are You Lookin' At?

I can understand that the white man is somewhat of a novelty in certain parts of rural India and the occasional look of surprise is to be expected, but the Inidan people just love to stare. More so in the North than the South you will quite often get groups of (usually male) people coming right up just to stand and stare unblinking at you. In a normal situation it's not to bad as you can usually make a quick getaway, but when you are sitting at a bus or train station semi-circled by a group of people no more than 4 feet away staring open mouthed at you, it can be a little discomforting. Even more amusing is when a person on a bus sitting in front of you turns around to stare and won't look away.

I think that the whole of India has never been taught that it's rude to stare and in fairness they only do it out of curiosity and not malice. Usually you can get away with saying 'Hi!' and waving at them (especially when it's just one person) and they will look away, sometimes with big groups they just wave back and keep staring. The words 'monkey in a zoo' come to mind.