And similarly, many, many Iranians, Baluchis, Sindhis, and even Armenians, to say nothing of Greeks, look like Malayalees too. I mean in terms of features, and in terms of skin color. The Arabian Sea littoral is quite mixed up that way.

On that subject, I wanted to ask in the other, now closed, thread – I know several South Asian young women in America (both 1G and 2G) who use a certain kind of make-up that they apply all over their body. I don’t think it is F&L – it doesn’t make your skin ‘fair’, it’s just make-up, except they apply it all over their body, and every so often they have to shower, or it wears off eventually, and suddenly you can see them in their true colors, er ahem. Does anyone know what I’m talking about?

And having visited India many times with my (white) girlfriend and (white) wife, the level of comments about hair, skin, marital and childless status beggars imagination. Were either of them surprised and a little uncomfortable at times?…yes. Were they offended and “other-ed”? Sickened? Hardly.

Look, there are intrusive and inappropriate people everywhere. Depending on the circumstances and exact behavior, it’s easy to slough it off most of the time (drunks in bars excepted.)

Reminds me of the term ‘colourblind’ – usually people who say they’re colourblind are white, because people of colour don’t exactly have the same privilege of growing up and never, ever dealing with situations or discussions like these where their skin colour wasn’t a factor. We don’t really get to be colourblind.

Hell, when I visited Georgia years ago I was told that I didn’t ‘look Canadian’. Funny thing was, most of the people with me on the trip were minorities.

I know this is completely unrelated to your post but I had to say it: Is that a picture of you? If it is, then you look so cute!

Interesting story. While I have had my own stories of people trying to place my background (mostly in a harm-less manner), I would not have thought about your experiences. While it is not the same, I know of a number of people from the South, who can turn their accent on or off, depending on their social circle. They would sometimes be viewed with curiosity when attending college in Chicago, New York, or Philadelphia. Growing up in a mostly Italian neighborhood, some of the worst teasing I saw was directed at kids who were dark-complexioned, while the kids of Italian-Irish marriages would often seem to be complimented on their fair skin. Not as explicitly as in an Indian family, but more along the lines of “Don’t stay out in the sun too long. You don’t want to burn that lovely skin.”.