the elephant man meets britney

Eluru can quite accurately be described as 'the boonies'. it almost never sees any foreigners at all. some of the things there are incredibly strange, like the way it is normal for people to wear plastic bags on their heads when it rains; or how men can wear the equivalent of mini-skirts, (or nothing at all!) and women can't show their ankles; or how it is perfectly acceptable to gawk.
walking down the street, standing at the bus station, riding the bus, people would stop and just stare at us. in Toronto, even if someone stares, when you catch them staring they know it is rude and they are embarrassed and look away. not so here. you can't stare them down because they don't seem to think of it as rude and don't turn away. although the other girls drew most of the attention and my association with them is mostly what made me strange as well, even on my own i stuck out and was an aberration.
even though this has been my experience throughout Andhra Pradesh, Eluru was especially trying. being there was like constantly being on parade. it got old quick. i would walk down the street in my salwar kameez (which by the way looks like a bright pink prom dress, or in my bright blue scrubs, (because i have no normal clothes to wear) - which admittedly is like inviting strange looks from people - and it was a constant parade, somewhere in between the experience of a celebrity and the elephant man.
it did teach me a little bit about what those individuals would feel and how hard it would be to face constantly. having all eyes on you all the time, watching your every move and making you feel like some kind of freak show. it's no wonder that so many celebrities snap and go crazy.