Kidding.

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I was born and raised in America to Indian parents. I was teased and treated like a foreigner my whole childhood. Kids gathered around my lunchbox and said "EWW! What is that?" I answered "what does it mean when they wear the dot on their forehead?" about a hundred million times. I wanted more than anything to not be defined as the Indian girl, assumed to be related to every other Indian person.

If I wear Indian clothes in America, people treat me like a weird foreigner. They avoid me, treat me coldly because they think I'm an immigrant, stare, act like I don't speak English even after I've spoken, talk slowly and loudly, etc.

Meanwhile Indian stuff is cool for white people to try on. Bindis, saris, yoga, henna "tattoos" Hippies come up to me and want to talk to me about how they love samosas and how India is sooo spiritual. Vogue sends white models to India to pose in Indian inspired designs among exotic human props.

It doesn't make it okay if you gush about the beautiful colors or the comfortable material. It's like when white girls hold their arm next to mine and say they wish they could tan like that. It's an expression of privilege to be able to put on a sari one day and know you won't be treated differently.

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Also, I like samosas. I'm not sure where that came from in your speech up there, but I do love Indian food and I have been practicing yoga since I was 12 years old. Indian food has way more delicious vegetarian options for me and yoga is central is to my spirituality. I'm sorry if that somehow makes me a bad person.

On Jezebel, I constantly feel like I have to apologize for being white and that I have to defend myself against being lumped into the same category as the people who hurt you and the editors of Vogue who made those abominable decisions in India. I'm sorry you went through what you did and I will remember your experiences. Thank you for being so honest and frank.

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I didn't call you a bad person and I don't expect you to apologize for how you were born, just like I'm not asking for any sort of sympathy medal for having dealt with xenophobia. I don't think you're rotten, I just think you're clueless as to how your white skin benefits you and what the baggage is when you wear a sari, versus when I do. It's clueless, just like the girls who hold their arms next to mine, and, yes, in the same category as the Vogue editor who wants to put an exotic touch on a white model(which I do consider merely clueless)

Since you feel that way though, why do you consider a Vogue story in India abominable, while you walking around in a sari is just putting on something pretty? If my answering your question with an explanation of why it makes me uncomfortable reads to you as a harsh wholesale condemnation, were yeses the only answer that would have been okay?

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I'm sorry I upset/offended you. I can't apologize enough. Your culture is beautiful and I am sorry that for me to think so is offensive and somehow culturally insensitive. The culture into which I was born is vile and I truly wish I could be rid of the guilt inherent to my skin color. But I can't, and I'm sorry.

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Clearly, you have no interest in actually listening and all you wanted were affirmations. Your original query wasn't even asked in good faith. What a waste of time.

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The women who live, work, and shop there are always dressed GLORIOUSLY. There are Sari shops showcasing incredibly beautiful clothing. And the JEWELERY STORES! All that gorgeous gold Indian brides wear -- this is where they come to buy it. The cheapest thing I have seen in those stores was five thousand dollars. Everything encrusted with rubies and emeralds and sapphires.

It's a great day trip, complete with a Bollywood theater. Get some henna tattoos, call it a day.

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Indian Mangoes. There is no Mango better than an Indian Mango. (Or, There are no Mangoes better than Indian Mangoes?)

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