Bella Isabel

One thing that amazes me about Indian people is how they are totally baby crazy. I read about a cultural love for little ones before I came here, but I wasn't prepared for the level of enthusiasm about my daughter in particular.

Whenever I am with Isabel, which is 99% of the time, she grabs the spotlight. I was shocked and amused when I went with Martin to his office last week. All the employees, all males mind you, whipped out their cell phones to snap photos of her before she was even out of her car seat. Then, while I was chatting with one of the guys about masala tea, the security guard who was holding Isabel waltzed away with her down the hall to show her off in the neighboring office. I went out to find Isabel chewing on some woman's dupatta, surrounded by a gaggle of starry-eyed women snapping and clucking at her.

The snapping, clucking, touching, and photographing have happened in the hospital (Isabel was sick a few days) and in shopping centers, too. The worst case was when we were getting into the car and were approached by an Indian mother with her young daughter. The mother commanded her daughter, who was a little reserved, to touch the baby. She explicitly told her to reach out and "Touch the baby! Touch the baby!" No, thank you! She was already sick and we were on our way to the hospital, for heaven's sake. Extra germs really weren't necessary. It is certainly nice to know that people think she's cute- how else to make a mother happy? but I can do without the paparazzi or at least without the touchy-feely stuff.

I realize Isabel gets special attention because she's a blond, blue eyed girl. Indian people may be somewhat accustomed to caucasian adults, but caucasian babies are a rarity. (After all, you must be out of your mind to move to India with an infant, right?) I wonder how raising Isabel in an environment where eveyone gushes about her cuteness will effect her later on. Her first two years of life will be in India. What will she think when we return to Europe or some other western country where fair features are the norm? Or in tanorexic countries, including Denmark and America, where fairness is considered plain, sad, and sickly? Unless we stay in Asia forever, she'll have to retire her princess tiara and celebrity shades one day.