The "Foreigners only. No Room for Indians" annoyance

Hi there!

This is one annoyance that gets my goat every time I pack my bags and set off to travel in India.

I am a solo traveler, a guy in my late 20s, fairly well traveled in quite a few countries - I try to keep my travels within 500-1000Rs/day - so basically public transport,lonely planet backpacker guest houses, meeting up with fellow-travelers at my guest house for shared trips etc.

The thing is, I'd show up at a guest house (any guest house)& chances are 8/10 that I would be either refused a room immediately or I'd be asked "where are you from" & then refused a room or be sized up rudely and then given no reply at all.

Its not that I look like a bum or I smell bad or what ever. Its just that I am an Indian backpacker & a lot of these guest-houses in backpacker circuit in India (Goa, Varanasi, Udaipur, the works) have a strict door policy restricting my race (sad but true)


A few guest house owners have told me in my face that they do not give out rooms to single Indian travelers. These experiences make me feel extremely dejected because prejudice sucks and it is a silent humiliation that I can not do much else but walk away.

Now, I'd rather stay away from the racist guest-house mafia, but I have no way of knowing in advance who-is-who until I knock a few doors (with my heavy backpack, tired after a long journey etc) and get turned down rudely a few times (especially at the choicest few guest houses in town, based on Lonely planet/Rough Guide) until I zone in on the ones that would let in my kind.

The problem is actually more acute in budget backpacker guest houses that are low-to-mid in the price spectrum and those that are in heavily packed with foreign backpackers (Goa, Varanasi, Rishikesh, Pokhara, Puri, list goes on...).

Sometimes, I feel that the owners are "protecting" their foreign guests from the "outside Indians" and other times I feel that the owners would rather rent out rooms to the foreigners for better tips (?) or other reasons I can not speculate on.

All this discriminating really bothers me & has actually dampened my spirit to continue to travel within India. The worst part is that many folks do not even know that this kind of reverse discrimination is prevalent in India.

I hope this thread can be useful for the others in my position who get rude treatments because of someone else's prejudice. I would also like a constructive discussion around this curious phenomenon that has taken such a strong grip within the backpacker underbelly of our country.

Cheers & look forward to a discussion!
PM

Yeah not a nice feeling at all, but as you have already concluded there's not much you can do about changing the situation as and when you find it.. Of course you voice your protest with the place trying not to escalate the argument as that only makes it worse and pollutes your own mind that little bit more.

It's a difficult one to solve and solve it i doubt you can do - except try to change your perception, and subsequently the hurt about what is going down, pity on those who display prejudice. Not too helpful i'm sure, but a start eh!

in Denmark it is illegal for a shop to deny service based on race, and occasionally someone is caught doing it and convicted by the court of law.

But what your are feeling is no different than the Indian state sanctioned: "foreign people must pay more to enter museums, ruins, temples, ..." so dont count on the law getting changed, but you could try telling your politicians that it is wrong and should be punished.

I don't really have a problem with that, it's still bloody cheap compared to a whizz around Copenhagen for example. Also considering that non-Indians, when in India are heavily subsidised for all sorts of things that you may not have ever given a moment's notice to, Food basics, fuel, electricity.. and not to forget being party to exploitative practices.

this has very little to do with politics or politicians.

That wasnt the point. The point was that India already discriminates against foreigns, so why not also do it against Indians?

The raw cost of food basics, fuel and electricity + water is probably only a small part of the price I pay.

If you want to change the world, you gotta lobby politicians.

what's new about discrimination, except the different forms and instruments that we ALL create and are party to in perpetuating discrimination.... please don't imagine that you are free of discrimination.

I do not imagine that. But I do say that if you want to end it, you gotta lobby your politicians.

please don't imagine that you are free of discrimination.

there you are you see.. if i/you are not free of discrimination, how can we expect others to be non-discriminatory, and moreover do we expect that politicians are free of it and would have any more motivation that you or i to enforce non-discrimination. Clearly not, as yet.

Am not arguing with you, just exploring with you that it is such a deep and abiding human characteristic (not that all people are overtly discriminatory) that we have such a long, long way to go on it.... especially those at the bottom of the economical and social pyramid supporting all the rest of us, who worse still have no idea nor care about it whatsoever, otherwise...

Well, nothing will happen before we (humans) recognise that we are discriminatory and try to take steps to become non-discriminatory. Since we are not all discriminatory about the same things or to the same level, then as a society as a whole I think we can strive to be neutral.

oh yes you are, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnTmBjk-M0c


That does not mean we should just give up.

No it does not mean that we should just give up. It means that if you are setting out to change the world then good luck.

It also means to start locally, and there is no more local than myself, and in a way it is irrelevant what others do, think, believe etc - because as i have just illustrated by your acceptance that you are also discriminatory, what is the point of working on others discrimination when the work is most needed at home.

You can't change the world or a country unless you are a Mandela or someone and put in a vast amount of dedicated single minded sadhana. If one honestly feels (and we know few will admit to it) that there is discrimination within oneself, it is then a realised fact. We simply have to sit with that, what is present – the discrimination – and work from there, it's all one can really do.

(Not referring to the last post).

Note to explorers: Great examples of intestinal logic can be found on indiamike.

You mentioned Pokhara - you get turned away in Nepal too? That surprises me since Indians are Nepal's #1 tourist market. It may be different in PK than Kathmandu though.

a manager of a hotel in Varkala told me outright that he does not rent to Indians, only westerners.

not really. at least in India. a media outcry works much better.

if its laws you want you can bet some exist already.