Some Chinese travel bloggers travel to India and see that most places are dirty and chaotic.  Most of the men keep staring at East Asians they have never seen and asking for photos and selfies.  What does it mean?

中国旅游博主去印度旅游，发现大多数地方都很脏乱。大多数印度男性会盯着没见过的东亚人看个不停，要求合影和自拍。这是什么意思？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Duraiswami Sriram

Many parts of India are dirty and chaotic. This is the reality. The reasons behind that are many, related mainly to the inherently inadequate public service infrastructure and the rapid changes in population of large cities with huge numbers of rural migrants. It doesn't help that many of these migrants end up in slums, eking out an exstence with very low incomes in an area with no public sanitation.

印度有很多地方都很脏乱差，这就是现实。这背后的原因是多方面的，主要与公共服务基础设施不足和大量农村流动人口涌入大城市导致人口激增有关。许多外来人口最终都住进了贫民窟，靠极低的收入在缺少公共卫生设施的地区勉强度日。

Some cities have cleaned up remarkably but it's going to take consistent governance sustained over decades to make that a nationwide phenomenon driven by poverty eradication and better public infrastructure as well as a growing sense of civic responsibility.

If as a tourist you're turned off by that, don't go, because we can't change it in the next 5 minutes. Research properly and travel to parts of India which are not so bad, or don't go at all.

Secondly, the behaviour you describe isn't universal. My wife is from Taiwan and when we travel in India together, nobody asks for selfies with her or acts weird around her.

有些城市的市容非常干净整洁，但需要坚持数十年的持续治理，才能在消除贫困、改善公共基础设施以及日益增强的公民责任感的推动下，成为全国性的现象。

如果你作为游客对此感到厌恶，那么就干脆别来，因为我们无法在5分钟内改天换地。你们可以好好做做攻略，去印度那些还过得去的地方旅行，或者干脆先别来了。

其次，你描述的那种行为并不是普遍行为。我妻子是台湾人，我们一起去印度旅行时，并没有遇到要和她自拍的人，也没有遇到举止怪异的人。

If you go to a very small town where they've never seen a non-Indian, there may be some curiousity around them but that happens everywhere - I remember being out for a jog in a small city in Anhui around 2009 and every hundred yards or so, someone would wave and say hello. I didn't stop but I did slow down and greet them every time and when I finished my run, ended up in a nice conversation with a few people who were very curious about me and had lots of questions (they were delighted that I spoke enough Mandarin to be able to communicate). This was before everyone had a smartphone, so no selfies… I think iPads had just launched around then.

如果你去的是一个非常小的城镇，当地人从来没有见过外国人，他们可能会有一些好奇，但这种事很正常—我记得2009年左右，我在安徽的一个小城市慢跑，每隔100码左右就会有人冲我挥手打招呼。我没有停下，但我会放慢速度和他们打招呼，我跑完步后，还和一些对我很好奇的人进行了愉快的交谈，他们对我提出了很多问题(我可以用普通话和他们交流，他们很开心)。当时还没有智能手机，所以没有自拍……我记得ipad大概就是在那个时候推出的。

Raakhee V. Menon

Being used to nitpicking while reading anything, it was but natural for me to read this question in two senses.

Why do my friends remind me not to forget to take selfies on the street when I travel to India?

Why do people ask me to pose for a selfie with them when I am travelling in India?

我不管读什么都喜欢挑毛病，所以我会从两种意义上理解这个问题。

为什么我去印度旅行的时候，朋友们总是提醒我别忘了在街上自拍？

为什么我去印度旅行的时候，当地人总会让我和他们一起自拍?

The latter way of looking at the question is because Indians have always been innately curious. I have written at length about this on an another answer some time ago. Will share the link in the footnotes. The White Man is still reminiscent for many Indians of the Sahibs of yore who used to rule the land. They were unreachable. Untouchable. Like faraway stars.

The fact that the White Man considered the people of their colonies as vermin somehow misses to register in their minds. Just the awe remains embedded somewhere deep within the psyche.

后一种问题解读是因为印度人一直天性好奇。我前段时间在另一个回贴上详细地回答过这个问题。对许多印度人来说，白人会让他们想起过去曾经统治过这片土地的“大人”。他们遥不可及，高不可攀，就像远在天边的星星。

他们不知何故，偏偏遗漏了白人认为殖民地的人都是害虫这一事实，只有敬畏之心仍然深藏在他们的内心深处。

Today, we have tourists and the like walking the streets and mingling freely with the locals. People are still fascinated by seeing someone different from them. Here ‘different’ sadly becomes synonymous with paler skin and paler hair. Taking a selfie with a ‘Sahib’ thus becomes a way to somehow try and get an equal status with the said Sahib. Like how people like to click pictures with celebrities. The thought process is frightfully similar. Like somebody mentioned on another answer, it's also like spotting an alien. Everyone wants a picture with the alien for keepsakes

今天，游客们走在街上，和当地人自如交往。当地人看到和自己不一样的人，觉得好奇神往。但很可悲，这里的“不一样”就是白皮肤和黄头发的同义词。因此，和“大人”自拍就成了一种试图获得平等地位的方式，这就好比人们喜欢和名人合影。他们的思维方式存在着惊人的相似。就像有人在另一个回帖中提到的，这种事就好比发现了外星人一样，人人都会想和外星人合影留念。

The former way of looking at this question though… ah! Now that's something. Indian streets have some of the richest colors of life that one would have ever seen and one of the best things one could do while travelling through the country is to take selfie streetscapes. It's going to look like a colourful version of one of those Mario Miranda sketches.

对这个问题的前一种解读是……嗯！有点儿道理哦。印度街道上有生活中最丰富的色彩，可能是你这辈子见过的最多彩绚烂的，在印度旅行时，你最该做的事之一就是自拍街景。它看起来就像彩色版的马里奥·米兰达写生。

Zuheb Mohammed

I am not young or beautiful but when travelling in Asia constantly get asked if people can take a photograph of me with them. What do they do with these photos?

I presume you must be white, it's pretty common in Asia for people to click a photograph with white people - the reason being is just ur fair skin. A white person is treated in high regard in Asian countries than any other skin color……What do they with the photos? Just an addition to the album of pics clicked with white people

PS: there's no hatred towards any skin color in the answer, just the facts I've seen

我既不年轻也不漂亮，但我在亚洲旅行时，经常有人问我可不可以和他们合影。他们拍这些照片要干嘛？

我猜你肯定是白人吧，在亚洲，人们很喜欢和白人合影，这是常有的事—原因就是你的肤色很白。在亚洲国家，白皮肤的人比其他肤色的人更受尊重......至于他们拿这些照片干嘛？只是又多了一张和白人的合影罢了。

PS：我对所有肤色都没有敌意，我只是陈述我看到的事实。

Dan Reys

I am not young or beautiful but when travelling in Asia constantly get asked if people can take a photograph of me with them. What do they do with these photos?

In my experience it happens when you look like someone famous. However in this case it may not be someone famous, perhaps just a local celebrity (e.g a contestant on a game show) or maybe someone from a television program, something like that. I’m sure it’s nothing untoward and I hope you enjoy your travels!

我既不年轻也不漂亮，但我在亚洲旅行时，经常有人问我可不可以和他们合影。他们拍这些照片要干嘛？

根据我的经验，如果你看起来很像某位名人，就有遇到这种情况。但对于你所说的情况，可能也算不上名人，也许只是当地的名人(例如游戏节目中的选手)，也许是电视节目中的演员等。我相信这没有什么问题，祝你旅行愉快！

Tanvi Shetty

Why do people always ask me to take a selfie in the street when I travel to India?

They probably find you very exotic looking and genuinely intriguing in a good way , don't take it personally in case you feel uncomfortable being photographed simply decline .

Am what locals here call “farang” :

为什么当我去印度旅行时，人们总是让我在街上自拍？

他们可能觉得你很特别，又很有魅力，如果你觉得不自在，不用太过在意，直接拒绝就行。

我就是当地人所说的“老外”。

There are so many Thai locals in remote parts of Phuket ( southern tip almost 30 mins away from old Phuket city that reminds me of my own native place down south in India) ,where i help an NGO in their day to day activities which deals with training local women to manufacture handicrafts and stuff toys ,they encounter lil to no foreigners apart from Sam the Australian Programme director of this initiative and her British Husband Romulus who are fluent in Thai ,they often mistaken me for an African i guess cause am really sunburnt beyond recognition ( according to my mum when ever we video call )and my curly hair is out of control thanks to the humidity but moment they realise i am Indian they feel even more happy for some strange reason even i fail to understand ,but i go with the flow ,am still learning Thai but for now i make do with sign language or have a local volunteer translate .I have been invited everso often by the locals to cock fights and even lunches ,fed mangoes and bananas ( from their field )offered liquor that could probably used to power a jet plane or battle tank .I even play Bollywood songs and classical music on my cellphone for their entertainment to which we all dance to .

泰国普吉岛的偏远地区住着很多泰国人(距离旧普吉岛南端近30分钟车程，让我想起了印度南部的老家)。我在当地帮一个非政府组织培训当地妇女生产手工艺品和玩具，除了能说一口流利泰语的澳大利亚项目主管Sam和她的英国丈夫Romulus，她们没见过其他外国人，总把我当成非洲人。

我猜是因为我被晒得面目全非了(我妈妈跟视频通话时就这么说)，而且因为湿度太高，我的卷发乱到失控。但当他们知道我是印度人时，他们显得更高兴了，原因很奇怪，我都没搞明白。

但我顺其自然，继续学习泰语，我用手语表达，或者让当地志愿者帮我翻译。

我经常被当地人邀请，观看斗鸡，共进午餐，品尝芒果和香蕉(他们自己种的)，喝点可以给喷气式飞机或主战坦克当燃料的高度酒。

我甚至还会用手机播放宝莱坞歌曲和古典音乐，我们都随着音乐跳舞。

My take here is ,relax and never forget to smile even when ur declining , different cultures have different ways of doing things ,enjoy yourself ,learn and experience as much as you can .

以我所见，放轻松，就算落魄也别忘了微笑，不同的文化有不同的做事方式，享受自己的生活，尽可能多地学习和体验。

Satya Vaan

Why do people always ask me to take a selfie in the street when I travel to India?

If ET visited your home country, do you suppose that people there would ask him to take selfies with them?

To most indians, you look like ET. Out of the ordinary. Of course they’re going to take selfies. Besides, you’re a tourist, and they want you to have a memorable time with good memories.

为什么当我去印度旅行时，人们总是让我在街上自拍？

如果外星人到访你的国家，你觉得人们会不会和他们自拍？

对大多数印度人来说，你就好比外星人，与众不同。他们当然会自拍啦。另外，你是个游客，他们希望你能留下一个难忘的美好回忆。

Cassandra Brisbane

A random Asian woman crossed the road to take a selfie with me at a bus stop. I'm not famous. Why might she have done that?

I'm going to answer this with a similar odd experience of my own. I spent a few days in Singapore and went to Sentosa. I was wandering around, and two indian ladies came up to me and gestured with their camera. I thought they wanted me to take a photo of them together, so I tried to signal as best I could, but they shook their heads and took me by the arm, and found someone else nearby to take pictures of me with them.

So now I wonder if I'm in some random person’s photo album, and if they talk about their holiday do they say, ‘that's our friend we met on Sentosa!’ I didn't mind being in a photo but I'm still wondering why!

一个亚洲女人穿过马路，在公交车站和我自拍。我又不出名。她为什么要这么做呢？

我可以用我自己相似的奇怪经历来回答这个问题。我在新加坡待了几天，去了圣淘沙。我正在四处闲逛呢，两位印度女士向我走来，用她们的相机比了个手势。我以为她们想让我帮她们拍张合影，所以我尽我所能比划着，但她们摇了摇头，抓住了我的胳膊，又让周围的人帮我们合了影。

所以现在我很好奇，我是不是就在某个人的相册里呆着呢，如果她们谈起那次假期，她们会说，'那是我们在圣淘沙遇到的朋友！“我不介意拍照合影，但我还是很好奇她们到底是为什么！”