Aslaam alequm! – an intercultural experiment

One thing every average European will remark immediately upon arrival to India is the omnipresence of moustaches and beards. Especially moustaches serve as a symbol of a person adhering to Hinduism. To illustrate this here is one picture a typical bearer of a moustache (also called “Besen im G’sicht” as in “Komm, Süßer Tod”; 2000) in a semi-rural street setting:

















With a feeling that having a beard is somehow not only a sign of Hinduism but might also be of social relevance, I saw myself prompted to find out whether there are remarkable differences. Indeed, after a couple of weeks of waiting and a slight change in my average cloths I had a very interesting walk through Bangalore recently.
So, all of a sudden people greeted me in the street not in that particular disturbing way as they usually do when seeing white people, but say “Aslaam alequm!” in a friendly tone. To make one thing clear – I am not and will never be disposed for having a moustache in Hindu-style, by consequence the only alternative to come up with was a rather muslim-like beard:

Market Acceptance Test: Auto-Rickshaws
Drivers of auto-rickshaws can sometimes be particularly annoying, they rip off all people, not only whites, backed by a strong mafia (or call it unregistered union). So, with the outfit and beard as shown above I ask for a ride proposing 15 Rupees and immediately get it without discussion. That was amazing. In average negotiations with white people they start at levels of 80 or 100, for large distances sometimes even 250 Rupees. Even very short trips often won’t come for less than 50 Rs with me as the customer. And that little adaptation helped me that much? Well, perhaps my Indian friends want to comment on this?
Whatever, my preliminary conclusion is that changing cloths can be nice once in a while, as I don’t only have kurtas and kufi caps I will continue the normal urban struggle of a European in the streets of Bharat.