"I'm not like Indian women" : reflections of young European women in Varanasi, India

1 J@RGONIA - ELEKTRONINEN JULKAISUSARJA ISSN 1459-305X © Jyväskylän yliopiston historian ja etnologian laitos 9/2006 "I'm Not Like Indian Women." Reflections of Young European Women in Varanasi, India Mari Korpela M.Soc.Sc. Introduction India is not a place you simply and clinically ‘see’; it’s a total experience, an assault on the senses, a place you’ll never forget.” This is how the editors of the most popular travel guidebook to India, Lonely Planet, end their introduction (Lonely Planet India 1997, 16). This phrase represents well the image many travellers have of India when they go there for the first time. Moreover, there is a common travellers’ discourse that sees India as a difficult and dangerous place to a vulnerable traveller (Bhattacharyya 1997, 378), particularly to women. The Lonely Planet also gives a strong message that women should behave in certain ways in order to discourage sexual overtures whereas men travellers are not given any such standards of behavior (ibid., 376). In this article, I look at the ways in which young European women staying in the city of Varanasi (also called Banaras) for long periods of time talk about India and how they negotiate their place and role as women there. A vast amount of travel literature was written by women travellers in the colonial era, and the encounters of colonial women with “otherness” have been widely analysed (see e.g. Mills 1991; Pratt 1992; Grewal 1996; Lewis 1996; Ghose 1998). This article brings this discussion to the post colonial era and endeavors to initiate a discussion about how to understand the encounters between visiting Western women and the locals in India today. By mirroring themselves to the Indian “other,” the young European women in Varanasi claim to have found their “real Western selves.” In their talk, they constantly construct differences between themselves and the local people, and this differentiation is gendered. These European women define their own “advanced” position in opposition to the image of “backward” Indian women, in very similar terms to what Mohanty has argued in her article about the discourse of “the third world woman” (Mohanty 1991). India seems to be a tool for the self understanding and empowerment of the young European women in Varanasi. Moreover, the attitudes of these women and those found in colonial travel literature from the nineteenth and early twentieth century seem to be very similar. The significance of gender in travel literature has been studied also by Hapuli whose research on texts written by Finnish women travelers between the World Wars (Hapuli 2003 & 2005) offers an interesting J@rgonia 9 / 2006 ISBN 951-39-2555-2 / ISSN 1459-305X Mari Korpela: "I'm Not Like Indian Women." Reflections of Young European Women in Varanasi, India 2 comparison to my material although none of the women she writes about went to India. Lewis has written a book about women’s representations of the oriental other in nineteenth century art (Lewis 1996). She argues that women were not innocent in the colonial project, although they did not have access to official power positions that were reserved for Western men (ibid., 13–18). Women met the “other” from a specially gendered perspective but still not as equals (ibid., 183–184; Mills 1991, 63). My article shows that their role as women is crucial when young European women in Varanasi encounter the “Indian other” today. Encounters with “otherness” have been studied also in Finnish context (see e.g. Lehtonen et al. 2003 & 2004; Kaartinen 2004; Löytty 2005; Rastas et al. 2005). The context of my research is, however, very different. In fact, when reading this article, it is important to keep in mind that Varanasi is a very particular place. As a holy city of Hinduism, it has become a symbol of traditional Hindu India and a sign of Eastern otherness (Eck 1983, 9). The status of women is a lot more traditional in Varanasi than in many other India cities: women still wear almost only saris, and the public sphere is clearly dominated by men. Hutnyk has done research on young backpackers doing charity work in Calcutta. He argues that the phenomenon is a manifestation of global inequality. “Alternative travel” to places like India is a privilege of Western middle class youth as only they have the time and money to search for themselves in “the Third World” (Hutnyk 1996, ix–x). Hutnyk has studied the ways backpackers in Calcutta “make sense and explain their experiences” and how they view the city, the decay of which has become a tourist attraction (ibid., 5). The starting point for my research is the same as that of Hutnyk: due to the present world order, Varanasi is a cheap place for young middle class Westerners and its spiritual character offers a good base for searching for oneself. Moreover, also I look at the ways in which travellers view India and explain their experiences. Yet, my research is gender specific: I look at women’s gendered ways of dealing with India, which is a step further from Hutnyk’s study where gender was not explicitly taken into account. A Finnish researcher, Hottola, has studied tourist women’s experiences of sexual harassment in India. He argues that such incidents are a result of cultural confusion: the harassing men hold an image of amoral Western woman and act accordingly (Hottola 1999). Sexual harassment is an important theme in my interviews as well but this article deals also with several other aspects of my interviewees’ experiences and encounters in India. The Group of Young Westerners in Varanasi Many young Westerners take a year out abroad after secondary school as a kind of growing up ritual. Due to its exoticism and cheapness, India has been a popular destination for young travellers since the sixties, and it still attracts thousands of backpackers every year. Some of these people are not just short term tourists but end up visiting India frequently for long periods of time. Particularly Varanasi attracts Westerners and this article is based on material collected there. Varanasi is located in J@rgonia 9 / 2006 ISBN 951-39-2555-2 / ISSN 1459-305X Mari Korpela: "I'm Not Like Indian Women." Reflections of Young European Women in Varanasi, India 3 the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, on the banks of the holy river Ganges. There are 100–200 Westerners there every winter. The period from May to September is very hot and wet. Therefore most Westerners prefer to leave the city for that time. These people typically work for a few months in simple jobs or sell Indian textiles or handicrafts in their home countries during summers and then spend the rest of the year in India, living on the money they have earned in those temporary jobs. The Western sojourners in Varanasi claim to have found an ideal lifestyle (see Korpela 2004). In Varanasi, their days are spent in a fairly relaxed way. Many study Indian instruments, some do yoga, meditation or charity work. These activities are mostly conducted in daytime. At sunset, Westerners gather to drink tea on the stone stairs leading to the river Ganges and when it is warm, groups of Westerners often rent rowing boats and go swimming in the river. A lot of time is spent socializing with friends and almost every evening there is a get together in somebody’s house: people cook, eat, play music and smoke hashish together until late at night. The population of Varanasi is about two million, but almost all Westerners live in the same area near the river, renting small apartments from local families. Many of them return to the same houses annually and have all necessary household utensils there. Everything they need is within walking distance and the area feels almost like a village. I backpacked around India for eight months in 1995, and during my few weeks in Varanasi I met a few Westerners who for several years had spent a couple of months there. I found this lifestyle fascinating: it seemed to represent something very different from my own life as a university student. Three years later, I went back to Varanasi to do research on the women among them. There are more Western men than women in Varanasi, but I chose to focus on women because I wanted to see how women staying in India for long periods of time deal with the fact that being a Western woman in India is a lot more complicated than being a Western man there, the role expectations being radically different for women than for men compared to Western countries (see e.g. Kumar 1992, 173). I myself had difficulties as a young blond woman in India and I wanted to see how other Western women deal with the problems they face there. This text is based on nine interviews which I conducted in Varanasi in the spring of 1998, each lasting one to two hours, and on my participant observation of four months. My interviewees are all 20–30-year-old European women who have been to Varanasi a few times before. After each quotation there is a fictitious name for the interviewee, her correct age and nationality. There are travellers from all over the industrialized world in Varanasi: from Europe, Australia, Canada, Japan and Israel, the Japanese seldom socializing with other nationalities. I concentrated on European women in order to narrow down my research. It seems that among the Westerners in Varanasi, national differences do not play an important role: “West” becomes one when confronted with India and national differences between various Western countries are not emphasized. For example, Italian, French or even Israeli food are all considered Western, that is, non-Indian. The long term sojourners come from various countries and backgrounds but they develop a sense of community and standard ways of thinking and behaving in Varanasi. Therefore, I believe that to a great extent, the views of my European interviewees represent the views of the Westerners at large. J@rgonia 9 / 2006 ISBN 951-39-2555-2 / ISSN 1459-305X Mari Korpela: "I'm Not Like Indian Women." Reflections of Young European Women in Varanasi, India 4 I lived in a house where there were fifteen rooms rented to Westerners. This offered me a good opportunity to get involved with these people. I also participated frequently in the tea gatherings by the riverside and in the dinner parties. In addition to my personal contacts, I found interviewees through a Western charity project. I was of the same age as most Westerners in Varanasi, thus it was easy to build contacts although it took some time to become considered an insider in the group. However, I gradually became good friends with many people there. The Westerners hanging around in Varanasi do not follow strict plans or schedules but instead, their lives are very impulsive. Therefore, it was difficult to plan interviews at exact times and promises were vague. Yet, in general, people reacted very positively to my research and only two women refused to give me an interview. The interviews were conducted in the rooms of the interviewees. I used open ended questions and allowed the interviewees to talk freely. Many times the interviews turned out to be some sort of therapeutic sessions. People talked about themselves and often, personal problems and crises from the past came up. After the interviews, many of my interviewees said that it had been a positive and relieving experience because it worked as a self understanding process for them and they found it worthwhile to think about the issues that I asked about. I had assumed that the Westerners in Varanasi would praise India and would try to assimilate in the local cultures but during my research I found that this is not really the case. Instead of becoming “indianised”, they become empowered as Westerners. Instead of cultural assimilation, they constantly emphasise their freedom and own independent agency. As a Western Woman in India The European women in Varanasi must constantly negotiate between the roles of “being foreign” and “being female” that are sometimes contradictory. In India, there is a clear division between the private world of women and the public world of men (see e.g. Kumar 1988, 62). These visiting European women in Varanasi, however, are also active in the public arena and through local men’s abusive comments, they are constantly reminded that it is not the proper place for them (see also Hottola 1999). Many Western men told me that they like India because they can do whatever they want there. This is definitely not true for women. Western women have to be very careful about following certain cultural rules, such as certain dress codes, because if they break them, they are mentally as well as physically harassed. These European women are in a contradictory situation in India because as single travelers they represent independence and freedom but in the Indian cultural context they face restrictions because of their gender. Sometimes I wish I was a man here, of course, because men are much more free, they can wander around in whatever they like. They can do all these things, they can misbehave if they want. It’s not an easy place for a woman, I don’t think. (Birgit 27, German.) It should, however, be noted that the visiting Western men in Varanasi are not necessarily respected by local people since they break so many cultural rules. Nevertheless, this does not cause much harm in their everyday lives; they are not J@rgonia 9 / 2006 ISBN 951-39-2555-2 / ISSN 1459-305X Mari Korpela: "I'm Not Like Indian Women." Reflections of Young European Women in Varanasi, India 5 disturbed as women are. It is interesting that Birgit states above that the Western men can do whatever they like. This is possible only because they are outsiders in India: Indian men cannot do whatever they like in India, neither can Western men in the West. Doing whatever one likes means, for example, dressing in colorful hippie clothes, walking around without a shirt, having long and messy hair and smoking hashish in public. Local men are usually dressed in well ironed trousers and shirts and their hair is cut short. From a few comments that I heard from local people, it seems that they find it strange that Western travellers often use dirty or ragged clothes although they have money to dress well. The looks of the Western men show that their encounters with the local cultures are very different from those of the Western women who have to be more careful about their dress. Therefore, following Lewis’s argument, men and women meet “the other” in differently gendered ways (Lewis 1996). It is common for young local men to harass Western women (as well as young Indian women) in Varanasi. In the streets, comments like “Hello Sexy!” are common. Sometimes, local men also touch women’s breasts and bottoms, yet there is no serious threat of rape, or at least not in daytime. The disrespectful behavior of Indian men towards Western women is an unavoidable topic in my interviews and Western women also often talk with each other about their unpleasant experiences with Indian men and discuss how to avoid these situations. All my interviewees have had negative experiences with Indian men. I’ve had men grab me, like grab my breasts. It’s not a daily occurrence but it has happened a few times over few years I’ve been here. (Lisa 24, British.) Such incidents have caused my interviewees to perceive Indian men in very negative terms. I remember writing my diary ... how can I love a country where half of the population [men] makes me want to puke, really again and again, I feel very often this. (Emma 29, Swedish.) This kind of statements are very common among my interviewees; they talk a lot about how terrible Indian men are and often ignore, for example, class differences and the fact that it is mostly young men who harass women as the older ones seldom cause any harm. My interviewees claim that, in the eyes of Indian men, Western women are not respectable and it is impossible to escape the image. This clearly shows their gendered position in Varanasi: they cannot escape their gender and the image attached to it. They see you as a prostitute basically... Like I know they will judge me immediately as a woman, as somebody to fuck. (Sabine 25, Austrian.) For them tourist women are just prostitutes. And why not touch a prostitute? (Maria 22, Swiss.) Kumar, an Indian anthropologist and historian, has discussed the sexist comments and abusive behavior of Indian men towards Western women in public areas in her book J@rgonia 9 / 2006 ISBN 951-39-2555-2 / ISSN 1459-305X Mari Korpela: "I'm Not Like Indian Women." Reflections of Young European Women in Varanasi, India 6 about her fieldwork experiences in Varanasi. She argues that many males in urban areas are lonely because they are separated from their village based families. These men see any woman outside the defining sphere of home and family as a target, like a prostitute or a film star, for their frustrations. According to Kumar, one can avoid trouble by acting like a typical married woman (Kumar 1992, 173), which means dressing like married women and not talking to strange men. In other words, being married is equated with being respected and if one is not married one should at least pretend to be so in order to avoid trouble. In fact, it is common for single Western women travellers to tell Indians on trains or in other public places that they are married in order to protect themselves. It is remarkable that the majority of Western women in Varanasi are single. Their singleness may reflect their individuality in that they want to come and go as they please. Some of the women may be in Varanasi precisely because they do not want to be dependent wives but want to be free. It is ironic that this is in sharp contrast with the cultural environment that surrounds them. As unmarried adult women my interviewees are anomalies in Varanasi as single women are, traditionally, strangers in India (see Stone and James 1995, 130; Tambiah 1989, 416–417; Young 1987) and do not fit into the local cultural context as single men do. Some of my interviewees are aware of this. A man can be thirty years old without doing very much and without being married. There’re many men in India, even in Banaras, who live like this, not doing anything special. But such a woman doesn’t exist, not even one. This is why we are much more like strangers and we don’t fit in as the Western men do. It is much easier for them to live quite relaxed in India. (Emma 29, Swedish.) Emma’s comment has lots of truth in it, yet, we should not forget that continuing the family lineage is, after all, the duty of sons (Harlan and Courtright 1995, 6) and therefore, also many men face pressure to get married. Nowadays, there are single women in big cities like New Delhi or Mumbai but not much in Varanasi, thus my interviewees are often asked about their singleness in Varanasi. However, it is not always a disadvantage to be a woman in India; there are also privileges. For example, in principle, women have the right to be served separately and before men. My interviewees are happy to take advantage of such privileges that Indian cultures accord to women. For example, they are often eagerly defending their right to a seat in trains and buses knowing that women should have a priority to seats. They can take the role of a “vulnerable” woman when it helps them but want to act independently when they so wish. This shows that they are active actors with power to consciously play with local cultural rules and norms. In travel literature, women have often been expected to describe women’s sphere of the countries they visit since men writers have not been able to get first-hand information (Hapuli 2005, 138; Ghose 1998, 52). In similar terms, my interviewees emphasize that Western women can get to know Indian women whereas Western men J@rgonia 9 / 2006 ISBN 951-39-2555-2 / ISSN 1459-305X Mari Korpela: "I'm Not Like Indian Women." Reflections of Young European Women in Varanasi, India 7 cannot have contact with local women. In this respect, many of the women I interviewed regard themselves as privileged in comparison to Western men. If you are a Western man, you will only see half of India. A man will never be able to know Indian women because in India, men and women are living in very separate worlds. Really very separate. Being a Western woman you get to look into both. Being a Western man you will only be able to see it with Indian men. Being a Western woman you can be anything, you can get to know all these women, you can do all the women things, and you can do almost all the men things also. It is a very big privilege to be a Western woman travelling in India. (Emma 29, Swedish.) These European women in Varanasi can take advantage of being female when they want to have contact with Indian women but they ignore the restrictions imposed on them as women when they want to have contact with local men. Mostly contacts with men are needed when buying goods and services whereas contacts with women are for casual chatting. The young European women in Varanasi are not powerless victims of their gender but actively use it in order to maximize the benefits. The settings for their actions are of course determined by the Indian cultures and they are not free to do whatever they want but there is, nevertheless, room for negotiation and women’s independent agency. All in all, they clearly encounter the local cultures as women, which is both a disadvantage and a benefit. Dressing in Local Clothes: a Strategy to Make Life Easier or Something to Avoid? Dressing in a non provocative way makes everyday life easier for the European women in Varanasi. The rules of dress include not wearing shorts, miniskirts or sleeveless tops and all clothing should be loose. I know also from my own experience that dressing in Indian clothes reduces the amount of harassment considerably. Kumar’s explanation for this is that if one dresses in the local way, people understand a person better and respect him/her more (Kumar 1992, 171). Most Western women staying in Varanasi for long periods of time wear loose dresses, many salwar kameez (a loose dress with loose pants). “Indian appearance” means only clothes as the hairstyles of these women easily reveal that they are not Indian. Many have short hair or dreadlocks, whereas almost all local women have tidy long hair. In fact, the European women in Varanasi clearly emphasize differences between themselves and the local women through their appearance. They seem to dress in Indian clothes in order to avoid trouble, not in order to assimilate. My interviewees claim that it is important for them to try not to insult Indian cultures and customs but one should not try to be like “them” either. Moreover, these women choose to determine themselves what behavior and clothes are insulting to Indians –again, they are independent actors with power to decide how to act. For example, even if they wear salwar kameez, they usually do not use the scarf that is an essential part of the dress. J@rgonia 9 / 2006 ISBN 951-39-2555-2 / ISSN 1459-305X Mari Korpela: "I'm Not Like Indian Women." Reflections of Young European Women in Varanasi, India 8 I wear salwar kameez because I like it. It’s comfortable and also it’s easier. I look a bit more local, not to say that I’m like a local woman but this is what the people wear. But I have dreadlocks and Indian woman should never have dreadlocks. It’s like I don’t wanna insult their culture, I wouldn’t wear a short skirt or something, I don’t wanna do anything to insult it... but also I don’t have to completely become part of it... As long as I’m not insulting their culture, I don’t mind if I don’t really fit into it. (Lisa 24, British.) Most of my interviewees combine Western and Indian clothes so that their bodies are properly covered but there are still clear differences to the local women’s way of dressing. A good example of a sign of Indianness is the forehead mark bindi (a small sticker on one’s forehead). Using it is an easy way to “look local” and nowadays bindis are also manufactured for Western tastes. For example, all kinds of psychedelic figures are clearly meant for Western consumers. Local women in Varanasi seem to use only the traditional circles and ovals in their everyday lives, only at special occasions, such as weddings, do local women use the special designs. I don’t go out without bindi. I don’t go out without brushing my hair and making my hair nice. Not because of men but because of India. (Maria 22, Swiss.) Maria seems to connect brushing one’s hair to Indian cultures. I would, however, argue that messy hair or untidy appearances are rather characteristics of the counter culture of the Westerners in Varanasi than characteristics of Western cultures as such. Many of my interviewees also have a nose pin. Almost all Indian women have nose pins, yet, we cannot conclude that my European interviewees express Indianness by their nose pins since they have also become fashionable in Europe and America in the past few years. Married Indian women have also anklets, toerings and several bracelets. My interviewees use this kind of jewellery although they are not married and should therefore not use it at all. They thus ignore the cultural meanings attached to the jewellery and use it merely as decoration. Hutnyk has written about the colonial (and contemporary) appropriation of exoticized items: some objects or parts of exotic cultures are commercialized and consumed in the West (Hutnyk 1999, 95). The fact that the European women in Varanasi use bindis, nosepins, toerings and anklets although they do not fully dress like Indian women is a manifestation of the phenomenon Hutnyk writes about. This behaviour also shows that they are independent consumers using jewellery to their own taste instead of attempting to assimilate in local cultures. There exists a common group standard of clothing among the long term female sojourners in Varanasi and breaks from the dress code are almost non existent. In addition to distinguishing themselves from local women by dress, these Western women distinguish themselves from short-term tourists. This means that one needs to avoid looking like an ordinary tourist (too clean, with clothes and shoes from one’s home country), and aim at a peculiar “hippie” style that means a kind of a casual look (that is still definitely not random). Wearing Indian clothes is tolerated as a means to avoid trouble but the “correct” and “cool” way to dress is a mixture of loose colorful hippie clothes and Indian clothes, and it is common to wear khadi cotton (homespun cloth advocated by Mahatma Gandhi). The Western women usually have their “own” J@rgonia 9 / 2006 ISBN 951-39-2555-2 / ISSN 1459-305X Mari Korpela: "I'm Not Like Indian Women." Reflections of Young European Women in Varanasi, India 9 tailors who sew for them according to their detailed instructions. In fact, travellers wanted to differentiate from tourists already in colonial times (Ghose 1998, 128–133; Hapuli 2005, 128–129). Nowadays, the amount of both has of course increased enormously. Tourists and the long-term sojourners in Varanasi are actors in the same global arena where it is easy and cheap for Westerners to travel to India. Nevertheless, although my interviewees distinguish themselves from tourists, the clearly foremost “other” against whom they mirror themselves is Indian woman. My interviewees seem to think that one should not go too far with “acting local.” Dressing in a sari seems to be a border that most Western women in Varanasi are not willing to cross. The sari seems to be a real sign of otherness. Only one of my interviewees uses a sari. Sari is not for me. It’s very Indian and this much Indian I’m not. It’s a traditional female dress and I’m not a traditional Indian woman. (Birgit 27, German.) Why is the sari such a border then when salwar kameez (although without the scarf) is not? The practical explanation is that it is very easy to use a salwar kameez and it resembles Western clothes, whereas wearing a sari is difficult for someone who is not accustomed to it. One needs to control one’s movements a lot more when wearing a sari, whereas in a salwar kameez, there is no danger of it falling off or revealing the “inappropriate” body parts. Moreover, a sari seems to represent ultimate Indian femininity to my interviewees and they want to distinguish themselves from this: they want to have freedom to act in non-feminine ways as became evident earlier in a quotation where Emma appreciated her ability to “do men’s things” in India. Some of my interviewees claim to wear Western clothes (colorful hippie style trousers, shirts and dresses manufactured for Western consumers in India) in order to express their “true” Western identity. This idea was also common in the nineteenth century travel literature (Grewal 1996, 93–94). It is also a process of me to go back to using Western clothes, not to be so correct, not to dress like Indians. I mean I’m a Westerner, I’m not Indian. (Sonja 28, Swiss.) In their talk, my interviewees emphasize that it is important for them not to forget their roots and what they believe to be their “real selves.” I am not Indian, I am not. I’m also very much a Westerner, I’m a Western woman and I must not forget this. (Jenny 27, British.) It is common for my interviewees to wear Indian clothes in public and Western clothes at home. In the private sphere, they return to their “real Western selves,” signifying for them independence and freedom as women. It seems almost as if the Indian surroundings were a stage on which they perform Indian womanhood. In the end, following the rules is just a game to make one’s life easier because one does not change within: there will and must always be a difference. J@rgonia 9 / 2006 ISBN 951-39-2555-2 / ISSN 1459-305X Mari Korpela: "I'm Not Like Indian Women." Reflections of Young European Women in Varanasi, India 16 colonial women, traveling was a means to constitute their subjectivity (Pratt 1992, 159–160). My interviewees talk in similar terms – being in India has helped them to see their strength. The postcolonial world seems not to be so different from the colonial one; even nowadays, travel can empower women. Conclusion The young European women I interviewed in Varanasi had gone to India for an adventure in an exotic place. However, as they have stayed in India for long periods of time, they have had to give up their outside observer status and define their own position more consciously. Faced with alien cultures, they have been forced to define themselves and the Indian “others” they see. Living as a Western woman in an Eastern environment requires constant negotiation between the conflicting discourses of the roles and places of women. For my interviewees, the result of this negotiation is empowerment and an emphasis on their European roots. They define themselves as being fundamentally different from Indian people and avoid “going native.” The Indian woman especially is a sign of otherness for these European women. Most importantly, independence and freedom of choice are the characteristics reserved for Western women. My interviewees say they would never want to become like Indian people, despite the fact that they stay there for long periods of time and claim to love India. The encounter with the “other” women contributes to the formation of strong Western female subjects in the post colonial context as it did in the colonial situation. Gender plays an important role in these European women’s negotiation of their position in Varanasi. As travelers they represent independence and freedom but the Indian cultural context imposes certain restrictions due to their being female. My interviewees try to solve this contradiction by playing with their gender: they take advantage of it when it benefits them but ignore the rules when they are disadvantageous to them. This kind of behaviour illustrates well their independent agency. Gender roles in India are very different from those in Europe and this has caused these young European women to be acutely aware of gender questions. In addition to the fact that they strongly disapprove Indian gender roles, they are also critical of women’s position in their home countries. In a way, India has freed them from certain pressures that women in Europe face, although in India they are confronted with other, possibly more visible, rules. Their comments reveal that they cannot escape their gender: they are treated as women and their own views are formed from their perspective as women. We often tend to think that the main consequence of traveling is to provide people with information about other peoples and cultures. However, instead of learning truly about Indian people, traveling has made the young European women in Varanasi understand their own identities more clearly, that is, they are fundamentally different from Indians. They have looked into the mirror called “India” and see what they define to be their Western selves (see Boorstin 1961, 117). Maybe in the beginning, India was an assault on the senses and a difficult place for them, but they have learned to play the game. They have turned the sometimes unpleasurable experience into their own empowerment. Being a Western woman in India may be a challenge, just as the J@rgonia 9 / 2006 ISBN 951-39-2555-2 / ISSN 1459-305X Mari Korpela: "I'm Not Like Indian Women." 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