warning: high snark factor.

Lately I've been pondering a certain type of, shall we say, neo-colonial American who comes to India. Let me sketch out the psychological profile for you: This type of American just loves India for how quaint it seems, and revels in the attention that a foreigner gets here. She doesn't seem to notice the half-naked man passed out (or perhaps dead?) on the side of the road, or the guy with no legs rolling past on a skateboard asking for rupees, but if there's a homeless puppy around she will cry her eyes out. Said American seeks out the "feel good factor" of working with street children at prominent NGOs, but mistreats the very hardworking, poor servant woman in front of her face. She secretly enjoys the feeling of power over inferiors, especially servants, while simultaneously feigning discomfort at being served. In fact, the servant-boss relationship makes this American very uncomfortable, not because it seems wrong to be waited on, but because the American deep down "feels sorry" for the servant -- a feeling that is really based on the idea that such a person is doing inferior and demeaning labor, rather than making an honest living and having no need for pity. Instead of trying to adapt to the local culture which sees the work of servants as honest labor and labor which provides for families, said American seeks a way to avoid interactions with servants as much as possible. But because she doesn't have the ovaries to confront the servant and fire her herself, she instead resorts to dirty tricks. Why not just lay a trap for the servant? Like perhaps leaving thousands of rupees laying around to tempt a person who is honest and upstanding, but who is in tens of thousands of rupees of debt and has moneylenders banging her door down? Who has to sometimes feed her kids leaves from the drumstick tree because they have no money for food? Why that would be a wonderful excuse to fire someone! Rather than facing up to your inability to value said servant's labor as productive and honorable, why not trap them into stealing and ruin their reputation instead of making yourself uncomfortable? Brilliant!