Big Head and Big Belly

I'm fat and famous. I actually felt by newest belly rolls giggling in the car - granted the roads are very bumpy, but that doesn't seem like a good excuse. I've been living with this family in Vidyanagar, Gujarat, India for the last three weeks and every meal is vegetarian and delicious, and unfortunately, filled with oil. And every meal I am given seconds and thirds even when I say "no thank you" and it's impolite to not eat a lot. I'm very polite.

I'm volunteering at an environmental education center here and one of my tasks is to go to the villages and teach kids about snakes. Actually, they have to do the teaching 'cause I can't speak Gujarati or Hindi, but I stand there like Vanna White and show snakes to squirming girls. The red sand boas are my favorite and I wrap them around my neck for the whole presentation and watch everyone freak out. Few people here like snakes though they eat the rodents who eat the crops who feed the people so, really, they should like them.

The thing is, most villages seem to have never seen a foreigner before, or at least not one as pale as me. I like to think their treatment of me is because I'm a big Bollywood star now, but that is obviously not the case. I am treated like Angelina is in the photos - stares, autograph requests, people wanting to shake my hand and offer me tea, and give me their seats and flowers and anything else they can think of. I was even interviewed by the local TV station today - an expose on why the white girl came. It's obnoxious. I hate it. I question if $18 million is enough for one film with this kind of treatment. I wish I got paid $18 million. Heck, I'd be thrilled with $18.

Maybe next life.