Foreigner!

I still remember that day very clearly. The sun brightly shining down, the sky as blue as it could possibly be and the salty sweet smell of the Bay of Bengal in the air. I was skipping along with my dad's index finger snugly held in my little hands, my floral frock swaying in the wind when I stopped in my tracks, looked at two white women and yelled - FOREIGNERS!! Jumping up and down, with my finger (the index one) pointing to the smiling ladies, I felt like I were in a different world altogether!! That's when my embarassed dad educated me about the nuances of the term 'foreign' and after a whole big lecture on the origin, meaning and usage of the word, when enlightenment failed to dawn on me, he finally said - 'foreigner is just a word, just like they are foreigners to you, you are a foreigner to them.' I don't know what exactly I did, I didnt really care, I WAS A FOREIGNER TOO, but I still remember the look on the tender coconut shop guy, with his sickle in a strike pose and 'elaneer' in hand, grinning at me as I (in my head, thought, wow, I must be so 'fair' too!) revelled in the new found knowledge of being a FOREIGNER!!
To clarify, I have definitely come a long way from thinking that being fair skinned is cool, I am proud of my brown skin (dark brown after a few minutes in the sun!) and don't really want it any other way! But just reminiscing about my innocent days when being a foreigner was being either white or black and nothing in between brings me to understand the ignorance that was me! Now the little girl in me is quite pleased, because, surrounded by the Pentlands, the Highlands and the Scottish people, I am now the odd one out, the 'foreigner'!! And when I see a blond haired, blue eyed girl staring at me (these kids are so weirdly quiet, I miss the brawling, yelling Indian kids!) I will understand!!