On a weekend trip to the state of Tamil Nadu in south India, I was driving from a hilltop Hindu temple down to the valley of Mettupalayam with some of my co-workers and local friends. We passed this group of young children and I immediately hopped out of the car to go meet their baby cow. The kids smiled so genuinely at us. They were so happy that we were interested in their cow! I hate the whole idea of western tourists going to third world countries looking to meet locals who have never met white people before. But according to our friends who spoke Tamil, these kids really never had seen people with white skin in-person before.

Mettupalayam, India. 2018.

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