Paid to be white

NEW DELHI: It was a Saturday night in Hauz Khas Village. Full of bars and restaurants, the area was pretty much alive and populated by boisterous crowd of westernized Indian youth in their twenties. "We're having happy hours for next thirty minutes," said Melanie, passing a leaflet and pointing at the pub across the street. Couple of months back, Melanie came to Delhi from France along with her boyfriend who now also works at the place, mostly on weekends. They are both students and theoretically, cannot work. But here such people are willingly hired and paid more than they would have been in Europe, Melanie stressed.

In north India, high-profile event planners are finding it hard to do without white people. They are hiring light-skinned ushers, bartenders and entertainers for private parties, weddings and club openings. Those who are hired are mostly female models and students, usually very young, from Europe and central Asia.

Employees can earn anywhere between 5 and 10 thousand rupees per night. Generally, there are four categories of them: paid guests, performers, waiters or bartenders and receptionists who greet guests upon arrival. Performers would do a whole set of dances including belly and folk, sometimes also play 'dhols' (ethnic drums), serve drinks and do tricks. So-called 'living tables'-- women in extravagant clothes with specially designed draped table-tops around their waists-- are also easy to spot at such events.

Priyanka, a teacher who identifies herself as upper-middle class, has attended several such high-profile parties with white performers and found them amusing. "This is an additional income for youngsters. Any kind of work where one's dignity is not at stake adds some good experience to one's life," she said. But some people in the industry say that Western-looking bartenders and escorts have been everywhere for a while and now if you want to throw a classy wedding you must push things further.

Blonde model posing for camera
A photographer who did not want to be named recalled a wedding in the capital last December. A blonde girl of very light complexion was in a black ballet skirt and wore heavy makeup. Apart from that, she had a harness around her, attached to a zip line and for most of the time, she hung upside-down, pouring champagne into guests' glasses. Another girl, almost bare, stood in a small pond with water pipes tied to her hands and changed poses. She acted as a human fountain.

Some of the girls who work as models at such parties sometimes indulge in striptease as well. According to the photographer, popular Russian belly dancers are not necessarily professionals. "Sometimes they would go inappropriate, pulling up their shirts but that's what their employers expect them to do," he said.

Living tables are easily spotted in Delhi's high profile parties
A good performance

"A foreigner is always an attraction point. It pays to hire him," claimed Sajan Singh Chawla, who runs a wedding studio and has attended about a dozen parties with white staff. A European working at a bar lures people and so can get anywhere between 5 and 7 thousand rupees per night while a local would be paid just 3 thousand for the same work. "Hiring Europeans in weddings has become a trend due to clients' demand," said Gaurav Khera, a wedding planner. "Almost 80% of our clients prefer fair-skinned in wedding functions either to perform on stage or for hospitality," he admitted.

According to event planners, the demand is growing. In the season, there is always a scarcity of international manpower. On special days, such as New Year 's Eve, artists are either unavailable or available at costs as high as 1 lakh rupees for a few hours. "I think they are underpaid in their own countries and realize that India is a huge market," Singh Chawla said.

Bargaining with whiteness

The new trend is popular especially in the north, with its flashpoints in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan. "Mentality of north Indian clients is to show that they spend a lot on their parties and hiring white-skinned manpower is the best way to stress their social status," Gaurav Khera explained. "Boasting is a matter of pride here and people are more into show-offs, they also keep looking for new things all the time," said Sajan Singh Chawla. He described all the host families who excel in hiring western-looking work force as the "new rich". "Shameless acts of showing off are not uncommon among these people," the other photographer added.

Fair skinned girls performing at a party in Delhi
The phenomenon has also a lot to do with Indian obsession for fair skin and country's colonial past. During the Raj Indian dancers used to perform at the houses of British colonialists. Now the situation seems to have reverted. According to Roksana Badruddoja, a sociologist based in New York, it does say something about the social constructions of race. "The valuation of skin within colonial and post-colonial contexts is not new. What you see here is something called bargaining with whiteness," she explained.

Interacting with white people is seen as aspirational, their presence adds glamour to events, it is also a fun element. Although the Indian employers need white staff to make their parties shine, they treat them as badly as they treat other workers. But it's not very likely to continue. Sajan Singh Chawla thinks the trend will not last longer. "It's already getting a little boring," he said.

*Some names have been changed to protect sources' privacy

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