A Friendly Official in India
Part of my assignment was to do key informant interviews with government officials. I traveled to a large city in the north by train, and, since I did not know anyone in the city, I stayed in a local hotel. As soon as I arrived I called the state head of the Department of Indian Systems of Medicine, who told me we could meet at his office at the end of the work day around 6:00 PM and that he would send a government car to pick me up at my local hotel. Around 5:00 PM he called me to say he had to work a little later, but he would send the car, and we could meet at his home. At the time I felt very privileged that this high ranking government officer would go out of his way to meet with me.
So, the car picked me up and brought me to his home. There were servants all over the place, but no family members that I could see. I was escorted to the living room, where the government official met me. We shook hands, and, after exchanging a few pleasantries, I began the formal interview. Over the course of the interview he kept interrupting me by offering me chai, or to ask me questions about myself and my time in India. Eventually he began making repeated comments about how sweet I was, how I did not need sugar in my chai because I was already so sweet, and offering to take me to dinner later in the week. I realized that I was in a precarious situation where if something happened I had no recourse, and I felt very uncomfortable
What would you have done?
