#67,Why should they take me to a low hotel?
Swami Vivekananda wrote to Alasinga, his chief disciple at Chennai, from USA, On 1st July 1895. In his letter, Swamiji refers to a misstatement in a pamphlet, apparently that he was going to big hotels in USA. "...There is one misstatement in that pamphlet. I never went to a big hotel in this country, and very few times to any other. At Baltimore, the small hotels, being ignorant, would not take in a black man, thinking him a negro. So my host, Dr. Vrooman, had to take me to a larger one, because they knew the difference between a negro and a foreigner..." BLOGGER'S VIEW We can understand Swamiji's position in an alien country. If a small hotel refused him, there was no alternative. He had to go to a bigger hotel as per his host's directions. But his hosts and he felt that his "Aryan" background was not recognised by the hotel owners. The hoteliers misunderstood his brown color to be black, rather than trying to enquire about his nationality and race...