stranger in a strange land

Every once in a while I feel so completely out of place here and other times I feel completely at home here. This weekend was an odd combination of both of those feelings.
On Saturday I had a great lunch out with a friend at a newly discovered restaurant and then went to one of my favorite museums. I was out and about in the city; not even thinking twice about asking a cop for directions to the market the restaurant was in (which, while a great find, was remarkably difficult to find) and had fun showing my friend around the museum. I didn't even think it was odd when suddenly 40 (literally) cows started walking across traffic in front of us; my first thought was not how odd it was that 40 cows were suddenly walking in front of us but rather that I really hoped it wouldn't cause a traffic jam.
It didn't. Indian drivers are quite adept at getting around cows.
Aside: there was one little baby calf - it was so cute!
Aside #2: it occurred to me later in the day that 40 cows strolling through traffic is not normal.
And then yesterday everything made me feel out of place. I suppose it started while I was waiting for an autorickshaw and a man came up to me and asked me if I was foreign (ummm, yeah!) and then asked to talk to me because he "had never seen a foreigner before". Highly unlikely and a rather bad pick up line. Luckily an autorickshaw pulled up and I jumped in it very quickly and willingly overpaid by 20 rupees.
Then I had two beggars come up to me and actually grab at me - which never happens! I know this sounds strange but usually the beggars here can tell that I'm a 'local' of sorts so will ask once for money then move on; knowing that with real tourists if they keep asking they will probably get money but with those of us that live here either we give right away or not at all.
And then when I got to the mall I had another man come up to me wanting to talk to me. He said he remembered me from the British High Commission to which I (probably rudely in retrospect) said that I'm not British so that is highly unlikely.
There were a series of other things that happened that just made me feel like I didn't belong here. I haven't felt that way in a long time; I guess that after over a year I figured I wouldn't have that feeling any more but India is very very different so I suppose it is only natural that I feel that way sometimes. I suppose it is actually more odd that most days I don't feel out of place.