Just outside Banaras Hindu University is the town of Lanka, which Willis often visited to do some shopping. She frequented a dry goods stall, whose owner was a Punjabi Sikh. After visiting to make various purchases for about two months, the owner asked Willis permission to inquire about a personal matter. She conditionally agreed and was a bit surprised when the man asked her which caste she identified with.

Not knowing how to answer, Willis simply replied that she is an American. The man sincerely conveyed his sympathy for her classification as an “American Negro.” This expression left Willis completely speechless; here, ten thousand miles from the United States, a simple shop owner had such a wide-ranging knowledge of the world that he was aware of the challenges Black Americans face in the United States. This exchange demonstrated how much more cultured the rest of the world is than Americans.

Furthermore, Willis was forced to recognize that Americans do find themselves in a sort of caste system, which was a “sobering awakening.” Willis reflected that identifying as a Black American “did mean that [her] class status was lower than most other Americans” and that it was impossible to deny this fact.

Willis returned to this shop owner to continue conversations about race and societal structures in the United States, which helped her feel that she and India “were beginning to meet.”