White's Only Please!

I was talking to an Australian guy the other day and he mentioned that he was going to play golf with some clients in this place called Ambi Valley, outside Mumbai. So I just asked him if one had to have membership to play there or if anyone could go there. He said that he thinks it's actually only for foreigners. So probed further to ask him if it means that you had to be "white" or just a non-Indian passport holder. He didn't know, but he thought you had to be white. I was aghast and I expressed it and said that was just plain wrong!

Discriminating based on price is fine - that's how companies segment their products/services for different customer segments but based on the color of the skin?! Is this not 2009 or are we in like the 1800s? The Australian guy just kinda looked at me and didn't say anything. Poor guy.

So asked around and found out that thankfully, it was not a 'Whites Only' place. Even Indians (with Indian Passports) are allowed. But for that 5 minutes that I had the conversation with the Australian guy, I was very disturbed. What is the fetish of non-white people (in their own bloody country) to cater so hugely to white people and forget their country-men(/women)?

A few days later I read the an article in the Times of India which reported a story about a Haagen Dazs outlet that opened up in Delhi which had a banner saying "Exclusive Preview for International Travellers. Access restricted only to holders of international passports."
(Article can be found here: http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/randomaccess/entry/sorry-indians-not-allowed1)

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!

I know this isn't just an India phenomena, but more a developing country one. Somewhere, somehow I can understand treating (white) foreigners better, I guess. But completely blocking entry based on color is something that is beyond my understanding. Maybe somebody can explain this to me.