I have now been in India for a week, and I've only seen ONE beggar. Apparently people don't really beg here, instead they scam you. Anywhere, everywhere and all the time. Fair enough, to a westerner it is only a matter of a few dollars here and there, but it is a question of principle.
The scams can be anything as simple as trying to get you to pay 200 rupees for each piece of your luggage (the bus ticket itself cost 200 rps), to more elaborate scams where for example a kid persuades you to buy some milk and food (for let's say 150 rupees), but "no madame, I don't want your money", only to sell the groceries straight back to the shop as soon as you turn your gullible western ass.
Brina has learnt most of these tricks the hard way, but we've still been had a few times, paying twice the real price for a rickshaw or a scarf, or toilet paper etc etc.
Once Brina bought a bottle of water for this kid, who promptly started to run away as soon as he got the bottle in his hand. Brina tracked him all the way through the village, and just as he was about to hand over the bottle to the shop owner, she rushed out from her hiding place, opened up the cap and yelled "HA!" in the kid's face. Everyone, including the kid who just got caught red handed, started to laugh.
So even if you catch an Indian trying to scam you, he won't be very bothered by it. He will just shrug his shoulders, smile and go looking for another tourist to fool.
No comments:
Post a Comment