Rajasthan- I got scammed!

I am at the northwest region of India right now, Rajasthan! It’s like a desert kingdom out here where there’s lots of grand palaces. The train ride between Jaipur and Jodhpur provided a great view of the landscape. Jodhpur is referred to as the blue city because a lot of the buildings are painted in blue. The Brahmins, one of the highest caste, painted their buildings blue because the color is considered holy. A lot of the gods like Shiva, Rama and Krishna are all blue.

The fool got scammed!

It was only a matter of time before I got scammed in India. It all happened a few days ago when I was at the train station in Delhi, getting ready to leave for the Taj Mahal. My train was leaving at 6:15 am and I got to the train station at 6:05 am. A person in a collar shirt approached me and asked if I needed help, so I showed him my ticket. He then took me inside the station and showed my ticket to this other guy, who was explaining something to a group of tourist. The guy told me that my ticket is on the “waiting list” and pointed at my seat number where it said “WL A1 12” Then the guy told me to follow this other person who will clear the waiting list for me. This guy took me OUT of the train station and led me into a Government Approved Tourist Office. This pudgy guy in the office checks my ticket on the computer and says that the train is all full. He says the train is full for the next four days. I told him I needed to get to Taj Mahal this afternoon because I have to catch another train that evening. He said that the only way is to take their private car that they have and it will cost $200 for the 5 hour ride. I laughed and said no way. After some bargaining, I get the price down to $100, which is still pretty expensive but it made sense in my mind for some reason ( I think it’s because I was not thinking clearly so early in the morning). So I gave the guy $100. However, this pudgy guy did not give me my refund on the train ticket. I pointed it out to him and he starts getting heated up because he said it was part of the bargaining price. I told him that the deal was off and I wanted my $100 dollar back. He gets scared and quickly gives me my 500 rupee refund for the ticket. This was the first sign that they have bad business practices.

So I get in the car and start the 5 hour journey. This fat driver with orange hair drives for a good hour and then stops. He explains to me that he has to go and pay the tourist tax for crossing this state. He said the tax was 10% of the service I paid for, thus it was $10. It was strange because there was no such law like that in South India. I gave him $10 and he gets out of the car and crosses the street to do something then he comes back into the car. We drive for another 3 hours and he stops the car again and says that I have to pay for the tourist tax again because we are about to cross a border. This time, I am a little suspicious… so I say there’s no way I’m paying the tax. I tell him that I want it to be cheaper. He says he’ll try and request it BUT I have to stay in the car. I wasn’t going to get out of the car, but when somebody tells me to stay in the car… I start getting very suspicious. I give him the money anyway, he goes off then comes back and says that the discount was not possible. So we drive on and finally get to Taj Mahal.

After a few hours, I get a call from the hotel concierge who helped me book my train ticket to the Taj Mahal. I told him that I couldn’t get on the train because I was on the waiting list. He was shocked and said that it wasn’t possible because the ticket was already confirmed. He called the train station to double check and they said that the seat was available but I wasn’t on it. Then the concierge said, “Victor, I think you got duped. They purposely made you miss your train at 6:15, then they lied to you about the train being full for the next four days so that you would ride their car for $100!” I replied, “No way, it was a government approved tourist office! Government!” He just chuckled and said, “The government tricks people too!” D’oh! At this point, I was a little bit angry and had a really negative perspective of India. I wanted revenge and I wanted them to regret they tricked me. BUT, after 10 minutes, I just didn’t care anymore. I got scammed! Shit happens, rookie! All I could do was admit defeat and say: Touche’, well played, very clever.

However, I did get a little bit of revenge. I told the fat driver to give me his boss’s number so I could tell him how great of a job he was doing at driving. Foolish... I call the boss up and say “Hey boss. I have a question for you, is there a tourist tax that I have to pay when I cross the border?” The driver immediately panics and tells me to give him the phone. I refused. The boss said something, but I couldn’t understand his English at all so I had to pretend to make up a conversation to scare the driver. So I started saying, “Oh really? NO TAX? Are you sure? Because I paid the driver 800 rupees. No tax, right? OK, so driver lied? OK OK, bye bye!” I hung up the phone and sat there and said, “Wow…Wow… I can’t believe you… Wow” Hahaha, the driver was really embarrassed because he thought I caught him so he starts apologizing and returns the 800 rupees to me. Then he gets a call from his boss who starts yelling at him in the phone. Swee oh! Then I neglected to pay him the tip that he was so excited about all day. Haha, yes, I got scammed but now I learned how to play the game. I don’t blame anybody but myself because tourists are easy targets for scammers. This has taught me a very valuable lesson and believe me, I’m a professional at the game now! hehe

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