It Happens In 3's

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Upon arriving at the train station in Jaisalmer for our 18 hour journey to New Delhi, I couldn't help but imagine what train travel in India would be like. We had booked a ticket in the highest class which would ensure us a bed, air conditioning and a locking door, but it also meant the possibility of sharing a room with two other people. As luck would have it, the train supervisor ended up switching us from a four person room to the only two person room on the train. It made for a relatively comfortable experience as we bounced along through the night from the desert to the madness that is New Delhi.

Arrival in New Delhi had many of the same views and landing at Mumbai airport. The poorest of the poor live in slums and shanty towns along the tracks leading to the station, and passengers on the train get an unfiltered and at times, unwanted view of life in those areas. The best way I could describe it as we rolled through the last five minutes to the train station, is that it felt like the railway line ran down the middle of a garbage dump. And in that dump there are families living, eating, working...doing all of their normal life things. As I mentioned before, some of the views were unwanted, but I'm not allowed to deny the rawness and truth that existed in the things we saw. It was uncomfortable, it smelled bad and it was India.

Upon arriving in New Delhi, we knew that this was the one place where scams and rip offs had the biggest chance of happening. We had managed pretty well in other areas with not getting locked into any bad deals, but from what we had heard it almost seemed inevitable in the big city.

On day one we went and booked a train ticket for the next morning to Agra so we could see the Taj Mahal. After, we decided to go see the Red Fort which is a New Delhi landmark. Thus begins the scams. Outside the train station, rickshaw drivers that I asked to go to Red Fort told me 150 rupees (4 dollars) was the price. I knew it was a ripoff so we kept walking. The fourth driver I asked said 80 rupees. I agreed and we jumped in his rickshaw. As we got in, another man jumped in the front with the driver. As we drove, the new man talked to us and asked us what we were planning on seeing. He advised us that this certain time of day was a bad time to visit the Red Fort because it was so busy and he suggested we get out at the market and walk from there to the Fort. The rickshaw driver stopped and the man showed us where the market was. Knowing that trusting anyone would be dumb, I told the driver that no, we were going to the Red Fort. The other man jumped out of the rickshaw and walked away and we continued driving to the Red Fort. When the driver stopped near the Red Fort at a gate that had police barricades, he informed us that the Fort was currently closed until later in the day. We got out, I paid the driver and then we walked for 3 minutes to the main gate of the Fort (which was not closed). It was all just a scam by the driver, who hoped we would believe him that it was closed, and then pay him to take us somewhere else. It's a very uneasy feeling knowing that no one is being honest, and that no one really is just being "helpful".

We saw the Red Fort and experienced more of the things we had been encountering in other places in India. I can try and be as polite as possible as I write this now, but the times when it happened it was much harder. Let me explain. Most Indian peolple that we encountered (males especially) don't have any idea of what polite means. I know that maybe it's just "how they do things" or "what they know", but what they know is flat out rude. Non stop staring at Audree, taking sneaky pictures of her on their camera phone, even coming up and asking for pictures with her (which we always denied). It got to the point that I would raise my sunglasses and stare back at them until they felt awkward and looked away from her, or that I would change the path I was walking so that I would be "in the way" of the picture they were trying to take. It quickly became overwhelming knowing that we were just walking dollar signs waiting to be ripped off and that expecting any honesty or genuine politeness would just not happen.

The day we went to Agra. This is the day that was all in all just too much. It started with waking up at 2 a.m to the sound of rats running around in the vent of our air conditioning. At least three times I had to get up and hit the vent to scare them off for a while so we could sleep. We then woke at five to get ready to go to the train station. Outside the hotel there were no auto rickshaws, only a bicycle one. A bike with a carriage on the back to sit in. It was the only option, so we got in and I agreed to the highly inflated price of 50 rupees. As we weaved our way through traffic, it was an uneasy feeling. As we neared the train, things began to move in slow motion as events unfolded. An autorickshaw in front of us pulled a U-turn, our bike had no brakes, and we collided with it. The collision was not massive, but Audree stumbled out of the rickshaw and into the street. She did a good job at getting herself turned and taking most of the impact on her backside. I quickly jumped out as she got up. I could tell by the look on her face that she was not hurt. A police officer who was nearby and saw the accident instantly grabbed a long stick and began beating the driver of the rickshaw that had U-turned. I threw 50 rupees at our driver, grabbed Audree and we walked towards the train station. She was overwhelmed and shocked at what had just happened, but she held things together and thankfully was not hurt, only a minor bruise.

We got on our train to Agra, which was an hour late and sat for the two hour ride wondering what else could happen on that day. Walking out of the train station in Agra it was like entering a war zone. And the battle being fought this day was for our money. A group of taxi drivers numbering what must have been 50 began screaming like wild animals at us and each other as they pushed and fought to talk to us. We put or heads down and walked away until there was no crowd and only one driver left. We agreed on a price and went to the Taj Mahal.

I don't need to write much about Taj Mahal. It's fantastic and amazing in every sense. The only downside for us was once again the number of sneaky pictures being taken of us and the number of guys asking for pictures with Audree. It made me wish that people would focus more on the amazing building that they were seeing and less on trying to get pictures of us. After the Taj, we went and ate at a rooftop restaurant, and then decided to take a taxi back to Delhi.

Things happen in three's. Rats. Rickshaw crash. And the third was definitely the taxi trip. We got our driver to stop so we could buy some water and this was where he decided he would change a tire on his car. With the tire replaced we were on our way. For 10 minutes. When he stopped to get gas. We carried on for an hour until he stopped to buy chewing tobacco. Another hour or so later he stopped for gas again, because he didn't fill it up the first time. Along the way there were 3 tolls to pay on the highway, which was my responsibilty and I did. Nearing Delhi, he once again stopped on the side of the road. He got out and looked down a road. He then leaned in the car and said "one minute". I told him, "no, we go now". He got back in and continued driving. When we reached our hotel and we began getting out, he told me about the 3 tolls I had paid for and asked for the money to pay for them again on the way back. I gave him the "I'm smarter than you" look, and told him that I had read the highway signs and knew that the price I had paid meant he already had receipts for the return trip. It was an attempt to scam more money out of me, the dollar sign. Knowing that I had outsmarted him, his last attempt as I stepped out was to throw out the line "my tip?". I looked back at him with a shocked and humored look. "Your tip?" I replied. "No". We got out and walked to the hotel trying to comprehend a weeks worth of things that had happened all in one day. We changed hotel rooms so as to avoid the rats, and then set about trying to not hate India too much. It's left me with a lot to think about India, and the way life is lived. If someone in Canada got charged double at a store for a Pepsi because of the color of their skin it would be called racism. It happens in India, so what is that called? I'll reserve judgment, focusing on the great things we did see, but I will only say thank you India, I hope I never see you again.

We arrived in Beijing this afternoon and instantly notice huge differences that already make it more comfortable being here. We will spend 6 days in Beijing, then jump a plane to Mongolia, before returning to China by train. Show me what you got Beijing!!

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Comments

[Lance]

Perfect Desciption of Agra
Hello, Good write up you have here. I was in Agra a few weeks ago and your description is spot on. I found it to be a dirty, gritty place with men looking at you with contempt and bad ideas on their minds. This distracted me from my Agra experience... I simply wanted to get in to the sights, take my pictures and leave. Anyway, take care and I hope you enjoy China more than India. Regards, Lance