"Goat Baksheesh"

Dr Funkenstein

This morning, I'm sat by the Tungabadhra River in Hampi and this little lad comes along with a herd or 5 or 6 goats. Spotting me, he deliberately herds them in my direction until one or two of them inevitably come up to me and start sniffing around.

As soon as this happens, he makes a big show of supposedly being incredibly angry with his goats for coming near me and shooes them all away with the aid of a big stick.

Then he's at my side with his hand out:

'Baba. Baksheesh. Goat Baksheesh.'

I had to laugh.

Any other tales of ludicrous demands for money out there?

__________________
Out There Somewhere : My Travel Blog.

DianeN.

Hilarious. Did you give him any money?

indiamike

After being given the runaround from a taxi from the airport to my hotel. Numerous stops to travel offices and the old hotel booked and me finally insisting just to take me to my hotel, the driver had the balls to ask for some Baksheesh.

Mike

paan wallah

when I left India I had to take a prepaid taxi from the station in kolkata to the airport,the trip took about 2 1/2 hours,that time I was in a bad mood,you know the India is too much for me mood,
so I was staring out of the window,asking myself is this the last time for me to go to India?,the driver noticed that I was in a really bad mood,so he decided to put some hindi pop music on,wow!,
that changed my mood in s second,I started to laugh and love India again,already thinking about the next time...
when we finally reached the airport I gave him a tip of 100 rupeess,
he stared at the money: for me? I think he looked at the 100 rupee note for at least 2 minutes
Then I just smiled and said:that s for the music.

So when I m in India and have a good service or some extra special "treatment" I don t hesitate to give some baksheesh

lalooprasadyadav

I was asked for baksheesh by the policeman who collects the disembarkation form stubs just after you have cleared customs at Mumbai airport.

Also by the porter of the Jet airways trasfer bus between airports. He had NO TIPS written in huge letters on the front and back of his overalls.

Dr Funkenstein

Nope. Just cracked up laughing.

To be fair to him, he just shrugged his shoulders and walked off with a 'you win some, you lose some' look on his face.

Dr Funkenstein

Yeah, that's the other side of it. Today, a postcard / guidebook seller came up to me and I braced myself for a protracted bout of saying 'No thanks' about a million times, like normal.

After I'd said 'No thanks' just the once, he immediately gave up the sales pitch and just sat and had a nice chat with me. Got loads of useful info from him: he recommended a waterfall that I didn't know about and he warned me about a few places to avoid after dark amongst other things. After half an hour or so of good conversation he got up to leave without any request for money.

It was such a refreshing change that I gave him some baksheesh.