New Market: What's the story with the "guides"?

Bella

I had a good time visiting Kolkata recently, but one thing puzzled me...

I and a few other (male and female) travellers I met in Kolkata all suffered the same irritation of being persistently followed around New Market by men wearing official looking passes, who insisted that they are employed to do just this. Can this really be?

They didn't want money, didn't seem to be allied to any particular shops, but neither would they leave us alone to browse around in (relative) peace. How can this possibly encourage tourists to spend money?? All it did was make us exasperated.

I had to sneak away from two such people to give them the slip, and eventually gave up and left in disgust before I could even look at anything properly. When I tried going back there with a group of female friends, it happened again. We tried asking nicely for them to leave us alone, and then we just resorted to being patently rude to them, but still they refused to budge.

A massive turn-off, and surely bad for business!

brownboy66

first time I've heard of this - sounds very weird! Unless they are some sort of market security designed to ensure tourists don't fall victim to any problems - but as you say it sounds very over the top. Hopefully one of the IM locals will be able to shed light on this.

atala

These are people who pose as porters (with a basket, and a number on their shirt) and who get a commission for guiding shoppers to some shops otherwise not traceable in the very large New Market complex. They are a nuisance if you just want to "window-shop" around and are not looking for anything specific. But if you are looking for a particular item, they are helpful because they will get you to those shops that carry the item you need. If you want to compare prices, just ask for another shop, and they will get you there, and if necessary back again to the previous one, which you would never find again on your own. They are so persistent because they are convinced that no newcomer will find his/her way thru New Market without a guide. They have this typical conceit of being the valuable help you really require. And they think and say out loud that they do not cost you anything.

By the way, they will also bring you to shops that do not give commissions, if the item you look for is a non-commission item. In that case I give them some rupees if their help has been involved. That was the case last year when I was there.

Remember: No market needs any tourist's business in India. it is a hard truth, but nevertheless accurate. so better not to get angry. Instead I joke around with their offers, until they get the point or get tired walking with me thru the market without getting anything out of it.

somnath

Yeah, this is really strange and I don’t think I’ve noticed this particular change in New Market ! May be ‘they’ are dedicated to foreign tourist! Anyways, seems like their intension is not bad but the way of help is not very acceptable to everyone. Next time I’ll try to know more about this.

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atala

Strange, Somnath, that you have never come accross these guys before. Perhaps you do not go there much? They (others) were there 25 years ago when I went there for the first time, and have always been there when i visited the market again. They are very much part of New Market. They cannot just live from foreigners alone because not enough of them visit there.

somnath

No I didn’t. Atala, yeah you are right I am not a regular visitor but ………… I was not even aware of this. Really, there are so many unknown things …… I am still gathering more and more info from here. I’ll definitely check this feature of New Market.

atala

There is nothing special about them, they are not even specially aggressive, it is just one of those occasions where we foreigners get annoyed about our special status that we have with guides and touts, because they consider us a more promising possible customer than a local person.

What Bella, the OP, mentioned was how she got annoyed with not getting thru to the guide with the information that he was not needed. We all know this situation well. We tend to see ourselves reduced to the status of victims, disempowered by people who persevere in approaches that we cannot balance or neutralize easily. This disbalance leads to a frustration, a feeling of being helplessly at the mercy of someone else.

Sales-people know what they want and know how to get it. If you have ever done any sales-work, you know that persistence will eventually always show some measure of success; this includes the expectation of some failures along the path to success. Some people relent and give in sooner or later, after being pestered with demands and offers. The acquisition of customers is the main business of these guides. They have nothing else to do than trying to force their services on people who at some point might accept them.

In this situation it is our job to act in a way that serves our own needs best. If someone persists, does not take No for an answer and does not leave you in peace, you have two strategies at hand. Either, the first option: you engage him which means in this case you have to follow him around in the market wherever he guides you until you found what you wanted to buy or until he realizes that you are never satisfied with anything and he is just wasting his time with you. Or, the second option: You turn the situation around, take him as a "partner" to have fun with for the time that you intend to spend in this market.

This second option is much more relaxing and a sort of exercise of self-experience and self-exploration. Instead of creating negativity within your own mind and body, it becomes an exercise of "making the best use of a bad bargain". It is similar to seeing the funny side of a Yehova's witness at your doorstep. You will develop your own creativity in responding in such ways that improve your mood rather than pulling it down.

somnath

2nd option is really better.

Nick-H

"How was your day?"

"It was great! I developed and grew by reacting to touts."

"And what did you see?"

"Touts".

Sometimes there is other stuff to do, like shopping, sight-seeing, and all the things one actually went out to do.

Once in a while with the game playing...

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Ann

Wow, I never faced or seen such a tout in New Market. I do most of my shopping from New Market & bara bazaar. Next Time I am surely going to look for one....

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atala

There are not many. If there are ten of them, it would be many. Look out for people with wide baskets, in which they hope to carry your goods. They also have a number tag stiched on their shirt. They always say that they are registered with some office, possibly the New market Shop-keepers Association or something. Being "official" is their big mantra.

Ann: You would most likely come accross one of them if you entered New Market from Lindsay Street side.

unclelach

The posts from atala confirm what I experienced with some "guides" at New Market last year.

I wish I possessed atala's wisdom and sense of proportion. Perhaps it took the best part of atala's eight years in India to acquire his perspective. I regret that once in Mumbai's Crawford Market I swore at a porter's tout who presented a dodgy "official tag".

Bella

Thanks for clarifying this, Atala.
I'm glad they don't just target tourists, and act the same with the locals. I just couldn't shop like that all the time - it would drive me nuts.

wonderwomanusa

I've always believed that the New Market basket boys think foreigners are too stupid to find our way from one side of the market to the other, whether or not we are actually buying anything.

I usually go in and head for Nahum's Bakery, which I can eventually find using a zig-zag pattern ... and then zig-zag my way back out to the street. The basket boy follows me, chattering away and trying to tempt me into one shop or another.

India Edge

We ran into one of these guys and I really didn't mind his company at all - kinda fun actually. He helped me find a stall that had the toy auto rickshaws I was looking for. I liked him. And I tipped him too.

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