can i shout at a tout to get rid of them?

yourasian

and can i argue in a rased voice if i am being ripped off? Is it acceptable to tell people to get lost if they are hassling you?

Jorge Reverter

Yes, is sometimes the only way.

freenote

carry an umbrella , they don't like it up 'em

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eyes ,eyes that have seen all , come back to the white chrysanthemum (Basho)

Hal

If you yell and swear at a tout, they will usually take extreme offense, possibly say something back, then slink away. It's my last line of defense, but it's quite satisfying..... A smile, "No thank you" and then absolutely ignoring them works most of the time.

edwardseco

I never have done so. A respectful firm preoccupied demeanor seems to indicate no prospect. Shouting sounds like you have lost it. It would seem to indicate you are an excellent mark for a routine. Start out with a firm voice. Leave the shouting for the drunken bustee dwellers..

Nick-H

Why the concern?

Would your worry about shouting at a pest anywhere else?

OceanTragic

Quality Dads Army reference FreeNote, quality

saajan_20

Yes this is the best way applies to beggar s and curious people too . Ignoring is also an art it comes with practise .

PeakXV

The quiet, confident negative body language approach is better than the aggressive, loud, losing it act. You save mucho energy and they get the message equally well.

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What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.
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Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

hfot2

A "No thank you" and (possibly) a smile often works.

We generally try to talk to each other, avoiding all eye contact with those who try to beg or offer to sell us something.

Reasoning, or discussion rarely works. On our first trip to Varanasi, I recall saying to one boatman (who had just heard us turn down at least 4 other boatmen) "Why would I want to go in your boat when I didn't want to go in those other 4 boats?" - of course, he told us why!

distaff half

Haylo

I never say anything, that only opens the channels of communication and also tells them which language you speak.

If I'm not in the mood for being hassled, and frankly I cannot think of a time when I have been, I just behave as if touts do not apply to me and they melt away in search of easier prey. At the most, I have had to employ a dismissive wave of the fingers.

I picked this idea up on a sightseeing trip with my partner's driver, I realised he was telling people in Hindi "No, she's not a tourist, she's living here". While I don't have the language skills to tell anyone that when I'm on my own, behaving as if I'm not a tourist and telling myself that touts are only for people who are "more touristy than me" really has worked.

Even at Agra there were only a couple of touts that this didn't work with and these are the most persistent guys on the planet, so I can't imagine ever having to shout at anyone to make them go away!

As for shouting at people who are ripping you off, why get angry and shout? Unless they have actually knocked you over the head and stolen your wallet, you're the one who has agreed to the price of something.

If you think they're trying to rip you off, just walk away and give your custom to someone else, why get angry?

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yourasian

wow got alot of replies. Thanks all ! i will do ignoramus approach and then employ a loud grrrhhhhh! whilst swiftly walking away this is were a bike would come in handy.

edwardseco

A little local language helps like Nai Chai yay. But, for my little one the touts so loved that they lined up in a row so he could go down the line telling each one his 2 words of Hindi. Strange sight, even for India.

Touts aren't that much of a problem, more like flies than anything worth getting upset about. As rightly said above by Peak, a confident uninterested demeanor sends most elsewhere..

RPG

Absolutely, but westerners are culturally conditioned to respond politely, so this goes against the grain. I remember when students going to the US were given a little booklet of cultural tips by the US Embassy in Delhi. One of the tips was that if you looked at a woman, she might look back at you and smile (especially outside the big cities) but this does not mean anything. It's just cultural conditioning.

As the original post implies, an angry reaction is easier for some westerners than no reaction at all, but self-control is required. Unless someone has physically assaulted you or something like that, anger is unacceptable and unproductive. No one can rip you off without your aquiescence; Indians by-and-large don't do theft or assault, they work through negotiation. Moreover, if you lose your temper, expect an amused crowd to gather to watch the entertainment.

Now of course spending too much time in India can give you bad habits for other countries. In Japan, visiting a temple, I was approached by two schoolboys who asked to accompany me to practice their English. Now this being affluent Japan, they were probably quite sincere, but I ignored them at first, then declared that I didn't speak English. They were astonished by this, and (when they understood) hurt. I felt bad. My reactions had been instinctive.

Hal

If an autorickshaw driver follows me through Connaught Place for 15 minutes, honking at me and hassling me to go on a tour of Delhi with him, when I've politely told him I'm not interested about 25 times, then I'm well within my rights to tell him to bugger off. It's quite productive, too.