Gokarna Shop Keeper Warning

kayozz

Just to let you all know. There's a bookstore/jewellery store in Gokarna ( I think it's called Travellers books or Adventurers books)...

The guy who works there should not be trusted. At first he seemed like a very wise man and was quite charming and flattering to myself and my girlfriend. He spoke very good english and was quite funny...

He invited us for a meal with him as he told us he didn't like being alone. We (stupidly) agreed and went to his apartment where he made us some good food and we had a good chat. Then he sparked up some marajuana and seemed to change into a very perverted and competetive man. He kept trying to touch up my girlfriend and was insulted me personally. Every word that came out of his mouth made it seem like this man was trying to scare us. He talked about getting revenge on the British and that he was a crazy man and also that my girlfriend didn't want to be with me. He told her that he loved her (!!!) and made some moves on her. It took all my strength not to react badly to him. I just positioned myself between him and her.

We left very shortly after! He then gave us false directions to get us lost!

SO... although this sounds like paranoid gibberish, I would be very careful when dealing with this man. I think his name is Leeti or Lefti or something very similar....

gautam

wherez this place

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cyberhippie

Some folks shouldn't smoke dope, he sounds like a bit of a looney!!

Aparajith

Hi kayozz,
Sorry to hear about your experience. Very scary indeed. Give us more info on the location of the place of the shop and age of this guy. Better to keep far away from him and his shop.

There are some really friendly people and there we have loonys like this.

Take care and let this not spoil your trip.

jivan

wow... interesting experience to say the least. I read the whole thing with bated breath. I was expecting the usual swindling scene but then this is also not unfamiliar. I know of people who do the same for women who want rooms & then the guy/s wanna have sex with her. Sometimes they also do get lucky so don't know what to say.

kayozz

Like i said... the guy runs a book/jewellery shop in Gokarna town centre on one of the main streets (further up and around the corner from the chariots and not far from the bus station either) I think it's called Travellers books and has a yellow sign. The shop itself is quite clean, cool and chilled. He was quite a charming man but as I said he soon showed his true colours!!! He kept trying to fondle my girlfriend and kept asking me to leave his house (yeah right!) and then he kept talking about fighting and violence and anything I said to him he kept laughing (as though he knew better than me)...

His name was leeti or lefti or something.

He was about 34, short hair, quite smartly dressed... a few travellers kept coming and going into his shop and he definately had an eye for the ladies. It's a good job I'm a pacifist or he wouldn't have had a chance. I hate violence but at the same time I hate the fact that some vile, dirty rat of a man was trying to grope my girlfriend in front of me whilst telling her he loved her (!)...

The book store operated a trading system and a book loan system for 200 rupee's (with money back when returned)...

It's not to get anybody worried, more as a warning against this creep!

Apart from that we're having a blast! Om beach on the morrow!

PeakXV

Sounds like he was popping a few Viagras whilst on the job. A little eau-de- pepper spray next time will change his thought pattern quite rapidly - that is if you don't like to opt for the pugalistic solution!

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Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

crvlvr

Moral of the story: don't go to some stranger's and smoke dope.

I was in morroco and heard the locals (who prey on tourists) play a similar scam. They invite you into their home, offer you some dope, then a cop (his buddy) busts you and threatens to throw you in jail (for smoking dope)unless you pay some ridiculous amount. Our "guide" kept inviting us to his home.

goangoangone

Sounds like he needs a sound thrashing, and an "accident" in his shop. Hope I don't bump into him on my travels, or maybe I hope I do.

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kayozz

Nah... thought about it... best thing to do is just let everyone know he's a bit of pervert and maybe karma will do the rest...

Moose

I believe thats called the Travellers Library. Went in there a couple of times, the guy seemed really nice.
Just goes to show, gotta be carefull who you deal with, but don't get too paranoid....plenty of genuinely nice people out there!

PS. Kayozz....enjoy Om Beach....spent a great 4 weeks there mid Feb to mid March...wish i was there now!!

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Chandra

Sorry about your bad luck! But I don't think it's stupid to accept invitations to people's homes. I've had my best experiences in India in this way, and I have many good Indian friends now that I visit year after year.

It's important to be careful, but also to be open.

C

aires69

Yup..

kayozz

As an update... I just thing the guy from the book shop is quite lonely... Why else would he want to touch up my girlfriend in front of me (whilst passing it off as reiki healing) - From my experience the act of reiki itself doesn't include touching the tops of a womans breast and lingering around her stomach and lower area. He kept asking me to leave him and her alone... He then also started insulting me, tried to scare me with post-colonial scare stories (suggesting he had a gun and also stating that all Indians wnat revenge blah blah..) and even got quite personal (more personal than harassing and touching my girlfriend up...

After we'd managed to find an excuse to leave and not have to fight our way out, he then deliberately gave us wrong dierctions... minutes later we were surrounded by growling dogs (as if our nerves needed the extra shock) and had to be saved by a hotel owner throwing chairs at them!

Two days later we see this bloke again (His name is Latif) and he acts like nothing has happened, even going so far to smile a dirty grin at us...

I think he just wants women to love him. Before we left Gokarna we saw a white western girl being led to his home by this shifty fellow. Now I wonder if we should have warned her what she was in for.

So on a final note. If you want to be touched up, humiliated and lied to by a perverted man then by all means visit the Travellers book shop, Gokarna...

mmike56

Hi

We had a similar experience (on the 1 April 06) with this guy. My girlfriend went into the shop to look at the Jewellery and I waited outside. While she was in there he apparently told her that ‘we shouldn’t be together’ and he attempted some sort of Reiki reading on her - during which he kept telling her not to be afraid of him. She said that he spoke English really well and even understood some of the subtleties of the English language. He asked her to come back the next day without me - so they could talk properly. Fortunately my girlfriend did not trust this guy and never went back but she simply thought he was trying to fleece her for a ‘free’ Reiki reading. We both think that it might be advisable to warn the local police at the foreign tourist arrival check in point where you log in before anyone gets really hurt, ,. What do you think? This guy might be lonely but what if he oversteps the mark, especially with a lone female?

MMike56