how to handle touts?

mountaingirl

Wear a BIG earphone and walk 'through' people - they will think that you are listening to music - so it will discourage people from trying to make a conversation with you.

Also if you wear Indian clothes and carry your rosary beads and a red tilak 'vermilon mark' on your forehead - it may work sometimes.

bijapuri

shove them
then move away at a brisk walk, ignoring their incredulity and outrage

__________________
Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.
Barack Obama

lookit me!!!: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bijapuri/

Utube fuzzy logic:
http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=bijapuri&p =r

oldhippie

Mountaingirl
Headphones might work but some of the touts are a bit more persistent and start touching you. That really ticks me off.
I am a lot taller and bigger than the average Indian male. I look mean to them and they leave me alone in no time.

I hear the Eunuchs (Chakkas) can be quite a problem to Indians. Is this true?

Bill

__________________
Too Many Gandus, Too Few Bullets.

suginami

They can be really hard to shake off at times. Just ignoring them doesn't work as they keep walking alongside you getting in your way. Distracting you as much as possible and trying to confuse you. If you are looking for something and you have this total ass doing he best to piss you off just talk to him in complete gibberish. It works. Like ' where are the mud buckets? Is Wednesday the best day for them?" " have you reached Nirvana?" just keep piling on the crap and it gets quite funny. One guy said to me' you must be too much sun". Although one guy did threaten to cut my throat making slicing motions around his throat because I wouldn't give him money for escorting me to my guest house. Above all don't bother trying to reason with them. Oh, and those wan***s who waltz up to you at stations and go on about how they just lost their ticket and if you could just blah blah blay..they deserve "Not today, wa***r'

oldhippie

Suginami
We had a majopr problem with Indian touts in Hong Kong earlier this year. They were all over Nathan Road, Kowloon bothering tourists and local expats trying to sell anything from fake watches to male prostitutes. Most of these guys were entering illegally hidden in suitcases via the China - HK border. The government busted the racket and cut the visas down to 2 weeks which solved the problem to some extent. These days if they approach you you need to simply threathen to call the cops and they take off in a flash.

Bill

breeb

This sort of thing makes a 2ndAC/1stnonAC indiarail pass worth its wieght in gold. I bought a 30 day pass when I first arrived.


What does this pass entail, and how do I get one!?

__________________
Power to the Peaceful

Fiski

As a last resort you may seek HerbyGreen's final recourse

kira

I heard someone mention that when touts try to talk to them in English they simply reply, "Nay, Hindi" to everything the tout says. The tout will eventually think that you don't speak English since you seem to be confusing his English with Hindi. (Nay means "no")

I haven't tried this myself, but it sounds like it might do the trick.....Since I will be in the south I may try "Illa, Malayalam"

Arriving in Trivandrum, I was hounded by a gang of touts all trying to get me to pay them for helping me with my bags and to the taxi, etc. It can be quite disorienting for someone who has never been to India before to be suddenly surrounded by ten guys trying to carry your bags and all expecting to be paid. I am going to hang on to my bags for dear life this time in order to avoid this scenario.

Watch out for rickshaw drivers trying to take you somewhere you don't want to go - that happened to me at the Trivandrum airport, and I had to make a scene (yelling in Malayalam) in order to get him to stop and let me out.
In situations like these it really comes in handly to have some knowledge of the language (including body language) - at least it seemed that way to me.

Colin

Observe the Indians, an Indian doesn't have to shove or talk gibberish to touts, he just looks at them with a superior air, no smile, just a cold look which says 'don't f**k with me, I know who I am and who you are, just get out of the way'. This 'superior' air takes a while to develop, just tell yourself that these guys are trying to waste your valuable time simply for their own benefit!

torryquine

I've just read through this thread with interest, but I can't see what I'm looking for, which is a few words of Hindi that say eg:
"No, I don't want that"
"Please go away"
"I don't need your help"
etc. In other places I've found that one good afirmative phrase in the local language which states your position, works wonders and can make your passage through that country a whole lot smoother. My sad guidebook can't supply me with one.

Any suggestions? What works for you? I'm not expecting miracles by the way.

__________________
http://werenotafraid.com/

kira

During my most recent trip, I found that ignoring them (no eye contact, pretend they don't exist) was most effective, though extremely difficult when you have 5-10 of them walking backwards in front of you literally screaming at you....when it got out of control, most frequently outside of train stations, I had to say Nahi (no) a lot, in a forceful and 'angry' tone of voice.

There was one incident that was so intense (a crowd of touts trying to overcharge me), I started laughing, which turned into a sweet experience as the touts were laughing with me, in that moment I saw their humanity (instead of viewing them only as money hungry sales people out to 'get me').

The key is to keep your ) India is one of the best places to learn how to develop patience. By doing so, you'll have a much smoother and more enjoyable experience. I found the Indian people as a whole to be much more 'deep' and loving than many Westerners, even the touts

seventies'hippy

Any tout worth his salt understands & knows exactly what
"No, I don't want that" "Please go away" and the "I don't need your help" means. I think that if you start throwing a few choice hindi phrases back at anyone more than about 7yrs old which you can't then reply back to in hindi to their reply will only add to the pestering,,,,,,,,
Just go with the flow, It's their job, & hope that someone more 'gullible' looking is walking up not far behind you,,,,,,,,,,,
Be prepared & try & get into a jovial frame of mind with them,,,,,,,
It sometimes makes it easier,,,,,,,,,

Happy Travelling

torryquine

You're right, a little humor goes along way

George Frowney

Totally ignoring them is usually best. For the touts and beggars who won't go away, the best thing is to say "go away" in Hindi. Have a local teach you. Once in Jaipur they got so pushy that I shoved them away, which worked.

seventies'hippy

Ummmmm, Do you enjoy being in India?
What is your purpose in going there,,,,,,,,