I went to CP, and all of a sudden I have lots of friends

frunkie

Hello all, I am a newbie (just signed up). But anyways, we were in Connaught place (CP) yesterday. Yes, like 1 hour prior to the bombing. When we there, it felt crazy...multiple guys coming up to us claiming to want to help us, they asked where we were from, etc etc. Ok fine, I read that people come up to talk to practice English. Then they all kept asking the same questions, then pointing us towards Cottage Emporiums, and the many different branches that are in CP and the close vicinity. They would even guide us to the place. Keep in mind that the person I was with and I are both east asian, so we obviously stick out like a sore thumb.

Naturally, we kind of thought that these people we trying to rip us off or scam us. There were probably a total of 10-15 people that wanted to "help" us. Maybe they got commission for leading us to the store? But, after doing some research on this site, I found out that Cottage Emporiums is the Government run place?

So were they actually trying to help us? I doubt the government would try to have people on the street, that aren't in uniforms, lead tourists to their stores...

Very confused.....

Frank

frunkie

Somewhere in the middle, I also got scammed by the shit on shoe epic dillemma, so of course I was on my guard the rest of the day.

robbiej

From my experience in CP, these "friends" you speak of are trying to get you to go to a shop where they will then get commission. There seems to be a multitude of ways this works in India and it can be very confusing. Often my new friends wanted to take me to their uncles or brothers store.

My feeling was, rather than be rude to these people and not chat with them, that I would chat, and then when they mentioned the store I would say a polite "no thanks but thanks for the chat". The fact is, noone can force you to buy something you dont want from a store can they. Some of the most fun I had was talking to new "friends" even if 9 times out of 10 they were trying to seperate me from my money.

edwardseco

#3 a balanced, sober, and productive attitude, kudos. The shoe routine often involves dark polish so take out your rag and ...

anarkali

Yeah, we spoke to a lovely guy who was 'working in IT in Bangalore and visiting his grandmother in Delhi'. We chatted about the cricket, Australia, his work, while he deftly led us to 'the Government travel office' that was all the way across CP from the real Government travel office. Only suspicion we had was when he made a very quick call on his cellphone when we appropached the office.

He was really very good, and for the most part we enjoyed being taken for a ride by him.

His 'Government travel office employee' friend / colleague tried to sell us a super expensive train trip to all the places we wanted to go, writing everything out painstakingly with a pencil. All of our objections were dismissed, and when interrupted he would go through the same rigmarole over again. After the third time, we politely excused ourselves, whereupon he angrily accused us of wasting his time! Cheeky!!

Aishah

They are all commission touts - a person you don't know is never an immediate 'friend'. You have the right to totally ignore them, and no need to engage in 'chat' unless you want to. Connaught Place swarms with these very presentable young fellows, also some mature, older very experienced ones - they either want you to go to their handicraft place, or book a tour to Kashmir or Rajasthan etc. Anyone who opens conversation directly with you is not going to be a genuine person to help you. If you need guidance, or help for directions to certain place, look for families and ask an older man or woman. A woman walking purposefully on her own, a man looking like he's going about his business etc. These are the ones who are genuine, never ask anyone loafing about, just hanging around in CP. Some may not understand English, but very soon you will find a good person who does.

__________________
"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards."

Nick-H

In an area like that, I would expect money to be at the root of just about all approaches, and I would engage my Londoner's Gaze --- eyes ahead, existence of approaching person denied!

In other, less touristy places, one can let the guard down a bit. After all, its a long way to come if one isn't going to speak to anybody!

frunkie

But I don't get it...Is Cottage Emporium really government sponsored? If so, does the India Government really sponsor these commission touts to harrass the tourists?

Yes, I figured I had to ask random people how to get back to CP. I did ask a south asian couple how to get back to CP when these 'touts' were right behind us, and they said they were looking for CP as well. Their english seemed very good, so maybe they were tourists as well, and they were legitimately looking for CP, or they were lying because the 'touts' would then harass them? Any insights?

robbiej

Aishah is right in saying that most people who approach you in the street are after your money. especially in big tourist centres. I can't see why the SE Asian couple would have lied to you about trying to find CP aswell to avoid the touts. I found the best way to avoid them was to look like you knew exactly what you were doing and not lost at all. (I admit this can be hard, and have been bitten)
Try not to take it all too seriously. if you have a sense of humour about it you will have more fun and be able to get them off your back easier.
In Udaipur, while being asked to look at miniature paintings by the 7th million person, my partner said to the to tout "No thanks, I hate all art". This got a laugh from the guy and he let us be.
India is the land of the entrepeneur. You just have to relax and go with it.

Nick-H

"Government" gets stamped on a lot of things, followed by words like "sponsored" or "approved". It may or may not mean anything.

Touts will not (at least here, Delhi may differ) be out to get you into the government-run shops. On the contrary, shopping in places like Kaddi Gramadyog is a pleasure, because the staff are lazy and do not even approach you, let alone hassle you! You may find, though, that if approach them, you are lucky enough to pick one who has a wealth of genuine knowledge about the product that interests you.

frunkie

Yea, I got try to start being a little more light-hearted about this. I think we were totally caught off guard. That and the shit-on-shoe trick just put me in a sour mood. Usually I read my guidebook on places I go to in India, but I neglected to before going to CP--lesson learned. Now I am relaxing and enjoying some kurkure while my shoe soaks in soap

In fact, the touts and the shit shoe guy put us in such a bad mood we decided to just leave and not continue to wander CP. That was good for us, because apparently an hour later, the bombings went off :/

I guess you could say the shit shoe guy saved my life

Off topic, but I have a vodaphone, and they send out news via text! That's great! I don't know why we don't have that in the US

robbiej

Hey Frunkie,
Yeah, you are right, he probably did save your life! Everything happens for a reason.
We didn't like CP very much either. And we certainly didn't go there to shop. I prefer to shop in smaller towns where they are less tourist savvy. We just went for a few cold beers and then got on the train to Varanasi.
I understand why you were in a sour mood, I think we have all been at the end of our tether with scammers in India. Get out of Delhi for a while is my advice.

sannna

Usually I ignore single men striking up a conversation with me (esp. when I am alone), no matter what their introduction is. But I remember one afternoon that I was on CP looking for an internet cafe. A Kashmiri guy, Sameer, came up to me to talk about the fabulous scarves in his uncle's shop. I told him I had no interest in shopping. Next he told me he was starting a tourist business, and would like to learn more from me. I told him I couldn't help. Then I thought I better turn his eagerness to talk to me to my advantage and asked him where I could access the internet. He happily led me to his (other?) uncle's shop somewhere in a by-lane on CP. When he wanted to enter the tiny tiny elevator with me, I said I prefered the stairs. He wasn't offended, or didn't show it. On the fourth floor there was a tiny office with three computers and two men signing papers and drinking tea. I was led to a computer and used it for half an hour. My Kashmiri "friend"" had left for a while, and came back just before I finished. He did not want me to pay him (or his uncle) for using the internet so I decided to buy him a coffee. We went to Barista's and I tried to "learn" as much about his life as possible. (And I "learned" that he had the exact same story as some other Kasmiri guys I met before in Madurai, Mysore and Kerala, when I was working there as a tourguide, including the foreign girlfriend, who dumped him part.... sigh)

After that I said goodbye, while he kept asking me to come back soon, go to a movie, etc. and to keep in touch.

The next day I was on CP again. It was Holi and I was with two Australians I met in the hostel I was staying, taking them to have late lunch at Saravana Bhavan. I saw Sameer again standing on the same spot where he approached me. He did not recognize me at first (I had a scarve over my head and sunglasses on), and started talking to the Australians. The were trying to get rid of him. I said: "Hi Sameer! Not bothering foreign tourists I hope?" He looked ashamed and walked away. Never saw him again.

brishti

yo laddi! you into kaddi's now



:brishti
[ khadi - the H that got away ]

vireya

Well on our first trip to Delhi, while trying to find the Cottage Emporium, we met a helpful guy who chatted about cricket, and what he was studying, and all sorts of other stuff as he lead us to the emporium. Except it wasn't the Cottage Emporium, it was something or other "Cottage Industries", and not the government-run place we'd been looking for. I wasn't too fussed, we actually bought a couple of things.

Trusting person that I am, I thought maybe our friendly guide was just confused, or didn't understand what we were looking for. I didn't see any interaction between him and the shop owners, and when he left us out the front he kept walking in the direction we had been going, he didn't head back to CP.

This place was a street or two over from the real Cottage Emporium, which we found on our second trip to Delhi. And once I'd seen the real one, I knew that our original friendly guy could not have been confused, as he was a Delhi native, and collected us only about a block from our real destination.

Reading this thread, I guess he must have rung the shop just after dropping us or something, to let them know he was responsible for our arrival. Or perhaps they just have a guy out the front who makes a note of everything, without any words being exchanged. Who knows? I don't feel ripped off - I wasn't forced to buy anything at the shop he took us to.