Invasion of personal space and personal protection.

GauhatiBoy

Regarding the comments "gentler south" and "in-your-face" north, I just want to add my perspective that I had the opposite experience. It must depend on which region or what city. The worst in-your-face experiences I had were in Hyderabad, but then I am talking about twenty-some years ago. Also, maybe I myself was doing something differently.

The gentlest places I found, aside from very rural places, were Assam and Meghalaya.

snowcrab

Another solution would to go out of season. There are large "tribes" of beggars, particularly from Rajasthan and Gugerat(? spelling) who follow the tourist trail. Get there a couple of weeks early and they will not have arrived yet.

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Casey

[quote=capt_mahajan;388038]I see many more foreigners in Hyderabad today than a couple of years ago. So do the beggars. Touts?

When I was last in Hyderabad we were followed by a tout who waited for us while we had lunch. He wanted to take me to find a room. Other than that very persistent (and patient) gentleman, we didn't experience touts and were able to spend time walking around and not being treated like a potential customer. Although, funny enough, the first time I was there we had difficulty finding an autorickshaw to take us to the Secunderabad train station. They were there, but not interested. When we got one he insisted on using the meter!

GauhatiBoy

In Jorhat, Assam, I was a 14 yr old kid (1975). I was richer than I had ever been, with 60 rupees in my wallet. I rode my dad's bicycle into Jorhat downtown and headed for Jorhat Dairy for sandesh. When I got there my wallet was gone. I was really disappointed.

I rode the bike back home and on the way back a store owner yelled at me, "hey you dropped something". He must have been looking for me. I crossed the street and he handed me my wallet I had dropped, all 60-some rupees still in it. I thanked him, of course. That really made an impression on me.

kalbarri

but have you got any change?

julesa

i also found assam, and guwahati to be quite gentle and a strong contrast to delhi, for example.

being in the north east of india, we were fairly apprehensive about travelling there and half expected it to be some kind of frontier town. the fact it was a modern city without the hassle of delhi was a pleasant surprise.

blackbird

The first time I arrived in Guwahati, we'd just been 24 hours on the train from Kolkata. It was dark, we were tired, there were mosquitos everywhere, and we needed to find a hotel. So we picked a good one from the Lonely Planet (that's how adventurous I was feeling!) and walked straight there. People kept coming up and talking to us but I brushed them off, I was in no mood for the sort of hassle I'd been used to in my travels in India, which at that time were mostly limited to cities and tourist spots.

The next day, as we walked around, people kept saying hello, and wanting to chat to us, practice their English, etc. I realised to my embarrassment that no-one had been hassling us at all the evening before, it was just what I soon found to be the wonderful gentle friendliness of the Assamese.

Aishah

The mountain areas in the north are great too - Himachel Pradesh and Uttaranchal, both very little touting and hassling. Of course, many parts of Rajasthan are hassle free, worst are Delhi railway stations, Jaipur railway and bus stand, Jodhpur railway and bus stands, and I cringe when I say this but Jaisalmer railway station and bus stands are appalling unless the police are there in force controlling the touts. One poster mentioned off-season travel, there is a point in this - here we find beggars drifting in from Bihar, UP mainly and in the peak season times.

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

Britbat

Tell me more! (See "The truth about Cochin" thread).

kalbarri

at a 10 day talk by the dalai lama, at bodhgaya, i once saw beggars being brought in by the truck load and they were mostly had deformities. at the time i didn't know much about the business of beggering so i found this odd.
in manali, i knew a couple with leprosy, who came up from chennai for the tourist season there.

kalbarri

this is in response to nick on the previous page.i keep getting caught out with my enthusiasm and respond without always checking the whole thread. a novice at forums.
we live and learn, so they say!

Peacefulplanet

I totally agree, if they think they are wasting their time they will leave you alone. Last option if they don't give up: Give them the impression you are totally crazy, roll your eyes, make nutty sounds or imitate animals...worked great in Indonesia, at least

palmlandtours.net

Like this?

kalbarri

when there was no tv in india, doing that would just have drawn a crowd. i tried many different tactics, in the 70s, to stop people staring or hassling and the only tactic that worked was mimicking. i later saw an old indian bubba using the same method.
i realised that the touching of tourists used to be a good way to get money for the beggars, as it often worked. the kids in nepal used that one all the time. tourists didn't want to be touched by grubby kids.
last trip i found the staring and group gigglings was rife in sri lanka and none at all in kerala. i was soooo relieved after 2 months of it before arriving india. also less hassles with bartering in the 3 wheeler taxis. sometimes i didn't have to barter at all! i was given local prices most of the time.

ranjan154

I recommend you maintain a calm and cool attitute all through the way when followed by baggars, touts and drivers alike, having travelled a fair distance they will move away automatically. Please avoid any physical reaction that might lend you in some trouble. Just be under impression that they are only trying to make their livlihood in an aggressive manner without cosidering its impact on others. Do forgive them.

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