Mysore Palace

Keith H

I’m not sure if this qualifies as a scam, an attempted scam or just misinterpretation on my part but here’s what happened.
We had toured the Mysore Palace and were just about to leave the place when one of the uniformed guards yelled out at us to stop and ran up to us. We were apart from the general crowd and he confronted us in a pretty aggressive manner and demanded to see our entry tickets. It was a nasty little scene – the tickets had been pretty flimsy to start with and I was fairly sure that I’d thrown them away so I began to explain to the guard that we had paid before we entered and our tickets had been checked by an official as we walked through the gate. He yelled at me and told me that this was a very serious matter, insisted on seeing the tickets immediately and gave the impression that he wanted this sorted very quickly. I was a bit flustered by now and had visions of spending an evening in a Mysore cell when I found the tickets and flourished them at the guard. He was none too pleased that I’d produced them and without a word turned on his heel and left.
The whole scene had the feel of some sort of set-up and the guard was on edge through the entire exchange.
It was only later that it occurred to me that this might have been a failed attempt to extract some baksheesh from some naïve tourists; a husband and wife and a ten year old girl might look like easy pickings. Whatever, I guess it’s a good idea to ensure that you hang onto your tickets at monuments and palaces.

capt_mahajan

Seems like an attempt to extract some money, yes.

Very unlikely that anybody will spend a night in jail for something like this in India. Would advise anybody to explain the lost ticket to higher officials and not a guard or security guy.

Who may continue to be aggressively obstructive, btw, since it is not in his interest to have you talk to others. But he is just a guard, and has no authority whatsoever to detain you in any way.

__________________
.
Outside the machine

delhiwala

But it's good to keep your bus/train/monuments ticket till it's over...

__________________
Travel only with thy equals or thy betters; if there are none, travel alone. - The Dhammapada

dillichaat

Iirc correctly when entering the museum in Mysore there's a sign that says 'retain tickets throughout visit' or something to that effect......

__________________
When the wise man points out the black hole, the fool looks at the finger.

abracax

This is most likely a scam of the type described. The popular tourist spots are filled with jerks looking for easy scores, some are actual "guards", others just assorted touts and layabouts. I've seen them badger foreigners for admission, camera & video tickets all over the country. But they never seem to notice the Indians sneaking in the back way.

__________________
tbontbtitq (Shakespeare's password)