Pens as Gifts?

It seems like a really uncouth way to say hello, given that they can't say hello back in the same way. It doesn't say hello, it says "I'm rich and you're not". One does it to establish the pecking order, and ensure that there will be no communication as equals.

In a different century, recipients of such gifts would have felt obliged to give you a gift in return, even if they had nothing and the effort impoverished them. Today, they just laugh at you behind your back.

Maybe I'll just buy a cricket ball and bat and travel with that and take part in some cricket in remote places

Speaking of which how many locals approach you wanting to play cricket?

The kids would really love that as they just want friendship and to speak about your place and family. (get tennis bals and leave it behind for them to keep.

I have loads of fun watching Mr M playing beach volley ball or cricket with the kids.
And whats that indian wrestling thing ..he did that too

If you stand watching a game they soon ask you to join in.

Had many an enjoyable conversation about cricket with all sorts of people in India ... if you actually like the game then its a good way to break the ice, however as the 'prefects' are linking threads together be wary by the Janpath on Connaught Place, there is a distinct chance that as one guy chats about cricket his oppo squirts your shoe with synthetic poo.

As I cant post the link properly here is the best a befuddled mortal can do just follow the route IndiaMike.com » India Travel » Cities in India » Delhi » Poo on the shoe..

There are more rogues that I can shake my stick at, but that never stopped me ....

I am certain it would be immensely popular to do so..

I speak as someone who went to Kerala 8 years ago and took loads of pens with me to give to children.

I visited Kerala again a few weeks ago and we tourists have really messed up things in a lot of areas, the kids seem to always be asking for pens, they will ask you "what country" and you need to answer quickly as they're about to spit out the next question...."one pen please", there's no sincerity in the kids, you're just another person they can ask the same questions.

In other parts of India one of the main joys is speaking to children, they can be fascinated by us tourists and it's a great pleasure to see them smiling and proud that you have taken the time to talk to them, it would never enter their heads to ask you for anything.

All too many of the kids in the backwater area seem to look like they're on some kind of drug (they're not), their eyes are going into the back of their heads as they ask you the first question because they're trying to find the moment to ask you for a pen, then they walk off as if you're usefulness has gone.

We tourists have stolen their innocence and curiosity, and all because we thought it was a good idea to give out pens.

Cant agree more Steven re pens.

An easily carried gift is baloons , worth nothing as they dont last long, that is if you want to give something.

I met a US family who dispensed their largesse , and blooged about it.... made me sick. HE was a Dr who gave out mouth freshener tablets, freebies I presume. Kids thought they were pills and were reluctant eat.

Even the big travel companies whose brochures I occasionally encourage this gift thing.

I agree too with Steve. We were just walking in Agra and this chubby little girl holding her mums hand just shouted as we walked past "give me some money and a pen!!"....

She wasnt a street kid and well fed and looked after but clearly knew what tourists are all about if you get the right ones!(not us ha ha )

After reading this topic we decided not to carry any pens with us, however we were asked few times by kids to give some, so I wish I had...

Same one paya?

I think the best idea is to offer conversation and a story. It's all to easy for kids to associate tourists with freebies if it is done in the wrong way.

But it is exactly to discourage this kind of begging (done by people who are not poor, but who have been debased by well-meaning foreigners giving them stuff) that you should NOT hand out pens.

next time say ...why? do you want my autograph? lol

I don't think the kids-tourists-pens thing in India is a matter of begging. Beggars beg for money and food, and the slumdog kids on the street corners in Mumbai are not asking Indian motorists for pens when they come up to the car windows and touch their cupped hands to their mouths. Try giving one of those kids a pen and see what reaction you get.

Asking for "one pen" from you is just a game played by children -- even lower-middle and middle-class children. It's their way of approaching you, especially if they don't speak English. It's fun to receive a gift from a stranger, and most tourists are happy to part with a pen. But they are not begging, and they don't need the pens for school (even if they ask you for a "school pen"). It's just a game.

Begging is begging. Beggars beg (for a handout of any sort). You are taking respectable, dignified Indians, and in order to satisfy your desire to be a burra sahib, you are turning them into people who seek to get something for nothing.

It's like Yellowstone National Park in the US, where until a few decades ago, people were allowed to feed the bears for entertainment. (Now someone will object saying that people are not bears. Yes, that's why it's called an analogy.)