The Good Indians

04274108

Hi all. So much has been written about bad experiences with touts and scammers. I think we should start a thread on the good experiences with Indians.

We were in Varanasi and trying to find a post office to buy stamps. We asked a few people for help and they kindly pointed us in the general direction. However, we were still lost. My wife and I were standing on a corner, scratching our heads and trying to figure out where to go. As we stood there, who did we see coming up to us but a leper who saw us wandering around the streets.

This fellow hobbled over and said the word "help". I put my hand in my pocket to give him a few bills but he said "No, no. Help" and he pointed to us. A light clicked on when we realized he was asking us if we needed help. We said "Post office" and he thought about it for awhile. Afterwards, he shouted "I know! I know!"

He waved at us to come and pointed the way to the post office. He had a terrible limp that looked awfully painful. Yet, he led the way and we followed him chatting as best we could (his English was far better than our Hindi). 10 minutes and a few blocks later, we were at the front door of the post office. He flashed us a big toothless grin beaming with pride.

Now think about what he did. Here was a fellow for whom begging is a life and death issue. Yet, he saw a couple of tourists in need of help and came to our assistance. He took 15 minutes out of his life to help and refused our money when I thought he was asking for some. Needless to say, he got several nice smiles and pats on the back, and a nice donation for his troubles.

Kanbe

Gosh there are so many. Here is one: while I was staying in Bangalore I decided to take a weekend trip to Mamallapuram. I had a few nights earlier booked an overnight bus ticket. On the night of departure I was caught up in a jam and was running late. I did get to The Majestic, the main bus terminal on time and I thought I just needed to quickly locate the platform and Ill be fine. That didn’t happen because I spent 20 minutes looking for platform no. 14B. I must have asked at least half a dozen of people (mostly those bus drivers in green uniform chatting in front of their buses) for directions. Each time I asked, I ended up in the wrong place and would be told the platform was at the other end of the terminal. I got such conflicting directions. It was just utterly frustrating and I was so certain I would miss the bus especially since it was a government bus I booked. I finally asked this one man where 14.B platform was (my ticket by now was crumpled and torn in places!) and that I needed to find it urgently. He signaled with his hand and said ‘Follow me’. And before I knew it, he took my bag out of my hands and put it on his head and started running! This guy was on a mission. I ran after him and he delivered me to platform 14B where my bus which was in fact waiting for me (they had a passenger list). I really didn’t know what I would do if it weren’t for this guy…probably break down in tears?

torryquine

Here's just a few of our experiences of people who had nothing to gain from what they did for us...

The casual employee on the DHR, who wiped soot off the seats for me and pointed out all the landmarks and showed us the best places to take photos from.

The touts at Agra Station who showed us to the driver who had been sent to collect us.

The lady who told off people who jumped in front of us in the queue at Delhi airport.

The monks at Namphake village Assam, who made us tea and rice cake while they showed us their beautiful holy books.

The silk weavers in Dibrugarh who gave me a genuine discount off my gorgeous mehkla, BECAUSE I was foreign.

The house boy at Mancotta Bungalow, who ran to the hospital to get medicine for MrTQ when he was ill.

Mr Jalan, who arranged for me to go riding on one of his magnificent horses on the morning we left - just so we could have a wonderful last day in India.

__________________
http://werenotafraid.com/

India Edge

We arrived in Bangalore from Kochi via Mysore by car with a driver, Unni, who being from Kerala, did not know the city or speak the language. He was to drop us at the Richmond Hotel but seemed to only have the vaguest notion where it might be. After driving aimlessly in bumper to bumper traffic for an hour or so he began shouting to other motorists and passersby "Hotal Rikman! Hotal Rikman!". Many people offered help, pointing up the street or talking very fast in a language Unni couldn't comprehend. Our English was of no help either because although they seemed to understand what we said, we could not understand what they were telling us. As humorous as the situation was, we were really just wanting to be out of the car at this point. Finally, a young guy on a 2 wheeler offered to guide us there. He led the way on his motorbike, a challenge for Unni to follow in the heavy traffic, for quite a long distance, until we arrived at the hotel. The guy had taken nearly a half hour of his time to guide us - and we might still be circling the city were it not for his assist!

And then there was the friend of a friend, a lady who spent her entire day with us, taking us shopping and to lunch in Chennai.

__________________
India pics
India vids

Nick-H

Well, yes, a lot does get written about the bad things and, lets face it, this branch of the forum is called Scams and Annoyances...

__________________
.


Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

xbhp.com

good to know u have really come across such nice ppl india. i really thank such people who do us indian proud

SHIMLA

Why go far? There's a bunch of good, helpful Indians right here, on this forum, isn't there?

__________________
Whoever said money can't buy happiness didn't know where to shop !