Don't get me wrong, I love India and am not regretting coming here one bit. It is an Experience that I hope to repeat in the future and see more parts of this topsy-turvy jibber-jabber place. However.
Five things I find annoying about India
1. Everyone assumes that you are dripping with dollars and tries to scam you. All the time. Every single shop, museum, temple will try to get more out of you than is necessary. And I'm talking like 100-200% more.
2. You are constantly being offerred auto-rickshaw and taxi rides. It is assumed that you cannot walk more than 10 meters without needing to sit down and be chaufferred.
3. People watch you all the damn time. They watch you walk down the street. They watch you get on the train. They watch you eat and I am pretty sure that they would ike to watch you go to the bathroom if they could. And not only do they stare, they laugh. Ha ha ha, see whitey walk down the street. Har dee har see whitey eat food. Giggle chuckle guffaw see whitey take in the museum.
4. People refuse to point you in the direction of authentic spicy food. It's as though they are thinking "Oh, I am sure she doesn't REALLY want Keralan food, she must want Pizza hut and got confused due to the heat".
5. Fumes. Not only is everyone driving driving driving or riding riding riding stinky diesel and other buses and cars, but they are also IDLING them for hours. As in, "the tourists have gone into the museum for 45 minutes, so I'll go have a tea at the chai stall and leave the engine on. Why the hell not???"
Aaaah. Feels better already. Next post about the good stuff.
Indians are the most desperate salsepoeple in the world. You should try West Bengal. There, 100-200% is CHEAP! You'll be on a rickshaw and someone will ask you if you want a rickshaw. One day I will say yes.
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying your writing very much. It is not often you run into something this enjoyable.
Shaka.