After Fatehpur Sikri and Vrindavan yesterday I felt like India is a nation of niggards and swindlers.
And the way their tipping system works over here is perhaps one of the things that turn tourists off.
While reading Half Girlfriend I came to know that in New York city tipping is compulsory and is fixed at 20% of the service consumed and in India despite the tipping being a voluntary choice you pretty much feel obliged to cave into giving a sum of money.
Mostly because they give you the little puppy eyes, the little nudges and the overbearing hovering around even after having assisted us. Some dare to go up to: "Kuch deghe nahin Saab?"
They embarrass you. A lot.
At times, it doesn't seem necessary to give them something but they behave in a way to oblige you.
'Watch your steps Madam, Careful Madam?, Anything Else Saab? Sure? Sure?'
The little kids outside the monuments can be a little overbearing as well as the vendors. It demands loads of patience to keep up especially when they hound you.
'Watch your steps Madam, Careful Madam?, Anything Else Saab? Sure? Sure?'
I remember this little girl at the Fatehpur Sikri who followed us during the whole of the sightseeing, clutching at my mom's side and begging her to listen to her 'Po-y-ems'. Sure she finished some but followed us to the gate until we gave her a 10 rupaiyaa note.
Now that was one single case! If you imagine the other three dozens of kids trying to get your attention and then multiply that by the dozens of monuments, markets and restaurants we are going to, well- by the end of everything money can just flow like wine down a thirsty drunkard's tongue! Not to mention the high tipping rates of guides!
However, the only place that all of this looked worthy was at the Taj Mahal... Aaahh... Hhhmmmpphh
Self Note: The well-decorated lorries chimed with little twinkling bells remind me of Alia Bhatt's exquisitely exotic performance in Highway, Imtiaz Ali.
Of course, that now reminds me of Randeep Hooda who has geared up for his upcoming movie called Rang Raseeya, a film about the painter who first gave faces and bodies to the Indian gods and sexualised the goddesses through their bare portrays. That's one movie I have to catch for understanding the Seimelwheis effect of the Indian people when it comes to changing the way gods have been depicted.