JAN 7, 12 .. WHAT I LOVE ABOUT INDIA .. SCAMS AND GOOD THINGS
Today is Sunday .. January 8, 2012 .. I am not dating this post as January 8th however ..
Jeanne 99631 .. you will understand ..
Yesterday I wrote what is now post 101 .. when I wrote it .. it was post 100 and it was about the trip to Agra Cantt from New Delhi and from Goa .. just now I did some .. right click copy and paste mouse magic .. what I did was this .. I re-numbered yesterday’s FWIW.. 100.. to FWIW.. 101 ..
I copied (what was) FWIW.. 100.. January 7, 2012 .. and moved it to a waiting ‘draft’ and it became a new post FWIW.. 101.. January 8, 2012 .. you all read from top down .. so you will now read FWIW.. 101.. January 8, 2012 .. and then come to this new writing .. which will follow FWIW.. 101.. in content .. this is my way of putting what I want at the top and letting you read down in the context-order I prefer ..
TID-BITS about FWIW.. 101.. January 8, 2012
TID-BIT THE FIRST ..
This is too funny and this is really sad ..
As I left the New Delhi YMCA at 5AM on Friday morning the 6th of January .. it had rained all night and was pretty wet .. well some auto ricksha man thought he had found a real mark ..
The auto ricksha fare from the YMCA New Delhi to the New Delhi Main Rail Station is about 50 Rupees .. which translates to ONE Dollar and Fourteen Cents ($1.14) .. it can vary according to the ricksha driver ..
I had walked about five or so minutes (into a twenty five minute walk) and was at Connaught Place Circle and had turned left .. when up drove an auto ricksha man .. and he greeted me and asked where I was going .. I said the Main Rail Station ..
Keep in mind it is wet from the rain and pitch black dark at 5:10AM ..
First he wanted to see my ticket .. I said “NO way” .. this is a terrible scam .. innocent people get out their tickets and the ricksha (or other neer-do-wells) take it and will not give it back .. wanting money (ransom) or telling you it is no good or it is a stand-by ticket or .. you name the scam.. so you NEVER EVER surrender your ticket to ANYONE but a proper train or air authority ..
When he was convinced he was NOT going to see my ticket ( he was a very nice appearing elderly man .. nice demeanor..) since I told him Train Number 12002 the Shatabdi Express to Agra Cantt .. he invited me to load my luggage into his auto ricksha .. I said .. “How much” .. and rubbed my forefinger against my thumb in a universal signal of “How much” ..
He said twenty ..
I did some fast thinking and thought .. he is old .. he wants some fare .. any fare .. and he will take what he can get .. so for twenty rupees I think I will give this pleasant elderly man some business at the end of his long night ..
So I began to unchain India Bag to remove him from my trolley and prepare to load him and my back pack into his auto ricksha ..
When I had one-of-those-hunches .. I looked directly at him and I said .. “Twenty Rupees !” .. stressing the word rupees ..
He looked me back in the eye and without flinching stated .. “Twenty Dollars !” .. emphasizing the word dollars ! .. which is eight hundred and eighty rupees (880 Rupees) for a fifty rupee fare .. or twenty dollars for a one dollar fare ..
BOY DID I EVER GIVE HIM A PIECE OF MY EVER LOVING MIND !
And he drove off .. saying nothing .. is this what I love about India ? !
TID-BIT THE SECOND ..
So on I walked .. more than a little miffed at wasting at least five minutes .. but I was running early .. when I was at the main road to the rail station I was approached by a young bicycle ricksha boy who said .. ten rupees only to the railway station .. I said “Sure” and gave him .. on-the-spot his ten rupees .. and off we went without incident .. sweet young man .. this is what I love about India ..
TID-BIT THE THIRD ..
As you all have read .. I am .. losing things .. seemingly right and left ..
As I have written in FWIW.. 101.. January 8, 2012 above .. at the railway station I met these four wonderful United States tourists .. Dave and his wife from Chicago .. and Dick and his wife from (I think Raleigh) North Carolina .. who would watch my luggage when I kept having to go to the bathroom while we all endured an hour and fifty minute wait for our train.. I was prepared to be ON the train at 6:00AM for a 6:15AM scheduled departure .. NOT at 8:00AM .. I drink copius quantities of water here in India .. so I was FULL of water .. and it wanted to come out !
After one trip to the men’s room ..I thank Dave from Chicago who told me the men’s room was immediately to our left .. in the waiting room for the lowest fare rail customers ..anyway ..
I was back from a men’s room trip and I had sat down .. and we were visiting .. say fifteen (15) minutes had passed .. and I went-for my rawhide Wells-Lamont Truckers Gloves .. critical bobbseys for me .. and they were gone ..
You all know the drill .. you look and you look and you look .. over and over and over again .. in the same pockets .. finally I decided they were gone ..
Then I thought .. I bet I dropped them on the men’s room floor since I had put them under my arm and I did NOT clip them to my belt with the fastener I have just for this action ..
Back into the lowest fare rail customer waiting room I went (see these poorest of the poor will take what they need thanking their diety for the gift) ..
And .. AND .. there .. on the floor .. untouched .. were my gloves ..
And this counts as a BIG TIME .. THIS is what I love about India !
TID-BIT THE FOURTH ..
When I was here in Agra Cantt from October the 19th to November the 12th .. at the end of my visit .. I lost my primary spoon .. here in India I carry my own chop-sticks and knife/fork/spoon(s) to reduce chances of getting germs from improperly washed restaurant ones ..
So last night I went to my favorite restaurant here in Agra Cantt .. located below my hotel .. the one I have shown you many photos of ..
I have been gone from Agra Cantt for just under two (2) months ..
I had been seated and I had ordered and my dinner was at hand ..
And ..
AND .. up walks the restaurant manager .. WITH my missing spoon I had left some two (2) months ago .. he had gone to the silverware drawer and (it was immediately behind me and I could hear him as) he rummaged through the spoon drawer for my spoon who was just doing his spoon-duty for all the customers .. he .. of course .. was the only different spoon in the whole drawer ..
Oh yeah .. here we go .. “Cap.. what exactly is it you love about India ?”
Well it is .. exactly what I do LOVE about India ..
I’ll say over and out for now with love .. cap ..