India

I’m trying to rediscover who I am here.  Especially coming from Sweden, where everything is comfortable, safe and people are reserved, I feel very open.  Today I was swinging back and forth between openness and suspicion.

My openness led me to be dragged to several tourist shops by my autorickshaw driver.  I guess there is a strike on in Delhi today, so all the shops at Connaught Place were closed.  As I was walking, a man started talking to me.  I told him I was was shopping for a sweater (it’s cold here!), and he said I should grab an auto to a bazaar close by.  He said don’t pay more than 10 rs.  He then flagged down an auto and told the driver to take me there.  Instead, we went to two high-priced tourist shops.  I didn’t complain, and just strolled around each for a few minutes.  We mostly spoke in Hindi, and I said that I was looking for something cheap to keep warm.  “You want local,” he said, and proceeded to take me to a small bazaar with clothes for locals.  I found a nice sweatshirt for 125 rs.  All’s well that ends well.

Then on the metro, there was a guy who was obviously interested in talking to me.  He started chatting, and in rather broken English, told me he was from the U.K.  My beware-of-scam alerts were going off.  Then there was an announcement over the intercom, and he said that we had to get off that train, because it wouldn’t stop at my station.  I was very suspicious, but lots of people got off at the next stop, so I reluctantly followed.  Everybody stood there, and about 30 seconds later another train came, and we all got on.  He was genuinely trying to help me.

My people reading skills are a bit rusty.  In Sweden you can pretty much trust anybody implicitly.  Many people here in Delhi are just interested in trying out their English, or being hospitable to a foreigner.  I try to treat all the people that approach me that way.  The trick is picking the touts out from the rest.  Actually, one guy was totally honest with me.  “Let me show you some shops,” he said, “I’ll be honest, I get 2% commission.”  I was honest too.  “Sorry man, I was just taken to two shops that I didn’t want to go to.  Maybe next time, I’ll see you first.”