Just arrived this morning in Delhi, before continuing my trip onwards to Bombay for the “Regional Integration Event ” of the Indian Chapters of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization. Delhi is known and renowned for it: The scams; cheesy, dirty tricks to pull out money from mainly western visitors. Although I have been reasonably around, I have to admit that one of them was really new. Respect. Overall, the airport is among the general mess in India a very special mess. Getting from the international terminal to the domestic one is a nightmare, and both alternatives and loaded with well rehearsed scams.
- Alternative 1: An official bus is supposed to drive approximately every hour (according to Indian Strechable Time). And there is a counter where you are supposed to show the ticket for the connecting domestic flight. Although the bus is waiting there with open doors, the guy at the counter where you show your ticket will cold-bloodedly tell you that this bus does not accept passengers for this airline. Miraculously help is one the way in the blink of an eye: He would direct you politely around the corner where there are private taxis waiting which will bring you for a horrendous fare to the terminal and will bring the guy from the counter a superb commission. Solution: Tell the guy at the counter to f*** off and just board the bus. It will take you where it should.
- Alternative 2: You select to buy a pre-paid taxi for the trip where the rate is Rs. 150 (app. EUR 2.50). By the way, this system of “pre-payment” is in place only and exclusively to prevent the notorious taxi drivers from taking you for a ride. But don’t underestimate the ingenuity of this very instance which is supposed to take the pre-payment and stand for “law & order”. A shoddy booth after you leave customs with two sleazy figures sitting inside. You tell them your destination “domestic airport” and they will reply the correct rate of “150 Rupees, Sir”. I opened my purse and was just about to pull 2 notes of hundred Rupees out, but saw that they were my last ones. As petty cash is key in India, I deliberately grabbed the Rs. 500 note and put it on the counter in expectation of change of Rs. 350. The guy moved his hand towards the note and asked innocently “How many pieces of luggage do you have, Sir?” – As most of the people would most likely react, I turned around to show him my one big suitcase and one small one as hand-luggage.
When I turned back again, he fired another question at me: “Do you have 50 Rupees?”, yet at this moment there was only a 100 Rupee note lying on the counter at his hand, suggesting that I had given him one note, yet of 100 Rupees, and another 50 Rupees were missing. Because I had taken such a conscious decision about the Rs. 500 note, I immediately knew that he tried to game me, looked him straight into his eyes and yelled at him: “I gave you a 500 Rupee note!” – Immediately, the second guy behind the counter jumped in to explain: “No, no, he asked you for 50 Rupees so that he can return you 400 Rupees straight, Sir.” Brilliant, isn’t it, and well rehearsed among the two arseholes. If someone like me happens to realize the scam, they have a handy explanation and will return the correct change. But most of the people, especially when they come for the first time to India, might be puzzled, won’t be able to distinguish the similarly looking notes, but won’t expect such a dirty trick and simply add the requested 50 Rupees. In result, that would render a windfall-profit of Rs. 400 to the con-men.
I believe that such antisocial behaviour can only be systematically alleviated by severest punishments which will serve as a sufficient deterrent to the galore of other anti social elements. According to Mao’s saying: “Punish one, educate one hundred”, a country like Singapore – which has my fullest endorsement – has been practising appropriate measures to counter such defects vigorously and has hereby established an exemplary blueprint for an intact social governance.
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I’m always amused at how you find time to write this stuff and even more amused about people interested in reading it.
Have you never been wrapped into the “Singapore Sling” scam :-)
I totally know what you’re talking about with the sketchy people at the airport. My husband and I were going from the domestic terminal to the international (before the bus to/fro was privatized) and took a taxi. The taxi driver took our Rs. 500 note and on the sly “replaced” it in his hand with a Rs. 100 note, hoping that in the dark taxi, we wouldn’t take notice and just think we had made a mistake. He then told us that we didn’t pay him enough. Thankfully, we were aware of these types of scams and called him on it…and weren’t fooled by him. But, like you said, so many people are. And that’s a shame for a country that has so many good points!