Rampage

If you were keeping up with my tweets, you know a portion of the trip was quite...rough for me. I don't regret any part of my  journey to India. For the first three weeks it was pretty much smooth sailing. I had been to Mumbai, Goa, Chennai and Sri Lanka. Sometimes people stared but it wasn't overwhelming. When I got to Delhi, things changes. I don't want to make my trip seem all negavtive—it wasn't, but I like to get the bad stuff out of the way first and then move on to the good times. There was about a week of rough times. Out of five weeks, that's not too bad.  There will be more posts coming soon. I just needed to vent. Here we go:


I arrived at the Delhi airport, arranged a pre-paid taxi, found the stand, loaded my luggage and hopped in. My driver spoke no English and neither did his partner in the passenger seat. (I am not a fan of people going to foreign country and expecting locals to speak English, but when you work from an international airport, minimal English would be nice). I showed him my hotel's address and we went on our way. We weren't even driving for five minutes when he saw two friends on the road and stopped to talk to them and was about to give them a ride until I said "UM, NO! HOTEL!"

We drove until we were in the general area( Karol Bagh). From the time we left the airport until I reached my hotel, was 90 minutes. This trip should  have only take 30. The simpleton couldn't find the hotel. Imagine being in a taxi with two men(who don't speak English), in the middle of Delhi, lost. A barrage of phone calls ensued. I called the booking office because the number listed for the hotel was wrong. They spoke to my driver and he still couldn't find it. It was a nightmare. When we finally got to my hotel he demanded a tip because he had used his cell phone. The hotel staff were telling him to go. He wouldn't. To get rid of him I gave him 100 rupees. A decision I still regret but that was before the fire was ignited in me.

The next day I went of a tour of Delhi's various sites. The moment I stepped outside, the incessant stares began. Everywhere I went people stared relentlessly, glared, intruded my private space. I had experienced this before on my travels, but never to this extent. I tried hard to suppress the fury that began to rise inside me, but I knew it was uncontainable. The anger only grew when I noticed people taking pictures of me. I'm generally a calm person and when I tell people these stories, they are shocked and say they can't picture me doing and saying these things. I liken my personality to a volcano. I may lay dormant for a very long time, but unexpectedly I erupt and it's impossible to contain the hot molten lava that I spew. (Side note:I was also in the midst of a cyclical mood which only added to my blind rage.) Here is an excerpt from my diary on one of those rough days:" I hate this place. I wish they didn't let me back in from Sri Lanka. There is swamp water coming out of my ass and if one more person stares at me I am going to shank them in the ribs and then I will end up in an Indian prison, never to be seen again. " Ummm, yeah. You get the jist of it. Here are a few examples :

#1. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. I had already had enough, when a hawker followed me for two blocks trying to sell me some useless trinket" Ma'am I give you good price. You no speak? Ma'am look at my things. Very nice things! Why you no answer?" At block number two, I stopped dead in my tracks, turned to him and yelled "I SAID NO!". He jumped back and scampered off.

#2. I was at a site when I noticed a girl (in her late teens)look at me, her eyes brightened and she raised her camera. Before she could snap a picture I walked up to her.
 "What are you doing?"
"Oh, um I just wanted to take a picture?"
"Do I know you?"
"Ummm no."
"Then why do you want a picture of me? It's very rude to just walk up to someone and take their picture without asking!"
"I'm sorry. May I have your picture?"
"No."

This story happened several times. At least 20 times a day I would see people trying to capture my image. Some of you may wonder why I was so offended by it. One of my reasons is that everything is so viral today. I have no idea where that picture would end up and what kind of caption would accompany it. In a place where fair skin is revered and I am the complete opposite of that, I don't think  they wanted my picture because they thought I was beautiful. I was a novelty, something to show their friends and say"look what I saw". I wanted no part of it.

#3. I was at the fort in Delhi. A few young men were sitting on the grass. When they saw me a lively conversation in Hindi began. I took the pepper spray out of my bag and held it at my side. One of the young men got up and hid behind a pillar. I knew exactly what he was doing. He was attempting to take an ambush style, paparazzi shot.  As I turned the corner I uttered" OI! FUCKFACE! You take a picture of me I will smash your face and your camera!"  He promptly lowered his phone and went back to his friends. As the words came out of my mouth, I couldn't believe I said them. When I told my friend this story, she asked me if I was scared. The answer is no. Blind fury kept me going.

#4. I waited in line at another site. Most sites have separate line ups for foreigners and locals. This one didn't. I watched as man after man pushed his way ahead of me. The anger started to rise and I said " I JUST WANT TO BUY A FUCKING TICKET!" They parted like the red sea and I walked to the front of the line and purchased my ticket. It was then I realised, that nice quiet, Rhodesia needed to take a back seat. The bitch was now in charge.

#5. The next day I went shopping. I purchased two dresses and a pair of pillow cases. I was now adept at haggling and got a good price. When I was almost back at my hotel,  I noticed my pillow cases weren't in my bag. I was furious because I am sure they did it on purpose, thinking it would be too much trouble for me to argue over 300 rupee pillow cases. They were wrong. I got back to my hotel and called them immediately. They passed me around to several people. I told them I was leaving the next day and they needed to deliver it. They asked where I was going and said its on the way and I could swing by and pick it up. I said no, deliver it. Almost two hours passed, no pillow cases. I call them again and ripped them a new one, telling them I would call the Indian consumer rights agency and tell them that they scam tourists. They delivered my pillow cases a few hours later, albeit with a 100rupee delivery charge. I cussed off the delivery guy for having to pay for something that was their fault. I feel bad for that one because he wasn't involved, but sometimes when you're on a rampage there is collateral damage.

#6. I arrived in Jaipur after my crazy bus ride. When I got off the bus there was no driver waiting for me. I had to call him(I didn't rampage on him then, but I had other reasons to later). I arrived to my hotel, which looked decent enough...until I took a closer look. There were two holes in wall that they covered with cello tape(no big deal, it made me laugh)Then I saw the duvet..filthy wouldn't be an adequate word. I went downstairs and asked for them to change it.  I waited 45 minutes, no one came. I took a picture of the duvet and marched back downstairs and went on another rampage. They changed my sheets within five minutes.

#7. My last night in Jaipur my driver took me to a traditional Rajasthani village where they serve dinner and perform folk dances, etc. It was about a 30km drive from the city. On the drive back this happens:
" Ok, so you pay me 10,000 rupees"
"Excuse me?"
"Sorry  you pay me 1000 rupees"
"For what?"
"Taking you to Choki Dani."
"No...No, I don't. It was included"
"No, no, no, no. It no include! Is 30km out of way. You give me 1000 rupees."
"I'm not giving you anything. I'm going to call Manesh(agent who booked the tour for me) and he'll sort you out. If it was an extra charge, you should have told me before hand and I would have stayed my ass at the hotel! Don't try and pull this shit on me."

Needless to say the rest the ride was quiet. I called Manesh and he dealt with it.

That night I had a phone call from my saviour—Stephanie. I was able to relay all of my frustrations to someone who completely understood. She gave me perspective and kept me sane in a moment where I wanted to hurt people.

The same driver was to pick me up at 5:00 am to catch my train to Agra. In the morning there was no driver. My hotel  had to call him and he arrived at 5:30am. The ride was silent. We arrived, I collected my bags and left. No goodbye, no tip.

When I walked into the Jaipur train station at 6:00am, I was the only foreigner on the platform. There was only maybe five women( one girl came and stood beside me for a while. I think she felt sorry for me and a bit protective) and about a hundred men. All eyes were on me. I wasn't scared, but I kept my pepper spray at my side, just in case. Several young men circled, openly looking at my bags. I glared back with a defiant "I will shank you" look.

Things started to look up from there. There are a few more incidents that I didn't share because this post is long enough as is and I think this was enough to give you an idea. It was my conversation with a friend and a subsequent conversation with a stranger that put things into perspective and calmed my frayed nerves. I am beyond grateful for these instances because there were plenty of times in the past, where I did not stand up for myself. This was my boiling point.