Markets and tricks

I had a funny experience today. I spent the day sightseeing in Delhi via an air-conditioned taxi cab. The driver was named Ganesh. He was a generally nice guy. After seeing a couple things, he said, "fiiii[ve] minutes...I have use restroom....fiiii minutes." Of course, I said that was fine; who would deny a man a bathroom break (aside from Abu Gharib prison gaurds)? So, eventually we stopped and he said again "fiiii minutes". We were stopped in front of a shop and he wanted me to go in while he went to the bathroom. At this point, his motives were apparent; he wanted me to go in so he would get a kick back from the store. What is more, the people in these stores are typically *very* pushy and obnoxious. So, I said, "Ok. Go ahead to the bathroom. I'll stay with car." The expression on his face went from glee to utter disgust. We went through a couple iterations before I said, "I'm not going in there. Those people will drive me insane." Afterwards, we pulled away; his urinary problems having subsided through argumentation. Two minutes later, he said, "Saaaaa...[if] you go in, I get 100 rupess...just fiiii minutes....please." I replied, "Ok. After five minutes though, I am leaving. I don't care if I have to drag the salespeople out into the parking lot." So, I went in and left after 5 minutes with relatively little hassle. I'm not sure why I consented. I guess that I felt that, by telling me, the driver was not treating me like a dumb tourist; and it didn't upset me to see him get 100 rupees from one of these annoying shops (They are better here in Delhi than in Bangkok, by the way. Never consent in Bangkok unless you have a knife to threaten the salespeople with).

Last night I walked around through an outdoor market near my hotel. It was, with a doubt, the largest market that I have ever seen. I barely scratched the surface and I walked for at least an hour. On that topic, I thought that I might share some rules that I follow for crowded markets like this one. These are by no means exhaustive and if anyone else has any tips, then please post them.

1) Try not to carry a wallet. They create bulges, which are targets. I carry cash in each one of my pockets; thus, I have only one bulge ;-) and if someone manages to pick my pocket they only get some of my money. I've also taken to carrying a decoy wallet; there is nothing inside, save a note that reads, "You suck!".

2) Don't let people who approach distract you. Yesterday, for example, a person approached me at the India Gate and asked me to tell him how much his change (in euros) was worth in rupees. This was an obvious scam and it, less than coincidentally, occurred while I had my camera out of its bag. There was probably an accomplice there ready to snatch my camera as soon as I became distracted. I told the guy to "Get lost".

3) Try not to walk in a constant line. Being a little erratic will help you be more aware of the people around you. Have you seen the movie "Hunt for the Red October"? Sean Connery's captain character describes a submarine manouver called a "Crazy Ivan". If a sub captain suspects that he is being closely followed, then he intentionally shuts his engines off so that the pursueing sub reveals itself by running into him. I am describing the market-walking equivalent of this.

Tomorrow I am off to Jaipur and then Monday to Agra (for the Taj Mahal). More later.