Rob and Anna's travel adventure

Rob's Entry

Kajarahao was where we invented numerous responses to "Which country/Where from/etc.", our names, "Where are we going", and similar inquiries from people that really shouldn't care anything about us. Invariably, and almost without exception, all such inquiries concluded with "One rupee", "skoo-pen" (which we soon understood to mean school pen), chocolate, etc. in the form of a donation to the requester. So the initial contact with strangers would be "Hello, which country you from", to which we'd reply "No rupee, no skoo-pen". This got rid of the most unsophisticated beggars straight away.

One such interaction with a feisty 10 year old boy evoked quite a reaction however. He became quite indignant, and immediately shot off a question "What?!? You think I'm a beggar?! I come from a rich family, I don't want anything from you but to talk." OK, so we can be wrong. I apologized, and we tried to smooth hurt feelings by conversation. Later that day, Anna and I talked about how some of our Indian friends would take to being mistaken as beggars. Imagining some of the responses provided some humor, but also reminded us that maybe we should be more sensitive to the people here. But on some level, it becomes difficult to be polite and respectful when whenever you go somewhere, you encounter dozens of nearly identical lines, all leading to wanting something. Either directly wanting a handout, or an invitation to visit a shop. Not once, but ten times from the same person, though you insist that are not looking for ANYTHING. They are still so certain that THEY have that one item you CAN'T live without. They have all day to pester people like us, but they insist on taking our time. Time that can never be recovered. I began asking that "only one minute to see shop" be compensated by two rupees. That got rid of a few more hassles.