Incredible !ndia (part 5): A Barrel of Laughs and Final Thoughts

Today was very simple. And hilarious. We (Me, Isaiah, and Ari) got up moderately late (okay like 11), grabbed a ship lunch, and went into town to do some last minute shopping.

As we looked for a rickshaw, a man came up to us, named Matthew, and was very nice. Ari negotiated a good deal and he took us to Spencer's Plaza. He offered to wait for us and give us a ride back, but we told him we'll take his phone number and call him if we need him. He said “if you see your friends, tell them Matthew, and I'll be right here.” I said “If you see any one from Semester at Sea, tell them you met Jonathan.”

The walk from the street to the building was short, but interesting. It was raining, a light shower, but enough to get our hair wet and make puddles in the street. It reeked. I thought India smelled bad during sunlight! What really caught our eye were some workers in a manhole. The brown water was up to his chest, overflowing over the side. There was a tube going into it as he removed some rocks. If he wasn't working, then he may have been taking a bath. I have never seen anything quite like that.

So into Spencer's we went, back into the labyrinth of “will you see my shop?” and “special discount for MV Explorer.” Isaiah made a phone call to his family friend up North, but I struck out on finding my flag. Me and Ari bought half a kilo of cookies and had them put it in a vacuum sealed bag so we could take it back on the ship.

Throughout our time in Spencer's we ran into lots of people we knew, and one such person was hanging out with some Indian people who bought her an antique pocketwatch. Ari asked one of them where he could get a Cricket jersey, so this man took us to a store and Ari got a jersey for 300 rupees. Good price, good price.

After that guy had gone, Ari decided he wanted another jersey. I found the store from before and we went in. Ari goes up to the store worker:
“Do you have an XL cricket jersey? I'll give you 250.”

I'm thinking. Seriously? He just bought this here for 300 ten minutes ago.

The man says “Sorry, 300 only.”
“I just bought this downstairs for 250.”
“It is 300”

I am holding back laughter. I can't believe what Ari is trying to do right now!

“I paid 250! He was there, am I crazy?”
“I'm sorry, it's 300.”

I am about to burst out laughing, but then the guy recognized that the bag Ari's jersey was in matched the bag that he put his merchandise in! But the kicker was the store worker opened the drawer and Ari's 300 rupees were it! I told Ari to just take the 300. I was so shocked that he was trying to lie to someone to get a better deal. Turns out he didn't realize we were in the same store, nor did he realize he had paid 300 instead, and didn't know why I was laughing. We all misunderstood what the other person was doing and then we all had a huge laugh.


We bumped into the same guy who helped us before. We asked about where to find a flag, and one of them called a place in Parrys (a busy district buy our port) and told us how to get there. He said it shouldn't be more than 200 rupees.

We went outside to find a rickshaw driver, and we were immediately approached by one.
“Will you take us to Parrys and then the ship?”
“Yes”
“How much?”
“400 rupees”
“No way! We got here for 100! We'll go for two hundred!”
“No, 400.”
“We're not stupid tourists, we know you're ripping us off. Nevermind”

Another man came up and we had a similar situation. As we walked away another man approached us and Ari did the funniest thing:
“Ok you got one chance. Take us to Parrys and then port, its one stop. We got here for 100. How much”
The guy points to each of us in turn and says “Two hundred, two hundred, two hundred.”
We all shout “NO WAY!” and walk back into the store laughing really hard.

We go back to the phone where Isaiah called his family friend to call Matthew. At first he didn't pick up, but then he picked up the second time. Ari was on the phone and said “Hi, its Jonathan!” Which was hilarious even though we knew he did it because it was the only name we gave him. Unfortunately, he was picking up his daughter at school and couldn't take us, so we went out of a different exit and the negotiation began again.

We told them Parrys then ship because we want to buy a flag and tried to tell us that we can't find a flag in Parrys and would take us somewhere else. We were just told where to get it! After lots of fighting we got it for 200 rupees. The driver took us to this place and worked really hard to find us a flag and it was only 40 rupees! Yay! It was great.

When he bought us back to the ship there was a train running. We paid him, and he asked for more He told us our Indian money is useless now since we are leaving. There were beggars too. I hadn't really given to beggars (I gave a water bottle the night before), and knew I would get swarmed but I gave a few dollars (in rupees) and got really swarmed.

Since there was a train running, there was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. Swarmed with beggars who all knew we were leaving and that we had money. A boy gave me the same “no mama, no papa” speech but I wasn't going to give anymore. SAS told us to be careful about beggars. I had ignored enough and didn't really feel that bad, and I felt worse after I gave an old woman and two small boys and then denied everyone else.

This boy poked and prodded me the whole time the train was running, while I kept my conversation going with my friends. Once the train passed, he really grabbed my arm. He was also carrying a monkey and was asking for the monkey and for him. It sounded like he was asking for milk, which I obviously couldn't give him. We just kept walking until we were in the port, which was our safe zone.
I have to say I didn't feel too bad not giving to the beggars. In fact, I felt worse giving to some and then not giving to others. I donated to HIV/AIDS kind of stuff in the stores which was enough for me. I'm not sure if I should feel bad or not, it's a very strange feeling that you cannot explain even if you've experienced it.

India was amazing. The culture seeps out of every nook and cranny of this country. It is crazy to think that there is so much of this country I did not see. I felt that way about every country, but this one especially. There are over 20 states, many festivals, languages, and so many people I did not get to meet. I will come back to India one day, I know I will. I AM changed since India. I don't know how, but I can feel that I have changed. I guess we'll have to see.