"Challe Jao!" ...and the difficulties of being a Gora

Have you ever been to a shopping center and been asked 6 consecutive times if you want to buy a cheap mini chess set or a wooden snake? If you have, you probably got rid of the person by telling them to "get outta here" or that "you don't want it". Well in India, us Goras (white people) are prime targets for these types of aggressive street hawkers. Weeks one through about three were rather frustrating, as the fact that we didn't know Hindi meant that not only the hawkers could not understand us, but they knew that we were newbies, rookie tourists. Happily we have since learned how to solve this problem...

'Challe jao!' (spoken like cha-le jow) = 'Go away!'
and
'Nahi chaiye' (spoken like na-hi cha-ee-yeh) = 'I don't want it'

We've been quick to make use of these phrases, let me tell you. As soon as anyone approaches us trying to sell a smelly whip or a cheap drum, "Nahi chaiye, challe jao!". Works like a charm. We even get smiles and compliments from our former tormentors ("Hey, nice hindi") as they head off to find the next gora.

Learning Hindi has also really helped our negotiation skills, as the locals do not want to waste their time haggling with you once you have proven that you are a veteran. Courtney is especially good at this, even using all English. She came close to making one of the beaded purse salesmen cry while on a shopping trip with the Taj wives, at least that is the account I heard. I believe it too, if she only wants to pay 200 rupees ($4.55 US) for a purse, she's only going to pay 200 rupees for a purse. You do have to make concessions now and then, as there is always give and take... ultimately if we want something, we'll buy it.

Where my haggling skills shine is whenever we take a taxi or autorickshaw... which is the only way to get anywhere. Being a gora causes us to get jacked on taxi and auto rates, so I get pretty worked up. For example, we know it should cost about 40 rupees to get from the Priya to our hotel via auto. So when an auto driver tries to fool the gora into paying 80 rupees, I laugh at him, then turn to the next driver waiting to take my money. That is basically the strongest case we have going for us, the fact that they want our money. Here's a typical auto negotiation outside of Priya:

Driver 1: You need auto?
Me: Yea, Taj Palace... how much? (or 'Kitna' which means 'how much')
Driver 1: 80 rupees.
Me: Ha! 30 rupees.
Driver 1: No, no... 70 rupees.
Me: C'mon, I know what this costs... 30 rupees.
(Enter Driver 2)
Driver 2: Where you need to go?
Me: Taj Palace, how much?
Driver 2: 50 rupees.
Me: No, still too much.
Driver 1: Ok, ok... 40 rupees.
Me: Fantastic, let's go. (or 'Challo' which means 'let's go')

Bah! As frustrating as this gets, its still probably about 300% cheaper than any cab in the U.S., so I suppose it's silly to complain. That, and it's also kind of fun. :D

You can also add to the gora complaint list the fact we can basically count on having our picture taken at every major tourist area we go to. For some reason locals think that certain goras (other white tourists are sometimes left alone while we are bombarded with requests) are celebrities or someone special. You heard a little about this from Courtney's description of our trip to Agra and the Taj Mahal. All we wanted to do was enjoy sitting in the grass and soak in the wonder that is the Taj Mahal, but not so much with photo requests every 4 minutes. I have yet to try out our Hindi on the camera-happy Indians, but I also don't want to be too rude... there is a difference between asking for a picture and harrassing me to buy a safari hat. I have a suspicion that they could care less about me, and that they really just want a picture of Courtney. Who can blame them? ...she is a hottie! : ) Anyway, that's just a sampling of the silliness we experience by being the minority, most is not really a big deal and most is kind of fun. I can tell you one thing for sure, when we are ready to buy another car, I'm sending Courtney in to do the negotiating!