Camouflage and adapt

From the moment I arrived in Delhi, I’ve been followed by (a rickshaw [Delhi's famous motor-cab] drivers) guys who want to drive me around, show me around and sell me drugs. They are true spotting and shadowing artists. “Hey frrrrriend, you’ve been here yesterday.. remember me?!”
When talking to me, some of them are constantly touching and lifting their gen*tals and “making jokes” while laughingly accusing each other of being gay.

What exactly are their bodies telegraphing me?

Is my knowledge of Body Language good enough to understand these subliminal “sexual messages”?

After just a minute or two talking to me, they preferably call me their “friend”, ask me a cigarette and want desperately to know where I’m going next and what I want (to do). It’s not that easy to shake them off. They keep following me, even when I shout loudly 10 times NO!

NO! is not good enough

I realized, they do not see me as a human being at all, but as (a potential) walking money bag and/or (potential) s*x and drugs customer even.
NO! is obviously not good enough, nor clear… That’s definitely not India that I want to experience and see.

It’s therefore time to camouflage and adapt.

I bought some light (pastel) green Indian shirt that is supposed to make me look less as a tourist. The guy in the shop wanted to sell me 3 of them but I said NO!

“Anything else sir?”
“No, thank you!”
“How about these…?”
“NO! I don’t want to buy anything else.”
“Some handmade artworks perhaps?”
“No, nothing else, thank you.” (I was waiting for him to give me my change)
“3 shirts for…”
“NO!”
“Perhaps then…?”
“God, noooooo! I’M LEAVING!”

That he understood very well.

At some other shop I bought sandals and tomorrow, together with my shoes, I’ll leave my watch and my “You’re the one” silver bracelet (that Big Girl gave me before I left Netherlands) at home, hide my photo camera and I also consider not to shave for a couple of weeks - and in the worse case scenario, I might change my clothes with the poorest guy I meet in following days - if needed. ;-)

Market game at Rama Krishna Margh

The same goes for food markets. For a pack of cookies some dude at Delhi’s Rama Krishna Margh market wanted to charge me 160 Rupees (3 Euro!) and once more I had to say: “NO, thank you!”

More or less the same cookies, I bought at his neighbor’s shop for just 20 Rupees.

I did however pay 150 Rupees for 1 kg. apples. It’s far more then I’d pay in The Netherlands though…
and I wondered: could it be that these were imported - or was I just badly fooled?

I finally went back to a metro station, when a rickshaw dude started to shout to me: “Get in!”
“How much?” I asked.
“Get in!” he repeated.
“No, no, no!… How much?!” (they can charge anything from 10 to 50 Rupees for a short ride.)
“How much do you wish to pay?”
“20 Rupees?!”
“Get in.”
“All right.”

The bottom line is, sometimes I win, sometimes I lose… but this is definitely far worse then a 40+ degrees heat. :-/

Now I surely know that the following weeks, one of my ultimate goals is to camouflage and adapt… to become invisible on the streets of Delhi.

I’d also like to meet some real/normal Indian people who don’t want (to take) anything from me, certainly not to sell me anything (especially not drugs), but to get know me and eventually plan some photoshoots with me.

People in Delhi

People in Delhi 2

People in Delhi 3

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