The following is parts of letters sent to people responsible in India for the government, and newspapers. None have answered me, as of March 31, 2006.
This is how tourists are treated now, all over India now. I have traveled to India for 10 years now, every chance I could. I loved India before. Now India is hell. I think Varkala Beach, Kerala, is the worst so far.
I can assure you, India will be famous, but not in a way Indians want. No foreigner has to put up with this bad treatment in their own country. I would hope the government will take action against people that behave in this manner. I am a guest, a client, a customer. I am told every day in India, "I must pay what it costs in my country, I must pay more because my skin is white, my eyes are blue, I must pay more because I must be rich" and "I must do as they say". Discrimination, prejudice, rudeness, dishonesty have become the Indian tourist business motto.
If my meat is raw, my meal is cooked wrong, I got the wrong food, or it is spoiled," I am told to "shut up" and pay. No one usually offers to solve the problem. I am called names, threatened with violence. I am told "no one has ever once complained". "I am told to get out of there, leave India, go home, my country is a horrible place, I am a horrible person"..... on and on. I might have just asked simply to give me all the food I am paying for, or cook my raw meat till done, or give me a different coffee, I often have rotten milk in mine. Things civilized countries fix immediately.
All day, every day, every traveler is being cheated for poor service, poor food, bad hotels. Some people pay too much, leave India early, never come back, say nothing. Some argue, but then pay because they fear for their lives. Some pay the correct amount, ignore bodily harm threats, and leave, their hatred of India complete. India brags they only want rich people, they want to charge a LOT! Rich foreign people demand perfect food, perfect hotels, and people to wait on them. Anyone paying for a service in a civilized country, is the boss, it is their money, whether they are rich or poor. India does not understand service, quality and quantity. They raise the price, lower the standards, and give little value. They brag how easy to be rich by charging more and more. hope something is done to clean up the violence directed at women in particular, if they do not "pay or do as they are told."
Journey to Varkala Beach and there
I arrived in Trivandrum, Jan. 29, 2006, from Madurai on a tourist bus. It let me off at a tourist agency. The rickshaw drivers in Trivandrum demanded 800-1000 rupees to take me to Varkala. I waited at least 1 1/2 hours for someone to take me for an honest price. When a new driver would stop, and offer to use the meter or charge me 200 rupees, the goondas would surround his vehicle and threaten him. They followed me up and down the street, yelling insults, making fun of me, chasing away anyone honest. Below are three of them. When I took out the camera, many left. The remaining drivers just got more rude.
More! Rickshaw drivers' hall of shame!
I gave up on traveling by rickshaw to Varkala, and said "take me to the bus station, I will take a bus". The rickshaw driver charged me 20 rupees, and it turned out, I was only around the corner from the government buses. He threw my bags out into the main street in front of the bus teminal, drove off.
The police said my bags could not be there. They told 2 rickshaw drivers to carry them. I paid the two, 20 rupees each. That is what the rickshaw drivers had told the police I had to pay, for a short walk to wait for the Varkala bus. They then demanded 50 rupees each. I told them to get lost, 5 rupees would have been enough. They threw the money at me. I had paid them the 20 each. They brought a policeman to me, he demanded I pay 50 each. I refused, said they had said 20 each, and I will pay 20. The policeman left after a minute or two.
A coolie promised to put the bags on the bus for me, but he left. When the bus came, he was still gone. The bus driver hardly waited a minute, then decided to leave. I had to run after the bus begging the driver to stop for me. Below are the coolies who want a lot of money, 100 rupees each, for few steps of work.
I had to pay these 2 men 20 rupees each to get the bags on the bus. They walked from one foot directly in front of the bus, to inside the bus. I wanted the bags on the roof, but the conductor said no, inside. It is my clothes, sleeping bag, photos, etc. Then the coolie who had done nothing arrived and wanted 200 rupees. I said no rupees, he wasn't even there when I needed the help. The men who did help then also wanted 100 each, they 3 all yelled and threw fits. You can see two of them in my pictures. The bus started, they had to get off, complaining all the time.
The government bus conductor charged everyone on the bus, but me, 24.5 rupees. He told me 45 rupees. I said no, I will pay what everyone else pays. He yelled I had to pay 45. I refused.
An Indian man behind me started screaming "I think I am special. Tourists get everything cheaper than Indians. I should go back to the USA". He screamed at me non stop. I pay so many times more than any Indian pays for anything, that alone makes me hate India some days. He has no idea what is going on. He is screaming that I want to ride free, and that is not true.
The govenment bus driver drove to the large police station (in Trivandrum?), and he and the driver exited. An entire bus full of people sat and waited, while he demanded the police arrest me. I left the USA partially because I was about to die from blood pressure. I left to enjoy Indian culture, but I am treated like the lowest of caste. You can see them entering the police station in my pictures. The conductor is smiling. He wants me put in jail.
I took the Indian man's picture, who is still yelling in the bus, at the police station. (his picture is blurred, as he tries to hide his face). His wife is hiding. She keeps trying to shut him up. He is screaming "I am afraid of him. If I take his picture he will break my camera. He is yelling go ahead and take his picture". The police come out and stare at me. I am humilated. The conductor and driver get into the bus, and drive off. I am charged 24.5 rupees, same as eveyone else. I receive my proper change back. I photoed my tickets.
I asked the conductor to leave me at the end of the Varkala route. He let one bag off, then droveos far away, before I and the other bag were let off. I must walk back to gather my stuff together.
The rickshaw drivers are waiting by the hotel that advertises liquor on it's outside wall. The rickshaw drivers want 200 rupees or more to take me to Beach road. I said it was only 20 rupees last year in Oct, when I was last here. They laughed, insulted me, chased away any honest ones. This is becoming the norm at every single trip now, pay a lot or suffer trying to get a honest one.
A foreign man on drugs, who knows nothing about what is going on, comes along screaming "I have to pay 50 rupees, that is what he always pays". He yells, insults me, says "all these poor starving Indians need the money". I finally get one for 40 rupees and go to the Dream Hotel on the north cliff.
I am there a few days. I am paying a dollar an hour to email my freinds and children. The internet crashes all the time, says "no memory". I asked the man caring for the internet, if he would clean the desktop. I lose all my work otherwise. He does nothing. A few days later, it is too late to walk to another one, so I used theirs again. Now there is a virus, and the letters in a word are as big as the entire screen. I tell the man next to me.
The man who runs the hotel tries to hit me, he screams "I must shut up. I am not allowed to complain. He will not fix anything. I must leave the hotel that minute". He is trying to punch me in the face. He is drunk and on drugs, so he missed till I reached my room. I cannot unlock the door in time, and must run the other way. He hits my hand as I go past. I retreive my keys later and leave. I wander at 10:30pm till 12:30pm at night, but no one will rent me a room. I go back and am terrified all night.
I find a new room on Beach road in the Holiday hotel. The man keeps touching my hand. I do not like this. I later learn from other women, he has done the same to them. He also invites them to his room at night. No one takes up his offers. He harasses all women who go there. I put my bags in his shabby room and walk out front. I have not even been there a 1/2 hour. He is the chubby guy in white lungi, with glasses, lifting my bag below.
I am told I can have a nice room same price at another hotel, next door. I go back to Holiday Hotel, get my bags, and move. I am gone 5 minutes when I remember my Tibetian jewerly is in the cupboard at the Holiday Hotel. I went back, he told me someone else must have stolen it. It was gone. He will not give it to me, or my paddle locks and a few other things that were in the cupboard.
When I go to eat, I am often charged even more than other tourists. I am a grandmother, so therefore they say "I can afford to pay more". What are they talking about. In my country I was so very poor. Most older people in American suffer in their old age, with little money to exist on. I sold everything so I could travel and rest from stress, enjoy the good parts of India culture. BUT I am finding India has changed, lost it's heart.
When I went to the train station in Varkala or Kanyakumari, no one would tell me when the trains will run each way. The lady in the Varkala station screamed My freind and I must figure out when we want to come back ourselves. She sells the tickets. The tourist office was never open. Travel agencies usually refuse to sell any train ticket, they say they do not get enough money for the trouble. If you want a ticket, then you must pay 200-300 rupees extra and buy it 24 hours ahead. You ae told you cannot order a train ticket a few days ahead.
In reservations, March 30, 2006, at the Varkala Train station just yesterday, I was told I could not buy a train ticket for Delhi, or for any day. He said "there were no waiting lists, no women compartments, no tourist quotas, no advance room on any train". Wht did I expect from a station with a sign announcing NO seperate line for women?
Later the government employee said I can buy a chair ticket, by waiting list. Then I can check if I have it that morning. Get on the train and try to buy ac berth. Next he wanted "300 rupees extra to get me that "waiting list emergency ticket", by giving me the chair ticket.
Coming back from Kanykumari to Varkala, a few weeks ago, Feb.28, 2006, the conductor charged every single person 50 rupees more. I refused. He told people with reserved seats, it was an extra charge on their ticket. They already had the correct tickets from the station. I had the 30 minute before ticket, so he told me it was extra to reserve that particular seat, and I had to pay. He snatched my ticket from me. I snatched it back. I paid a lot for that ticket already. Everyone argued before and after me. He refused to leave till they gave him 50 rupees, they all had the correct tickets for their seats already. I have traveled for 10 years on Indian trains, and never run into this scam before.
Tourists are charged far too much. Everyone laughs in our face, we must pay so much, they think it is funny to cheat people. When I find out, they say "this is India, they can do as they want".
Even the government cheats the tourist. I am sick of paying 250 rupees or 500 rupees to see something an Indian pays 5 - 10 rupees for, or it is free for them. This discrimination and prejudice certainly is not democratic.
I am sick of men getting a portion of food 5 times bigger, and I pay the same or more. I am sick of my juice, milk, tea or coffee watered down to point of tasteless. Tourists are charged more, the more often they buy something also. If I pay 20 for water, then come back, Indian reasoning is I must pay more, so they can have more money. "I must like it". If I eat at the same resturant twice, it will be less food, less service, even more charge. "I must like it", so they can charge me more.
I am sick of paying for an hour (60 minutes) massage, where the person who claims to be trained, makes no effort, charges me a lot of money. They do nothing but wave their arms around. They massage me 45 minutes or less, claim they are done. Every foreigner complains to each other. If they complain to the Indian, they are attacked.
Young girls tell me all the time, they had to pay 300-600 rupees for something that was 20 rupees. The man was going to beat them up, they had no choice. This is common in internet stores, where we are told we mysteriously downloaded some huge amount, in normal usuage. Also rickshaws and taxis use the threat of violence. Last year, 2005, I had a real problem with twisted minded rickshaw drivers at night telling me what they will do to me sexually. threatening them with the police, does not deter them. We are insulted constantly, and told to shut up, threatened with violence. In the last five years, the prices have gone up, up, up, and the quality down, down, down. Bullies, thugs, and goondas rule.
Everyday, everywhere, I am told they need the bakshi, by bus conductors wanting up to 1200 rupees extra, on a 32 rupee ride for my bags on the roof, to bus conductors who try to keep my change, tell me it is a tip.
I could make a list pages and pages more. I have taken pictures of some of these people, their vehicles, their faces. It is all going on my web pages. I am told that "Indians can do anything they want now to a tourist, because this is India". I am told "my country is not a democracy, I must shut up and pay whatever they want, that my country is not as good as India, I should go back and stay there". India is getting a black reputation.
People leave sooner than planned, never want to come back. Even I can no longer stand it. I live in fear. Men have tried to beat me, chased me, tried to steal my camera off my neck, and more. If I am in a crowd, then the someone always come to my rescue. What happens when I am alone? What happened to the wonderful freindly people who bargained, who tried their best to please? What happened to the concept I am the guest. I am paying them to give me services. I am not here to be told to shut up and do as they want. How can you treat a traveler, a customer, with this attitude, and expect to have a business? How?