indi-adar

jaipur, india

i do not blend in, this much i know. i did not fit in anywhere between dakar and accra and at this point my appearance wouldn't seem appropriate in any place save for a norwegian whaling vessel in its third month at sea. but one difference between india and africa is that i felt i knew the rules of the game. my afric-adar was operating pretty efficiently when it came to deciding who was genuinely helping me and who was viewing me as a giant $. it was never perfect and it really never could be, but i'd accumulated enough experience that my opinion to a fellow traveler would deserve consideration. here i have no clue.

maybe i'm being a little too self-critical. what i do know is that the new skin tones, accents, surroundings, means of transportation, and sheer scale of everything changes the traveler's algorithms. stepping out of the train station, the hotel, the restaurant, or just simply being out is an invitation to everyone to talk to you. within minutes you are offered tours, offered rides, offered chai, or given the nebulous 'just want to talk'. it's the latter that is the social tightrope.

but so far, so good. i arrived in jaipur last evening and went for an innocent stroll which found me refusing the first two offers for tours of the city and then buying one guy a 3 rupee chai before he had the chance to give me the indian version of a timeshare presentation. a little further down i met imran. he was with three gentlemen, one of whom was visibly yet innocently intoxicated, and they offered some pretty funny conversation. eventually, imran told me he had an autorickshaw and that he could take me around to various sites for the whole day for 300 rupees (about $6). this price is a little higher than the one in the book, but there was something about imran that told me he was good company. when he refused to play the negotiation game it sealed the deal.

so, today was my day with imran. he took me to a tower overlooking the city, took me to the royal cenotaphs, the awe-inspiring amber fort, then to a textile and carpet factory. along the way he showed his mastery of english terminology related to anatomy and correctly conjugated biological action verbs. like most foul-mouthed people i've found, he was a true salt-of-the-earth, sweet soul. he explained a little about each site before i entered, also telling me if it was worthwhile or not to shell out the extra rupees for a local guide. the textile factory stop was straight out of the hired driver playbook, but he explained that i was under no pressure to buy and that he received a 2% commission on anything i bought, which i found refreshingly honest. for our final stop, the guide book would have suggested the pink, crenellated walls of the city palace. instead, imran guarded my backpack while i played soccer on a muddy, goat-excrement peppered field with the muslim denizens of a random jaipur community. i feel that to date, my indi-adar may be working just fine after all.