“The Unpleasantness” – The Tout That Pushed us Over the Edge

International travel can be extremely tough. It is one of the most rewarding things a person can do but it can also be extremely frustrating at times as well. One of the worst travel experiences Lindsay and I have ever had was with a tout in Varanasi, India. I have written before about how bad the touts (people who hassle you on the street to buy things) are in Varanasi but for the most part they are all quite harmless. Most just want to sell you cheap silk, give you a shave, take you on an “unofficial tour”, etc. However, we learned the hard way that there are also bad, and malicious, touts anxious to prey on tourists. One of the most incredible sights in Varanasi is the “Burning Ghat.” This temple on the banks of the Ganges river is where bodies are cremated and ashes spread in the water. The sight of this is impossible for tourists to resist but we had been warned by our friend Papu (we meet at the hotel) to not go to the Burning Ghat without him. Unfortunately we did not head Papus advice and wandered near the temple to explore. We were cautious enough not to get to close but did get close enough for a picture. Sure enough a very raggedy man immediately started to bother us. He was very dirty looking with torn clothes, missing teeth and an unkempt appearance. He immediately started bothering us for money since “pictures cost money.” We knew this was not true and politely declined his demands thinking that he would go away. Oh how we were wrong…he became more and more stern in his demands for money until Lindsay and I started walking off. We knew things were getting bad when he started to follow-us continually yelling at us to give him money. Although Varanasi is a busy place for some reason there was nobody else around when this was going on which made the whole situation very tense. Lindsay was getting extremely upset (for those who know Lindsay you know this is rare) and began yelling back at him to leave us alone. I remember vividly seeing how upset Lindsay was getting as she was just glaring at him and shaking her head (I am shocked it didn’t scare him off as it was scaring me…ha ha). I eventually found myself with 2 options. 1. I could physically attack this guy to get him to leave us along (it really was this intense). However, that could have quickly gone bad and the last place I wanted me, or my wife, to be was in a jail in India. 2. I could pay him the money he wants to have him leave us alone. The latter generally never works but I was desperate. I gave him the money and sternly demanded he leave us alone. Sure enough he stated it was not enough and even after taking the money kept yelling and following us. It was at this moment that I realized this was probably not going to end very well….a physical confrontation. Just as things were at their worst a group of Indian teenage boys turned the corner and saw that the man was bugging us and quick yelled at him to “leave us alone.” The tout took off running the other direction and the Indian boys smiled and asked us to “not believe all Indians are like this.” We were so grateful that they were there as the situation was truly getting extremely tense. It took Lindsay and I a good few hours to “cool down” after this altercation. We just wandered around the rivers edge in Varanasi talking about it until we were finally able to laugh a little at the situation. Over the next couple of days we did get to see the Burning Ghat with our local buddy/guide”Papu” which was a completely different experience (the touts did not bother us at all as we were with a local). While we were touring around we noticed another westerner couple getting hassled. We eventually learned that many of the men who hang around the Burning Ghat are “social outcasts” which explained a lot about how the man who bothered us dressed, looked and acted. To this day I can still get Lindsay fired up by talking about this experience. It was probably the worst travel experience we have ever had and we will never forget it. Luckily it did not spoil the rest of our time in Varanasi and we ended up loving that ancient and incredible city.

This is the picture that got us in trouble with the tout.