It was sad to leave Jaisalmer behind and perhaps I should have stayed another few days. It's an easy place to navigate as it isn't huge. One thing I liked most was that the street animals didn't seem to be starving. Each family is required to make at least two Chapatis for the cows and the dogs. I'm not sure how they monitor that each animal gets its fair share. Either way, it's nice to see this being done! The animals in the other cities were quite shocking for me.
My overnight bus was scheduled to leave the bus station at 5:15pm. It didn't arrive until after 6pm. The bus was overcrowded, as usual, but the working men on the bus gave me the sleeper I had paid for without any unpleasantness in return!
I was able to fade in and out of sleep for most of the ten hour trip. I arrived in Ahmedabad at 4am. As one could imagine, there wasn't much open so I hired a rickshaw to take me to the airport.
Funny story. The driver didn't want to agree on a price before I got in which seems to be the standard. He was quite adamant about using the meter (as far as I know they don't have meters) and then having me pay 1.5 for the rate as it was early am. I agreed and was curious as to what he'd come up with. He told me the airport was 22kms and I made a note to somewhat keep track.
He asked me if I liked India and I said it was OK. He asked, only OK? I responded with a yes, it's only OK. I was tired. About 10kms later we arrived at the domestic terminal. He quickly looks at the "meter" and says 460Rs. I didn't know what else to do but laugh.
I then asked him if he thought I was stupid. He told me that it was the nightly rate. I told him I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and say that it was about 15kms. I held out a paper and my pen and said for him to show me the math. If he could work 15kms out times his nightly rate and come up with 460 I'd have no problem whatsoever paying that fare.
He didn't dare take the pen or the paper. I've become aware that most people here don't seem to have basic mathematics skills. When ordering in restaurants if you point to something on the menu and ask what is this, they will ask you to read it as they don't have the ability to read or write either.
One time, I ordered a coffee at 20Rs and an omelet at 30Rs. The guy, who seemed to be about 20 years old, got out a calculator to do the math. I then handed him a 100Rs note and he again pulled out the calculator to figure out the change. It seems that most of the time I was there, if he wasn't serving he was staring into space. I wonder why a guy his age wouldn't take the time to teach himself basic math skills knowing he needs to use it every day. Weird.
Anyway, back to the rickshaw driver. After I insisted on him showing the math, he started pleading with me and I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. I told him that I had been in India long enough to know that I can rent a rickshaw for the whole day (8 hours) for 500Rs. He continued to plead. I gave him 100Rs as I thought the ride was worth that. I then told him that this is the reason that India is only OK ... because of people like him who always try to scam people like me. I handed him another 100Rs and told him that it was for his nightly rate and his tip for being an ass, then walked away.
I had about seven hours to kill at the airport at which time I buried my head into the book Slumdog Millionaire. Great book so far, I'm almost finished! I am quite interested to see the movie.
I had a quick hour and a half flight to Goa and I now find myself on a beach called Colva. It's not too bad. I'll hang my hat here for another few days before I head off.
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