>>1044492I can't even remember, man. He was just dressed like a fucking tout. A lot of them have the same kind of fake-but-desperate swagger, and he was no different.
But again, I worked in tourism. I saw a lot of these guys day in and day out. When you watch them run their operations dozens and then hundreds of times, you can tell when a stranger is just being friendly or is about to extend an invitation to the Official Government of India Department of Tourism Information Center.
>>1044490Sure, that'll work too. There's no one true way to deal with touts, but I suppose the key is just to be firm and consistent. Keep walking, say you're alright, and they probably won't follow you for too long. But making excuses as to why you can't see their shop or whatever is a surefire way to prolong the encounter.
For what it's worth, I don't think you'll have NEARLY as many problems in Mumbai as you would in Delhi. I was extremely impressed by how genuinely kind Mumbaikers were, on the whole, when compared to Delhiites. I only ran into one or two touts, taxi drivers went by the meter, took consistent routes, and people were truly helpful. When I was trying to make my bus to Goa, I got lost. Somebody pointed me towards the wrong train station, and I asked another man how to get to Maratha Mandir cinema. He had me wait for a moment, pulled out his cell phone, and dialed his friend. Five minutes later this guy, who didn't speak a word of English, pulled up, motioned for his buddy to get on, and then me. They took me halfway there, started yelling at people in traffic, and had another man take me the rest of the way. Nobody asked for money, they were just being nice.
Even when I was waiting for the bus, I had a great time. Kids kept coming up and high-fiving me, some fat boy tried to force me to share his ice cream, and a couple of Mumbai police officers waved me over, sat me down, gave me tea, and told me about how Shah Rukh Khan was coming to the Maratha Mandir
