Rule breaking........

Just this last week, actually, in the last 4 days, there have been three occasions where I've personally witnessed a local flaunting rules.  I don't know why it hasn't really occurred to me before but the prevalence of rule breaking here is quite high.

Ok maybe before you start, you need a cuppa tea to sit down and read this one …. so here goes …. 

Rule Break Number 1:

So I can't tell you who our guide in Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve was, for fear of getting him in trouble over HIS blatant disregard for rules.  However we do have him and his amazing driver to thank for our two, yes TWO incredibly AWESOME tiger sightings!

We had three drives all up, and at one point on our first drive we drove past two dark green poles.  Turns out those poles marked the beginning/end of zones.  We didn't realise this at the time, as our guide purchased our tickets, but apparently our entry to the reserve was on the condition we stayed within our allotted zones.  So at one point during our drive, our guide tells we're just going to check this waterhole quickly to look for tiger prints .. quickly I'm guessing, because we're not supposed to be here.  Ohoh! Loads of questions later, we're given the lowdown on zones.  Feeling mightily uncomfortable about breaking rules …. where there are man eating tigers roaming around (some rules are there for your protection right? and probably moreso for the protection of the tigers too!) we continued.  Then there she was T17, sitting in a pool of water under a tree .. Oh my god she was gorgeous.  Ok this blog is about rule breaking not tiger sightings, you'll have to read my next blog for that story. But just to break up this text and only to break up this text OK???? here's a picture of T17:

Our 4 hour afternoon drive in 43 degree heat (that's 109.4 for you farenheiters) proved to be fruitless, no tiger sightings.  I don't wanna know, but I suspect, as we've covered an awful lot of territory that we've gone into quite a few forbidden zones trying to find another beautiful tiger.  

The next morning same problem, no tigers, prints but not one damn tiger.  So we're just about to give up, extremely disappointed, when a canter full of smiling people drives towards us .. their guide in Hindi yelling "she's in the hills, she's in the hills go go go" … so we zoom off, man our driver thinks he's Juan Fangio … 60km an hour over bumpy dusty tracks in our open jeep, no seat belts of course and we're zooming towards the hills  …… "go go go" is all I can think, GO! we need to see this tiger!  

And there, around the corner ….. wandering meandering down this bright orange dirt track is…... T24, daughter of the famous Muchly!  Emmy is in awe, she was in Ranthambhore in February on a school trip, and she knows all about Muchly .. hell who doesn't (note to self, must google Muchly see what all the hoohar is all about!).  So we follow her down the track until she takes a right and heads into the woods.  There's another canter in front of us and it keeps going but without warning or explanation, our driver turns round and zooms back to where we were …. he stops the car and our driver explains that we are not to tell anyone we saw a tiger this morning (by anyone he didn't mean you, he meant the rangers who keep track of all the tiger sightings).  We were not in our zone and he would be in big trouble if they knew.  So, our lips are sealed, well as much as you can when you're grinning from ear to ear that you've just seen the most majestic creature ever wandering, a mere a car length in front of you!

Thank god is all I can say, thank god for rule breaking (no-one was in danger right?) cause without it we wouldn't have had the privilege of seeing our second and very much endangered tiger in the wild, in India, in our last weeks in this amazing country.

Rule Break Number 2:

This week sees me at the airport with my two gorgeous daughters, heading to the UK.  It's 6am and we're standing at the entrance to Indhira Gandhi International airport, ready to show the guards our e-ticket and passports before he allows us entry.  We're queueing behind two men and a lady, the lady firing words at the guard, machine-gun style holding up the queue, I can't catch her Hindi, it's too quick but it doesn't take me long to realise she's showing her id (shoving it in the guard's face to be precise) but no passport or e-ticket and that of the three of them, only the younger of the men has relevant paperwork to gain entry to the departure terminal.

Ahhhaaaa, Mummy and Daddy are trying to get their way in so they can see their beloved son off.  It's impossible, she's wasting her time, only travelers with a valid e-ticket are allowed inside the terminal, she's holding us up and what's more the guard is clearly pissed off that no matter what he says, she's determined to have him break the rules.  I totally get why they ban non-eticket holders from entering the airport .. have you seen how many extended families stand at Indian airports to see their loved ones off or arrive, have you counted how many people are within those extended families?  Oh my god, it would be complete and utter chaos, 27 people minimum per traveller seeing their loved one off, multiplied by how many on a plane, by how many planes departing??????  So this is one rule I agree needs to be enforced.

In three years, this place has changed me (in more ways than I care to admit right now), suffice to say I don't want to have to wait a nanosecond longer than I have to in this already stinking hot morning, and before I know it the words are out of my mouth, "lady, you don't have an e-ticket or passport then please step aside, you're holding us all up, you're not allowed inside as this guard has now pointed out to you at least 5 times, get the message and get out of my way please".  There, that did it!  Guard smiles at me, I charm him with my best HIndi asking him how he is and minutes later we're inside the terminal, leaving Mrs-Rule-Breaker-attemptee/about-to-be-heart-broken-Mummy outside still arguing with the guard!

Rule break number 3:

Ok still with me?  Need another cuppa?

One last rule break … for some completely unfathomable reason, Duty Free at Indhira Gandhi International Airport does not allow foreigners to pay in Rupees. If you're an Indian national you can use your ratty, torn, holy pink and yellow stained paper roops.  But if you're not Indian it's American Dollars or nothing!

There's no logical reason that one could possibly imagine except perhaps that the person who owns this particular Duty Free shop prefers to have American Dollars in his bank account rather than rupees!  And no amount of arguing changes their steadfast rule, believe me I've tried.  Not even producing all the documentation I possess that proves I'm a resident and have lived here for the last 3 years … my passport, a plethora of multiple visa entry stamps, local credit card (that I couldn't obtain/retain if I didn't live here), FRRO document, not even yelling in pure and utter frustration!  I try more on principal now than anything, I've got rupees in my purse and as far as I'm concerned, my rupees are as good as the next guys, irrespective of my skin colour or nationality!

Anyway, they've worn me down, I just accept it now, stupid rule that it is, but on my most recent trip out of Delhi I decided I just needed to find out why.

So I befriended one of the helpful dudes in Duty Free, played pathetic female and allowed him to "help" me chose a bottle of gin and some cuban cigars (on behalf of a friend in the UK who's wedding anniversary is next week).  I dazzled him with my crappy Hindi to make him laugh, and on the way to the checkout asked him if he could explain why I'm not allowed to pay in Rupees.  He tried his hardest while I was paying for the goods with my Visa card, but you know he just had nothing to offer.  

We chatted amiably and as this purchase, typically, had taken so long and I was obviously distracted, my girls decided it was a perfect opportunity to ask for a massive bag of chocolates (hey they're fresh so won't be all white with heat damage), so then comes the surprise (and rule break number 3, you knew it was coming sooner or later) .. friendly helper dude says "madam if you want to pay in rupees it's ok I can fix it for you", "oh yeah" I'm thinking "this'll be good" …. So I follow him to another check out where there's an Indian national buying up his whisky allowance, they swipe his passport and ask if he minds if we use his passport so madam can pay in rupees too!  He kindly obliges, and I stand there completely gobsmacked as he tells me I'm up for 1100rupees!  

It was THAT easy?  I just had to be nice and suck up and take the time, Indian style to talk incessantly about a problem until the guy finds me a workable solution?  Why has it taken me this long to get with the program and figure this out?  

I WIN I WIN, ha ha I've paid in rupees!!!!!  I have to tell Nicky (who's grated by this stupid rule far more than I am).

So there you have it folks, three examples of blatant disregard for rules, no matter how stupid or how necessary they are, in India rules are made to be broken (except for the lady who never did get into the terminal to see her son off!).