Tricks Worth Knowing About in Advance

• "Your hotel is closed / burned down / has moved" (Delhi airport, Paharganj, Jaipur). The driver "calls the hotel," they "confirm it," and you're driven to a "brother's office" where they sell you a different hotel and tours. Your answer: "We're going to the address." You have a booking, and the hotel hasn't burned down.
• Skipping the prepaid desk: "the booth is closed, come with me." Many airports have an official prepaid desk: the price is fixed on a receipt before you get in. If the desk is closed, use an app or the airport's official taxi kiosk, not a random driver in the arrivals hall. Simpler still: Uber/Ola from the official zone, or a local app (in Goa, GoaMiles).
• "The meter is broken": either the meter/app, or a price named BEFORE you get in. Haggling after the ride is always lost.

A Delhi classic: around Connaught Place and on the approaches to New Delhi station, dozens of signs read "Government of India Tourist Office." There's only one real government office (India Tourism, Janpath 88); everything else is an agency selling tours at three times the price. A related scenario at the station: "your ticket is invalid / the platform is closed, come and let's re-issue it"; this doesn't happen. Your ticket is only ever checked by uniformed railway staff: at the platform entrance or at the train.

On the ghats of Varanasi and Pushkar, someone places flowers in your hand "as a gift" and leads you to the water "for a blessing," then, after the ceremony, demands a donation, sometimes "for each family member" (in Pushkar this is called a "Pushkar passport": a red thread around your wrist). The rules are simple: don't take anything from anyone's hands; if you want a real puja, arrange it with a temple pandit (pujari) in advance for a specific sum (₹51–101 is a respectable donation). You never need a "ticket" or a thread to reach the lake or the ghats; they're always free.

Jaipur, Agra, Pushkar: a charming new acquaintance takes you to a shop with "wholesale prices" on gemstones, "resell them at home for double." The stones are glass; the "certificates" come from a printer. The same mechanism runs with carpets and "duty-free shipping." The rule: make serious purchases only in shops with fixed prices and card payment; nothing "for resale."

• Milk for the baby: they ask not for money but for you to "buy some milk"; the tin goes straight back to the shop and the takings are split.
• A bracelet/rakhi "as a gift" from a "holy man" → a demand for money. Hands in your pockets, a smile, "no."
• Photos with locals: five selfies later, a "photographer" appears with a bill. Take photos on your own phone.
• Change and banknotes: count it in front of the vendor; don't accept torn notes as change (they won't be taken later; only a bank will exchange them).
• ATMs: a "helper" at the terminal = walk off to an ATM inside a bank branch. Never let your card out of your hands, anywhere.
• A lassi "with a surprise": don't accept food or drinks from fellow passengers on trains, and don't order a "special" bhang lassi outside licensed shops. The stories of spiking and emptied backpacks are real.