Concerning Confidence Men, Gem Scams and Basements

Something has transpired. A very curious something involving exactly the elements described in the title of the post - con men and a gem scam. It feels rather surreal in retrospect, but I will start back at the beginning.

The train ride to Jaipur took 23 hours. Yes, I spent 23 hours being transported across the country much like a chicken is transported to the slaughterhouse. I traveled "sleeper class" with hundreds of Indians and two Israelis from Dubai. The train wasn't pretty. It did not smell like a bed of roses. There were more rats at the train station than I care to remember (a seething, throbbing mass of them). There was no toilet, naturally, just a hole in the floor. Still, the families on the train were, in a word, quaint - eating their samosas, drinking chai, listening to obnoxiously loud music. I'd say I enjoyed the experience. I'll do it again.

I arrived in Jaipur at about 8 in the evening. I caught an auto rickshaw to the Vaishnavi Guest House. I was able to get a better room than I had in Mumbai for less than half the price. Anyhow, the rickshaw driver agreed to meet me the following morning to show me the sights. Which, is exactly how I spent yesterday morning and afternoon. Jaipur is a beautiful city. It's more relaxed and is a welcome break from the chaotic drudgery that characterized Mumbai.

Unfortunately, rather than taking me back to my hotel my rickshaw driver, Khan, insisted on taking me to visit his boss. I acquiesced when he promised a decent meal, but thought it rather peculiar. We arrived at a typical looking, middle class residence. We took off our shoes, and Khan took me down to a sort of half basement. There were a half dozen men lurking about, all very smartly dressed and immensely friendly. More still, there were rows and rows of supposedly precious stones, diamonds, and gold. I was growing very suspicious, but I ate some very enjoyable vegetable thalis with Khan and "the boss" on the floor, in the middle of a beautiful, handmade Indian carpet. After dinner, the sweet talking commenced.

It's hard to describe, but the entire thing felt immensely staged. They flattered me, they lamented about customs duties and taxes, and they told me how much money I could make if I would only transport precious stones for them - to Paris or New York or Antwerp. In the middle of the conversation "the boss" took a call on the speaker phone from the "Venice Exposition." They flattered me some more, told me how honest I looked, told me how I could make 12 thousand dollars "don't you want to make 12 thousand dollars?" the boss asked. I said "not terribly, I just want to live a simple existence as a sadhu." This threw him, but they wouldn't give up, so I promised to go out for drinks with them later in the evening. I had Khan drive me back to my hotel, I paid him for driving me around during the day, and I told him I didn't want to see him again. After he departed I spoke with a couple of the Nepalese porters about it. They admitted that quite a few of the rickshaw drivers are involved in the tourist gem scam business.

I spent the latter half of the evening with a couple guys who work at the hotel across the street, drinking Kingfisher beer on a rooftop under a beautiful crescent moon. I might be going out to the desert with them for a day or two. We're supposed to go to a little town called Bikaner.

I hope everyone back home is doing okay during the snows and power outage.