2024 Dec-India Sun 22. Bikaner.

It was a half decent sleep on the train. I had a run in with the tour guide last night. For a short trip to the train station, which would cost say INR200 by car, because I did not join the tip kitty, he advised I give INR100 as driver tip. That is bull s**t. What the guide is effectively doing on this basic/flexible tour is over-tipping and throwing client's tip kitty around. 

There is a difference between proper tipping and then there is flashing foreign tourist money around. Foreign tourists are always seen as an easy target, an ATM that just spews cash out.

The tipping culture is far more extreme than in the USA.

What the tipping culture does here is keep the poor in a mindset of poverty and reliance. Everybody expects a tip for nothing. If somebody opens a door, bam, expect a tip. Somebody points you in the correct direction, bam, expect a tip. Here, foreigners already pay the foreign rate for taxis/tuk tuks, but bam, tour guide advises to tip more for short trips. You must be taking the piss.

This is the first tour I have not joined the tipping kitty. I could just see it as a waste of money. Over-tipping is ridiculous and perpetuates a culture of reliance/begging. 

India is such an old culture, with an enormous population. Yet much of it is a third world country. I compare India with China. The level of progress cannot be more stark. It feels like that India cannot change. It is stuck in a culture bind. The educated vs the uneducated, the wealthy vs the poor, the wide expanse between the groups is astonishing. 

You hear many locals blame the government for their predicament, but the government was chosen by the people. 

I look around everywhere and the level of underdevelopment is ridiculous. Even looking at the environment, the volume of rubbish thrown on the street is eye-opening. No self-respect. What the western world does for environment management programs is easily undone within a second in impoverished countries.

Everyone has a story of hardship here. Guess what? I am not here to fix your problems. I am not here to feel sorry for your llife, nor can I make any difference to your lifestyle. I am here only for a holiday and not to provide charity. India's problems are not my problems. The Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar said, the West's problems are not India's problem, I apply it on a similar vein that India's problems are not my problems. 

Back to the tourist stuff. After arriving into Bikaner, there was some fluffing around before we made it to Junagarth Fort. Here, I dumped the guide and the group and sae the fort at my own pace. There was also a museum within the fort complex.

The subsequent market walk was really a waste of time. It did lead to the Rampuria Havelia and the Jain Temple Bhandasar.

The final stop was the Karni Mata Temple (the rat temple). I would only do it once...if even that.