Getting cash in India can be quite an adventure at times. Finding a functional ATM is not always easy, even in the big cities. Finding a functional ATM that also has cash is even more difficult. On top of that, most visitors seem to prefer a cash machine that actually accepts whatever card they may have, narrowing their options down to about one machine per large city.
Jaipur, India with one of its many forts in the background.
Never was this made more apparent than in Jaipur. You’ve probably heard of this city; it’s the largest in Rajasthan and part of the so-called “Golden Triangle” along with Delhi and Agra and thus one of India’s most visited cities. With the abundance of overpriced tours, inflated-price shopping opportunities and endless scams, visitors to Jaipur will undoubtedly need some cash; I even saw many of them spending their cash with my own eyes. But where did it come from?
Certainly not from an ATM, at least not in Jaipur. I spent a good 2 hours walking from bank to bank, sliding my card into numerous ATM slots, always fully expecting to never see that card again. And let’s be clear: when I say bank, I mean places like this:
Most of the ATMs simply didn’t work. Others gave me hope as they spent several minutes flashing advertisements at me on the screen before finally spitting my card back at me and informing me that this particular machine was currently out of cash. As you might imagine, I was getting a little annoyed with this. Going from one bank to another involves a lot of walking and anyone who has done any walking in Jaipur, or any other Indian city, knows just how miserable that experience can be.
Cars come at you from ten different directions, honking continuously and enveloping you in clouds of dust and exhaust fumes, as you try your best to avoid spraining an ankle on the uneven, gap-filled sidewalks while squeezing past cows and waving off aggressive touts, sad-faced child beggars and countless other people who all claim to be your new best friend.
The downtown area of Jaipur and the reason it is nicknamed “The Pink City”
I’m sure you can imagine how happy and relieved I felt when I spotted an ATM across the street from me with a customer who very clearly had just pulled a few bills out and stuffed them in his pocket. This particular machine was even being guarded by a bored-looking cop holding a large shotgun and wearing a ragged uniform that looked like it hadn’t been washed after the previous officer died and was buried in it. If an ATM has a guard, you have to figure it actually works. It turns out the guard can bring a very different problem.
The machine did appear to work, but the second I inserted my card, the cop was standing directly next to me, staring at the screen with me. I turned to look at him and he looked back with a huge grin. When I didn’t turn away, he pointed at the screen and informed me that I needed to enter my PIN. I informed him that I was aware of the general procedure for using a cash machine, given my years of experience with both ATMs and with reading instructions on a screen and I asked him if he would mind giving me some privacy.
Another photo of the bazaar area in downtown Jaipur.
“I help you!” he answered with another huge grin as he stayed put next to me, his shoulder glued to mine. At this point, it was clear to me he wasn’t going to leave on his own and his grin wasn’t so much saying “I know you’re a foreigner in a strange land and I want to help you” as “I’m going to steal your PIN and, because you’re an idiot, you’re going to be blinded by my charming smile and not notice.”
I also doubted he was actually a cop, although in India, a fake cop is generally more honest than a real one, so that didn’t really matter. His being fake might decrease the chances of his shotgun being real, but Indian cops don’t general carry shotguns anyway, so I wasn’t too worried about that.
Nevertheless, I once again asked him nicely if he could not stand next to me like we’re posing for a photo together and then I asked him a little less nicely and less and less again. After “discussing” his giving me some privacy for several minutes, I ended up having to grab him and physically move him a few meters away.
Surprisingly, he actually stayed there. He didn’t stay quietly though, as he began waving his shotgun-shaped piece of wood and metal and screaming at anyone who passed by, no doubt recounting the grave injustice he had been forced to endure. No one cared. When he started grabbing people and ranting at them while pointing at me, they basically did the same thing I had done and shoved him back onto his spot.
As for the ATM: it worked! It was a little difficult to figure out at first, all on my own without any help, but luckily I was carrying my copy of “Cash Machines for Dummies” to guide me through the process. My hard-earned dollars were converted into Rupees at a less than desirable rate, but I left happy anyway, knowing that I could now afford to eat actual food for dinner.
If you are planning a trip to Jaipur in the near future, don’t panic. As I mentioned above, it is one of India’s most popular tourist destinations, so I am sure there are plenty of ATMs that will work, have cash and even accept your foreign card. I just don’t know where they are, but I’m guessing you’ll find at least a few in the main tourist area with all the pink buildings and the bazaar. Alternatively, just get yourself a uniform and a piece of metal resembling a gun and “assist” other tourists in their ATM use.
Something like this happens to all of us including Indians. You can walk around looking for these ATM machines and if you find some, most of them won’t work. Privacy is not really something that Indians are concerned about. But as far as I am aware, things are now better in Jaipur. Good post and something that tourists to Jaipur must be aware off.
Shalu Sharma recently contributed to world literature by posting..Elephant on the road
As I mentioned, I was also not in the right area and I’m sure there are a few more working ATMs in the more touristy parts of Jaipur. But yes, I had difficulty finding a functioning ATM in other cities as well and when I asked a local, they would always tell me which ATM had the highest likelihood of working, but they could never say for sure which one was currently working, as it seemed to change on a daily basis.
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..Being Mooned by China’s Toddlers
Seems for most of your trip, you were at the wrong place at the wrong time.
I wouldn’t say that. I just tend to write about the times where things did not go perfectly. Most of my time in India was wonderful. And to tell you the truth, even experiences like this weren’t really bad. They’re mostly just funny.
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..Arriving In Manang…Two Weeks Later Than Most
You could make extra $ by running a gambling book on that.
Glad to read you took it in stride.
Maria recently contributed to world literature by posting..Catch and Release
It’s India–you pretty much have to take everything in stride or risk going insane.
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..This Is How You Cruise the Streets of Marrakech
What an interesting story! I’ve never been to Jaipur or India so shall heed the warning re lack of ATMs. I wonder if his tactic works very well? It sounds quite intimidating!
I was wondering that myself. I can’t imagine too many people would go ahead and enter their PIN with some guy standing directly next to them, no matter how sparkling the smile.
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..The Drunken Muay Thai Master
Haha this sounds soo sketchy!
Nah, I’m sure I just jumped to conclusions and he was simply an innocent good Samaritan on his way to a costume party who took some time out of his busy day to help out a foreign visitor to his lovely town…
Ugh, this is so frustrating. We have this problem in China all the time. Even if the ATM works, not all of them offer service in English (ok, ok, I know the world doesn’t revolved around me … ). They also have different limits as to how much you can withdraw at a time (expected, yes), but we are only eligible to submit a certain number of ATM withdrawl fees for reimbursement each month and the rate is quite high. So we have to go to this one ATM far away in order to make sure we get the amount of money we need without exceeding our number of withdrawls. At first I didn’t think it would really matter that much, but for one month alone with just a few withdrawls the fees were over $300 USD! So even though there’s an ATM on every corner, we can’t necessarily use it. Sigh.
The Time-Crunched Traveler (Ellen) recently contributed to world literature by posting..The Perfect 3-Day Weekend: Las Vegas (beyond the casino!)
I know what you mean. Luckily, I had a Bank of China account when I was living there, so I never had to go too far to find an ATM. The real trouble came when it was time to leave China.
They would only let you exchange a certain (very low) amount of Yuan to foreign currency per day, so I spent about a month going to a bank every day and exchanging the daily limit. I was traveling around China at the time, so whenever I got to a new city, I had to spend the first day trying to locate the one bank in town that had foreign currency on hand. Thankfully, I think they may have finally changed this ridiculous law.
Surprisingly, I didn’t have too much trouble finding an ATM that worked. You know the one by that one badam milk place? yeah, that one.
I wonder if defeated fake cop’s managed to fool anyone with that smile. Maybe he needs to work on his grin.
Erica recently contributed to world literature by posting..MIA
I guess you could go there if you’re looking for one of those boring ATM experiences where you put your card in, push a few buttons, and get money…
I’ve never been to India myself, but what I’ve heard about the country, something like this doesn’t really surprise me. At least you ended up with cash in hand without getting ripped off. I love how little events like these can be so frustration as they are occurring, but they always make for the best stories once they are finished.
Lawrence Michaels recently contributed to world literature by posting..Phuket Weather
Yeah, it’s so common that you just get used to it and simply laugh it off. At least this guy was trying something a little different and even went so far as to get uniform and a fake (I hope) gun.