The ATM Motorcycle Ride

While traveling one of the most irritating, sometimes scarey, things is not being able to access money when your just about to run out of the local currency. For whatever reason niether my credit card or ATM card was working. I tried several machines but to no avail. The 24 hour redi line for my ATM card doesn’t mean you can talk to a person on the weekend. Likely the 3 withdrawls I’ve made within India signaled a red flag. I always notify bank card companies of my travel itinerary before leaving but this time someone must have overlooked the notes and I was shut out. Before getting too worked up I just dropped the issue and decided to take care of it first thing Monday morning.

After a nice breakfast of porridge and chai I set out to tackle the money issue. I wouldn’t be able to settle the ATM card problem until late in the evening due to the time difference so I located a phone to call my credit card company about a cash advance. The way I travel and the places I stay generally render my credit card useless because everything is on a cash basis. I have yet to stay in a single place that accepts a credit card. Plus, due to security, you have to be very careful about where you use it in places like India. I mainly carry a card for situations like I found myself in, or, for major purchases like airline tickets. Anyway, after the runarround with recorded messages I finally got a live person on the line. He said there was nothing wrong with the card and made some notes on my account. The first step was to find another ATM or head to a good bank and Visa would help me if I had anymore problems. This is when the day got a little more interesting.

Of course the first ATM I went to did not work. It was there that I met a helpful local gentleman that was trying to get cash like me. He suggested another nearby machine. I walked there and met him again. He tried to make a withdrawl but the second machine did not work. He appeared a little frustrated like me and offered to give me a ride on his motorcycle to another place that had a machine. I had a clear cut ok feeling about the guy so I hopped on for a ride through the traffic chaos of Jodhpur. When we arrived at the third place there were two machines. One did not work but the other seemed to be ok. He tried first and had success. I went after him and with the company of a little too curious security guard I tried my luck. Ahhhh, the sweet sound of a machine shuffling money and rapidly spitting it out followed by a sigh of relief. I had forgotton about my motorcycle friend but he reappeared as I left and offered me a ride to the clock tower which is where I wanted to go. Back through the chaos of Jodhpur traffic and straight to the clock tower he took me. When he dropped me off I thanked him and he replied with a circular head motion and a big smile then rode off. I do not know his name and he did not ask me mine, or, even the standard question of, “What country?”. It was good ol’ unconditional help and very refreshing.

The interesting thing about India is how in various times of need, people, trustworthy people, just sort of appear and help steer you the right way. It’s pretty cool and one of the many, many, mysteries of India. When these types of people appear I know instinctively beyond any doubt that they are ok. In a country that can give you just about every impression, good and bad, as to what the people of India are like it’s the simple helpful brief chance mettings that are the most special and leave me feeling really good about the people of India.

Once the money issue was settled I set off to spend time at the Fort and roamed about the narrow old city streets filled wonderful little shops, lots of garbage, loads of dust, open sewars, cows, donkeys, rickshaws, kids playing, men working, motorcycles, loud speaker blarring prayers, sun beating down between shade, store owners trying to lure me in, the odd monkey, dangerously exposed power lines, and everything working absolutely perfectly. Even during the power outages……Just another day in India…