Something funny with the Indian ATMs

The Indian Bank with the largest physical presence in India is the government-backed 'State Bank of India' or SBI for short. It's also one of the few ATM providers which doesn't charge an additional fee for cash withdrawals by foreign credit cards. As a long stay tourist who spends almost entirely in cash, and frequently withdraws small amounts, I have made at least 250 ATM withdrawals in my time in India. Unfortunately not all resulted in receiving cash, and a minority of these still resulted in my bank account being charged. The culprit in 6 of these cases, and a further 3 that I heard first hand from other foreign travelers, were ATMs branded as SBI. I can say this for sure: if your withdrawal fails in India, you must check your bank balance. "It will come back within 3 days", you might be told. In none of the 9 instances did the money come back, you must then register a dispute with the bank which issued your card to reclaim it. The SBI will not help you.

To me this is all a bit suspicious, because the ATM software registered that the withdrawal had failed each time. It either gave an error code or physically printed a receipt for the failure. There was network connectivity before and after, and sometimes the next withdrawal would even succeed. The bank, or the subcontracted ATM provider knows the failures occur, but the money just disappears. Money doesn't just disappear.

Scams in well lit places

Goa airport, like any airport, has a number of money changers. It's widely known that airport money changers offer some of the worst rates going. They make their profit from your last chance to exchange, and the need for your first cash in a closed currency. But this time something is curious, the displayed rates are strangely good.

I ask at the counter, but it starts to unravel pretty quickly. The number of rupees I would receive doesn't match the stated rate. I am instead handed a sheet of paper with some lower figures, and which at the end mentions a 6% tax. Oh... really...

India does have a tax on foreign exchange, but it's not 6%. The tax is in fact 0.12% of the total value, which is 50 times smaller than the supposed tax claimed by the money changer. The claimed value of 6% would then be a lie, the stated exchange rate a deception, and in my mind the process bordering on fraudulent. All this from your airport-based 'govt. approved' money changer. Always open for business, always innovating.

Something in the water

There are three children from the guesthouse splashing in the water. Girls, somewhere between 6 and 10 years old, having fun in the surf. The parents are on the beach sunbathing. I believe the family is from Germany, they have been at the seafront guesthouse a few days, but we haven't spoken.
A group of Indian men walk along the beach, stopping near the girls. They watch briefly, without much interaction. The group doesn't act decisively but collectively begins to settle on the beach just a few metres down. They take a few selfies, one looks at the girls, they pause for a few minutes. Standing without interacting, unsure, joking, eventually undressing.
They enter the water wearing their white and beige vests, the flag of a poorer background or a smaller town. It's all fun and games, splashing around, shrieking, leaping out of the water and falling backwards. They play a game of climbing on each others shoulders, launching backwards into the water when the balance becomes unsettled.
But I know this is all a show. This is a ritual, some kind of instinctive or considered behaviour. The intra group focus is feigned. Only the occasional glance at the children reveals it. Every foreign woman who has been swimming here knows where this is going. Most Indian women know exactly where this is going. The long stay residents know exactly where is this going. The Indian guesthouse staff know exactly where this is going. I know exactly where this is going, and so I stand, staring straight at the group from the beach. Unmoving, direct. My gaze might prevent the entire thing without disturbing the girls.
It doesn't, and so over the course of 10 minutes I watch it progress. The group, splashing and playing, inch down the beach. By general drift and accident they end up exactly seaward of the girls. One of the group separates slightly, and happens to drift backwards, towards the girls. Facing the group the whole time, with full accidentiality, he continues to progress backwards, inshore, towards the girls. Here his accidental progress becomes somewhat difficult, it's only about 50cm deep. He resorts to the common play of leaping up with each breaking wave and falling over backwards into the surf. He makes surprising progress, in two accidental falls he reaches the girls. But with his hand outstretched he has gone too far, and falls the other side of the closest girl. I step in and instruct the Indian group to move along with a single gesture down the beach.
The parents, either through confidence or careful balance of parenting, never move from the beach. We never interact. But there is no doubt what would have happened. What has happened, and what has brought the guesthouse staff down onto the beach with bamboo, machetes and homemade weapons in past years.