Vacation Case

This is a story of three students of IIM Shillong and their experiences in an unknown land, China, where they had to study in a university for 4 months as a part of their curriculum. Jay was from New Delhi, Rocky was from Kolkata and Sammy was from Goa. They became the best of friends when they joined the IIM but each of them was very different from one another owing to their different family backgrounds, their different regional mindsets and their different life experiences. They were the perfect examples of the new Indian brat pack- highly cosmopolitan, open minded, status savvy individuals. They considered themselves to be at par with the best in the world. But deep down they had lost faith on the current governance, were weary of the corruption embedded in the system and were starting to get morally dejected. Deep down it hurt them that their country is suffering and they were unable to do anything for it. But their experiences in China helped them see things from a different perspective thereby restoring their faith on their own capabilities as change agents.

Delhi, the capital of India, is a tourist hub. Many people earn their daily bread and butter from the tourism industry. The lure of easy money from wealthy and inexperienced tourists lead to flocking of scamsters from all parts of the country. These dupesters create their own operational network consisting of taxi and auto drivers, hoteliers, guides etc. Watching them make large chunks of money, the other naïve drivers and hoteliers also try to ape them. Even Delhites are overcharged by these people. One day while going to a new place Jay took an auto. The destination was hardly 15 KM away for which normal fare is Rs. 100 but the auto driver charged Rs. 200. Jay was shocked and asked the driver to charge fairly and also said that he was a native and knew what the actual fare was to which the driver responded that had Jay been a foreigner he would have charged Rs. 500 from him. When he reached his