The daily commute - boy

I've taken local buses of various sizes in many developing countries, which by and large differ from the buses in the west in two significant ways; (1) the lack of a timetable which means the buses simply leave when full, the definition of which differs enormously from country to country; and (2) virtually hidden (but fixed) prices. The latter has never been a problem since the other passengers will normally indicate the real price or the conductor will remove the relevant notes and coins from your hand. Kathmandu is the first place where price has been an issue and probably stems from what seems like a nationwide obsession with overcharging the foreigner.

Foreigner price vs local price are common enough, but in Nepal it permeates every transaction. On the buses today it was evident that this overcharging is almost seen as a 'right' and the conductor actually became abusive when he couldn't get away with it. Apart from a couple of trips, every single bus ride has been a battle to pay the correct amount or just over. Sometimes they give up on the high amount and merely refuse to give you change (even while doling it out to the other passengers) and sometimes (when the wind changes) they relent and give you change.

I think this last spat was very telling of the Nepalese psyche in general, or at least that of the Kathmandu commuter, since they decided to get involved. Previously we watched them pay and saw exactly how much they handed over. Our turn came; we paid the conductor and did the usual rejecting of the extra he charged. In disgust he threw the money back and then asked for the inflated price again, which we again refused. The woman sitting in front of C said she'd paid the inflated price - patently untrue. The guy next to me then said the same thing - again untrue. I mentioned that I saw exactly how much he paid and he smiled. I asked why he lied and he shrugged (with a look reminiscent of the shopkeeper who sold C a "yak hair" scarf a couple of weeks ago). C was fuming at this point and gave both passengers a stern telling off for being dishonest. The guy next to me continued to grin sheepishly and then said something to the conductor, after which the conductor accepted our money with extreme hostility. C made a valiant effort to get our change but to no avail. He slammed the door as soon as we left his face permanently and grotesquely contorted with rage - just imagine if we had paid the correct amount.

I feel a bit bamboozled by the passenger's solidarity with the overcharging conductor. I've not felt a clash of cultures in such a profound way in a long time. Do people in Nepal think a little extra charging here and there is no big deal, harmless, not much money and people (especially rich tourists) should pay? If they had said "foreigners pay more" (which they could do in Nepalese since there's always someone on hand to translate) I would pay (albeit begrudgingly). If it were policy I would pay without question (as we do in museums). But this improvised way of overcharging feels like cheating to me regardless of the monetary amount and the commuters who lie to backup this behaviour feels like complicity in cheating.

Oh well, we have one more commute before leaving Nepal so we'll see how that goes. Armed with exact money and the phrase "I know the price is 24 rupees" we'll go forth into certain conflict and unpleasantness.