The Young and the Restless

Today at Amber Fort we were approached and menacingly followed by a 14 year old local demanding 10 rupees (about $0.25) from us. As far as I was concerned he could have my 10 rupees when he pried it from my cold dead hands.

After telling him politely "no thank you," then less politely to "leave us alone," I got angry and started cursing at him (mind you, we were in a secluded part of the fort where no one else was around). He started saying stuff in hindi, but I definitely heard him call me "macho."

After continuing to curse at him and shuffling Mylinh down the path toward other people (and relative safety) he actually took off his lightweight sandal and threatened to throw it at me. For a second I progressed forward (clearly not fearing the threat of a sandal), but then quickly decided that my problems would probably multiply ten-fold if I got into an altercation with a teenage local.

So we walked calmly and cooly down the fort toward a crowd of people and he followed. By this time we were near some Indian vendors and I started to curse at this kid again. The vendors assured me he was nothing to worry about, but some nice Indian locals began scolding him in Hindi and he finally left us alone.

The problem with menacing children is that you can't strike them without possible repercussions. Once a child learns that they have the power to do whatever they want it is hard to force them to do otherwise. Clearly bad parenting and a parasitic sub-culture has shaped this child, but part of me thinks a broken nose would have done him some good.