We’ve all been used to receiving life ‘tips’ from a young age – from our parents, teachers, coaches, mentors and seniors to improve ourselves. All the above had no pecuniary implications unlike the proverbial ‘tip’ or what has been colloquially known as ‘bakshish’ a small token of the recipient’s appreciation of satisfactory services rendered by sundry workers. Along with the old colonial baggage, ‘tipping’ in India has been customary (it mustn’t be thought like ‘alms’ that no one encourages but continues to thrive on streets). I often feel that service workers must be compensated, even if in a small way, for their honest work which is mostly lowly paid, yet routine and often quite hard in nature.
Question arises with some (specially the tight fisted upstarts !), ‘Why pay extra to people for doing their job’ and what’s the fair amount if one feels large-hearted. The answer lies in empathy & understanding. Most service providers employ workers on meager wages. In average hotels, restaurants, dhabas, serviced apartments, spas and salons and such outlets, staff is not likely to be well paid. Why not shell a little for good service maybe to a family’s sole bread-winner, with today’s inflation ? Paying 10% of the bill is acceptable ‘tipping’. After GST, we can say ‘No’ to the ‘Service charges’ if charged by restaurants !
Fond of visiting exotic places ? Remember while travelling on a private tour or through operators, (unless otherwise advised by the service providers) you’re generally expected and should tip porters, drivers, restaurant staff and other service workers given the low wages they get to earn. In our recent trip to Kashmir, we discovered that ‘tips’ were widespread & had to be factored into our calculations, if one expected comfort & good quality services. We felt that given the rising costs, tips needed an upgrade –what at one time was adequate at Rs. 100, we revised to 200 per head but it’s likely to go upwards !
Understandably, workers in popular destinations, depend on tourists for earning extra income in form of fat ‘tips’ but by sheer numbers they are many. So in hotels you wisely tip one central person at the reception and indicate you wanted it to go to all service staff. Avarice for quick bucks make some drivers quote high rates for the local tours and then expect ‘bakshish’ too, which isn’t really justified.
Travel in India (high cost of flights, hotel rooms, local excursions, god meals, inevitable last minute local shopping etc) is on well on its way to becoming frightfully expensive, depending on the choices you make, but you can’t have a expansive family vacation and try to become very thrifty. In costing, don’t overlook ‘tips’ & ‘bakshish’ everywhere. They play an unsung role in a satisfying trip !
Working on Living 