Foreigners pay for boat rides in native currency

VARANASI: Boatmen in the city are collecting foreign currency in lieu of rides offered to tourists visiting ghats. They are getting paid in foreign currency in small denominations because of the cash crunch triggered by demonetisation. Some tourists are also giving foreign currency as gratuity.
Foreigners visiting the city are as troubled by shortage of smaller denomination Indian currency as are natives.A boat ride to enjoy the scenic beauty of historical ghats being a must in the itinerary, many are making it a point not to miss it and are offering currency of their countries to the boatmen as tariff or tip.
Although the boatmen are not exactly happy given the hassle of getting the foreign currency exchanged, they are accepting it out of need for money and etiquette so as to not disappoint a tourist.
“A couple of days ago, four Thai tourists took a ride in my boat and gave me two Rs 100 notes instead of Rs 300 as they had no change and before I could waive off Rs 100, one of them handed me a 50 Thai baht note,” recalled a boatman, Ravi Sahni.
Another boatman Kailash said Chinese tourists are paying him in yuan. “Chinese tourists were worried as they only had the scrapped currency notes and would pay for a boat ride in their own currency. I recently got three 10 yuans from a tourist group while another group gave me five as tip,” he said, adding that he couldn’t return the currency as that would be impolite.
“We depend on the boat owners for exchanging the foreign currency,” said boatman Pappu Sahni. Boat owner Vinod Nishad said he usually waited till there is enough in foreign currency to exchange.
TOI caught up with Justyna Zdonek from Poland who said she had yet to take a boat ride in the Ganga and would love to pay the boatman in Polish Zloty. “I don’t have much cash and would love to leave one PLN as a souvenir,” she said. Her friend Agnes Maliniecka said she would do the same if the boatman agreed.