Don't give pound coins to kids no matter how sorry you feel.

The day I arrived I stepped out of the Arrivals hall at Dabolim airport to be confronted by kids. Several tried to grab my wheelie case from me desperately, gesturing for money, uttering the words: "pound, pound." A tug of war ensued because I'd heard about this before but nothing prepared me for the onslaught. After a long flight like that, I was short on patience, so it was hard not to be rude, but being conscious that I was a guest in someone else's country, I had to be nice as pie. All I had on me was small change and I gave the kid a 50p piece. It was obvious he was not pleased by the frown on his face and the way he shook his head. I guessed it was because it's hard to change small coins there regardless of its local value or perhaps there was an adult driving this business. I don't know but I did feel bad believe me. A pound doesn't feel like a lot to you then but after a few weeks of being harrassed for money all the time, you become jaded. Sadly, being rude doesn't bother you any more.

After a couple of weeks in Goa and having seen some pretty amazing women, black from working in the sun all day, breaking stones on the road side, carrying baskets of rocks on their heads, I had the good fortune to meet the director of a construction company at our hotel. We got chatting and he explained it was cheaper to employ 100 women than it was to buy the parts to maintain equipment. Imagine that!

If you visit http://www.womenpaycheck.com/main/officialminimumwages/goa listed below, you'll see what I mean. There are currently 68 Rupees to a pound and those rock breaking women get about 120 Rupees a day! That's about £1.50...and people look down on them too....it's the injustice of the place that's really upsetting. If those little kids get a quid for every plane that lands in a day, they'll be making someone very rich indeed by comparison. It's not the kid's fault.