"Rice Girls of Colaba,Mumbai" India Tourist Trap Tip by lynnehamman

I write this "warning" with a smile on my face............It was really more amusing than annoying, but I will give a brief description of what happened. We were walking along the promanade at Colaba, Mumbai, and these 2 sweet, tiny little girls, about 15 yrs old, came up to us. They grabbed my hand, put a flower in it, and begged for RICE. No......they said, they did not want money...just rice. We smiled, and kept on walking.
That night, Richard felt REALLY guilty, and bad that he had not given them the rice that they has asked for, to feed their starving families.Next day, they find us again. So they eagerly led their latest benafactor to a little shop, where he proceeded to buy not just rice., but sugar, milk , biscuits and various other foodstuffs. A veritable feast.They were delighted, Richard felt good,and we were given more flowers.
Later that day, we saw them , busy withother tourists. We should have guessed.
Our hotel manager had a good laugh when we told him about our philanthropy.
"Ah.......the rice girls!!" Apparently. they get tourists to buy, then hand the goods back to the shop-owner, who gives them only a few rupees back. Clever, no?
So this is not really a "danger or warning" just a "don't be a sucker!!"