Foreigner bursts India's overcharging stereotype with stories of being undercharged

A woman traveller shared stories from her travels in India which were often marked by lower prices, extra food and home invites. Her post cast a different light on tourist experiences.A foreigner woman shared a video about her experience in India. (Photo: Instagram/janekikhoj)Foreign tourists in India often talk about bargaining over auto fares. But one woman had a different story to tell, which involved undercharged chai, free desserts and invitations to weddings and family homes.Jane, who shares her travels on Instagram through ‘Jane Ki Khoj’, spoke about the hospitality she encountered while travelling across India. Her experience, she said, did not always fit the familiar narrative of foreigners being charged more.“A lot of people think that in India, you get scammed all the time, you get overcharged,” Jane said, acknowledging that it can happen. But she wanted to talk about what she described as the other side of the experience.She recently discovered that her local chaiwala had been charging her less simply because she was a guest in the country. “And the amount of times I've been to restaurants, and they'll give you extra dessert, and they're like, you know, ‘Welcome to India,’” she said.But the gestures she remembered went well beyond a cheaper cup of tea or a complimentary sweet. Jane said strangers had invited her home for meals, taken her to family weddings and even offered her a place to stay. During her first trip to India, she recalled, she ended up staying mostly with Indian families after people invited her into their homes. The hospitality often came with a chain of connections. If she mentioned that she was travelling to another city, her hosts would sometimes point her towards a relative or friend there.She recalled one such interaction in which someone told her, “Oh, you're going to Udaipur, but my cousin's friend lives in Udaipur. You should stay with her.”For Jane, those encounters became one of the defining parts of travelling through India. She said she could not think of many countries where people were “as hospitable and as welcoming” as Indians.That does not mean she dismissed the less pleasant side of travelling. Jane admitted that visitors can sometimes be overcharged, particularly for auto-rickshaw rides. But, based on her own experiences, she felt the balance had often tilted the other way.“I think it's far more often that you'll get undercharged,” she said, along with experiencing what she called the “incredible warmth and hospitality” of Indian people.She captioned the video, “Undercharging vs overcharging in India,” and the post drew a stream of positive reactions from social media users.Watch the video here:The post has gone viral with over 28k views and many reactions.While some users thanked Jane for showing the warmth and hospitality of Indians, others joked about the fact that auto drivers in every city demand more fare from every commuter. What are your thoughts on this video?- EndsPublished By: Srimoyee ChowdhuryPublished On: Aug 17, 2026 16:40 IST