Are Indians as pushy to one another as they appear to be to Westerners?

People who are obviously foreigners get a lot of attention, but so do people who are obviously well-off Indians. The main difference is in how we react. Stopping and making eye contact indicates interest. Would a local who has been propositioned by a tout or a rickshaw driver take the time to stop and say no?

Although literacy is increasing throughout India, at least 25% of the population cannot read at all, and many more can read only with difficulty. Additionally, many different languages are spoken in India. Almost everyone who travels within India speaks either Hindi or English to some extent, but it's very often a second or third language which may be more easily spoken than read.

Therefore, unlike in the West, it is not necessarily constructive to advertise what you're selling only by putting up a sign. One has to announce it some other way. Think of the people who are soliciting your business as people holding signs, or people inside storefronts with signs outside. If someone in India approaches you and says "Hello friend, money change?" and your response is to stop and say no, that's a little bit like walking up to a Thomas Cook window and telling the clerk that you don't need to change any money. By default, Westerners send strange mixed messages like this all the time.

One other thing: no matter how independent a traveler you usually are, there will be a day when your train arrives eight hours late after dark in an unfamiliar city, and there will be a "pushy" guy at the station who will walk you directly to a nearby hotel that accepts foreigners and pays a good commission and has a room available. And even though you're paying more than the "normal" price, the room will still be a bargain, and you'll give the guy a tip for his trouble, and you'll actually be happy about it. India is like that: eventually, you learn to adapt, and you learn to love what you used to love to hate. As others have said here, it always helps to smile.

This is like asking if all Americans are as annoying as used car salesmen and the car dealership folks!

I am an Indian, grew up in India and I can assure you that the auto rickshaws bother us just as much but we've had the training to deal with it very much like most Americans can deal with telemarketers (calling us at home for even a survey is inappropriate to us Indians). There is a cultural difference much like how in the US you are expected to toot your own horn during an interview and outline your accomplishments, this will be considered extremely arrogant in most Asian countries and people will conclude that you are full of yourself.

These auto rickshaw guys have to accost people to make their money and feed their families so that's what they do, if you cant deal with it with a modicum of compassion or tolerance, maybe you shouldn't leave your country...like EVER! I personally find the frequent visits from Jehovah's witnesses and other Christian evangelists extremely annoying and inappropriate bothering someone at home - but that's what they have to do to do their job. You need to have some level of tolerance if you want to venture outside your cultural zone, all you are doing is sounding a real snob at this point!