Show me da money

India's currency is called the Rupee. When I arrived in India, the exchange rate was 40 Rupees to 1 US dollar. At the same time, it was 60 to the Euro and 80 to the British Pound. In the time that I've been here, the US Dollar has dropped as low as 38.
The money itself comes in a similar breakdown to what we have. Coins of .50, 1, 2 and 5 rupees. Paper bills of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000. You almost never see a 1 rupee paper note.
A couple interesting differences from US dollar bills is that, first, the bills here are color coded, as in, 1s are white, 5s green, 10s tan, 20s red, 50s purple and 100s blue. It actually makes it easier when you are pulling it out of your pocket, you can identify it right away. Unfortunately, so can touts.
The second thing is that the bills are different sizes, with the smaller denominations being tiny up to larger bills for the bigger bills. This, to me, is really inconvenient because they don't stack that well and always end up in a jumbled mess in your pocket. The 1 rupee bill, is literally the same size as a Monopoly board game bill. A 50 is about the size of a US Dollar and the rest get incrementally larger.
Some of the art work on the bills is really nice. There appears to be a recent printing of many of the bills and Gandhi was added to each one. Mostly just a head portrait, though one bill shows him leading his march to the sea on the back. The bill I like the best is the 10 rupee, it has a beautifully drawn picture of a rhino, tiger and elephant on it.
There are a couple of 'games' that the touts and vendors play throughout India in regards to the exchange of money. First off, many of the bills are down right filthy and have probably been in circulation since independence. If your bill is too dirty or has the slightest rip in it, the vendors won't take it. They'll look at it and say it's no good. You end up having to give them a newer, clean one. However, once you pay them, they will give you the nastiest ripped bills they've got. You'll see them look at their stack of money and pick out the worst one. You of course, find yourself falling into the 'game' and doing the same thing.
My watch died here and I was buying a really cheap one from a street vendor. I got him down to 50 rupees for the watch and gave him a 50 bill that was clean, but had a 2 millimeter sized rip at the fold. He wouldn't take it and said to give him another bill. I said I didn't have another bill and showed him that I only had a couple of 10s in my pocket. He then said, OK, give me 60 and I'll take it. I told him no, that if the bill was good enough to take with an additional 10 rupees, it was good enough to take as it was. It's either good or it's not. After a short stand off, he gave in and I got the watch. Now, a little over a month later, the watched died, so I'm not sure who really won that battle.
Another "game' that is played is that no one, I mean no one, has change. You can be standing in a line and watch the 30 people in front of you pay with 10 rupee bills, but when you get up there and give the guy a 20 rupee bill, he'll say he doesn't have change. People who are traveling hoard their 10 rupee bills, they're like gold, especially for dealing with rickshaw touts who are trying to rip you off. If the agreed fare was 60 and he decides he know wants 80, you can't give him a 100 and expect him to give you the right change back, it won't happen and it doesn't. Even if there's no argument, like you owe 90 and give him a 100, he'll pocket the whole thing and say thanks for the tip. Golden 10s.
To make matters worse, ATMs spit out 500s and 1000s. When you take out $300 US Dollars from the ATM, you get 12,000rupees. Nothing is worse that getting the machine that gives you twelve 1000 rupee bills. Try and break that thing.
Other interesting money facts here are that at any tourist attraction, Indians pay one price and foreigners pay a higher price. For instance, most palaces cost 10 rupees to get into as an Indian. They cost 250 rupees to get into as a foreigner. No at first this sounded outrageous to me, but the more I thought about it the less I minded. India is just starting to have domestic tourism. The middle class is just starting to get out and see the cultural gems that are around their country. And Indians have a lot less money to spend. I have no problem with the price difference. At times, you'll even see the guard letting locals in for free. I have no problem with this either, except for the fact that alot of times the locals getting in for free are touts or gangs of teenage boys who come around and harass you while you are trying to see the sights. The touts will follow you and badger you to buy crap and the boys will find solo travelers and harass them. I've been harassed by the teenage boys once or twice, one time I had to run after them pretending I was going to beat them up. I actually wasn't angry but was just tired of being harassed. Basically, there will be a group of about 6 boys aged 13 to 18 and they will find a solo foreigner and circle around them. They will then start asking the usual questions that most other people ask like "Which country are you from." "What is your name." Except that as you are trying to be nice and answer them, the leader who is asking these questions is also making rude jokes to his friends and all are laughing. Usually they start harassing you for money, even though they are from wealthier families. At times I find myself lowering myself to their level and making rude comments to them about their bad fashion or gelled hair. Joke about them having a smaller testicular capacity usually catches them off guard since culturally they are not accostomed to talking about those things. They are just a bunch of teenagers out screwing with people, it happens in the US too. And I can bad mouth the teenage boys because I use to be one!