I’ve developed a fun little game to play in India. I call it the Indian Staring Game, and although I have had some worthy competitors, so far I am undefeated. Here is how it works.

In India, people will stare at you. A lot. I’m not sure why this happens in India more than other places, but it does. As a result, you often feel as if you may have forgotten to put on pants before you left the house that morning. You could react by checking yourself to make sure your fly is zipped up and that you are not stealing an old lady’s seat. Or, you could step things up a notch and enter a Staring Game duel by staring right back at them! When this happens, the game is on! You get bonus points if you can do so without blinking, because that is some pro Staring Game skill.

You will be surprised how long these games can last. Most start out between 1 and 3 seconds, but you will find that when you hit the 6 second mark, you will start to consider looking away. Don’t do it! This is what separates the pros from the amateurs.

The longest one I have had so far is 10 seconds. He looked down. I declared victory, smiled a little bit, and looked back at Geraldine to tell her about my victory. Then my competitor started staring again! Well played fine sir. Well played.

Maybe we should just call that one a draw.