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Newly Arrived
in India Arrival
in India for First Timers You get through immigration and are waiting for your bags. What an opportunity to get some help. Everyone waiting for their bags is friendly, and just waiting to help you. There is no shortage of people who know the exact price of the transportation to wherever you want to go. Many of them know a good hotel to stay at, in your price range. Maybe one of them wants to go to the same place. Only airline passengers are allowed in the terminal. In general everyone is your friend. Educated older gentlemen are usually very helpful because they generally speak good English and don’t need anything from you—except maybe an interesting conversation. This is not always true if you are a single woman. Be careful of people who speak too hip English, unless they are from Mumbai. You then go through customs. When you get outside the terminal, go to the prepaid taxi booth and ask them how much it is to where you want to go. Do you know where that is? Your first lesson is, always have a good idea what you are going to do when you arrive at a new place. If you are going downtown, you should already know the price by asking other passengers on your flight. In Delhi, for long distance trips, such as to Agra or Jaipur, you should be able to get a taxi for 30% cheaper than whatever price you are told at the prepaid taxi stand. In Mumbai and Calcutta it is usually best to arrange a taxi at the prepaid taxi stand. When you first come out of the terminal, you hit the moment of truth. You are in INDIA. People are rushing everywhere. It seems as if hundreds of people are coming up and asking if you need a taxi or some help. Hundreds of people want to help you. Need a taxi? Where do you want to go? If you say you don’t need any help, then they want to help you even more. Second lesson: always be prepared for these experiences. Just stand there calmly and ask how much it costs to go to your destination. If you already know the price, tell the taxi driver the price you are willing to pay. Why waste time? As the taxi drivers can tell you are a newcomer, it will be hard to get that price. Don’t worry too much about getting ripped off, you are obviously a tourist. Pay a price that is reasonable and get going. This might take you five minutes, but don’t worry about the time. Third lesson: always be patient. If you are in a hurry, pay the price and don’t worry about it. But don’t get totally ripped off. Once you start being ripped off, it’s hard to get out of the habit. Don’t wait till you are broke to get cheap. A major rule is to always have the taxi driver quote you the price in Indian rupees. You can be certain that a taxi driver (or anyone else for that matter) is trying to rip you off if they quote prices in dollars. The usual line is “It is just $50, in your country the price would be $200.” Well, you are not in your own country. Once you are in the taxi, do not listen to any advice the taxi driver may give you. He is not your friend. He is only interested in one thing—your money. You arrive at your hotel and it is full. What do you do now? You could not sleep on the plane, and you are really tired. Open this book and look for another hotel. You can ask the hotel clerk if he thinks your next choice will be full. Why not call up the hotel and see if it is full? Show the hotel clerk whatever tourist books you have and ask him to choose a hotel in your price range, but do not totally trust him. If possible, don’t let the taxi driver choose a hotel for you. He will only be interested in bringing you to a hotel where he will get a commission. If you arrive late at night, you may have to pay an outrageous amount the first night or you may have to stay in a real dump. In big cities many of the hotels will be full by evening time. If you plan to stay in a higher-class hotel, you could arrange a room with the tourist booth at the airport. For the budget traveler arriving in Delhi, there are many cheap hotels in the Paharganj area. Fourth lesson: When you arrive in your hotel, go to sleep and do not talk to anyone that comes to give you advice. Do not make any important or even minor decisions about your trip. Just rest. Why not spend your first day walking around the city and feel the place out? When you walk out onto the street, suddenly someone walks up to you and just wants to know how he can help you. Do you need to find a rug or painting shop? Maybe you need some handicrafts? If you are not interested, politely say, “no thank you.” Or if someone will not go away, firmly ask him to leave. Fifth lesson: Anyone who wants to help you when you do not really need any help, usually doesn’t want to help you at all. They usually only want to exploit you. It is a good idea not to talk to anyone on the street. These people can be very expert at what they do. They can even throw a big guilt trip on you by saying something like, “You mean you will not be even decently polite and speak to an Indian interested in meeting someone from another country? I don’t want to hurt you. I just want to help you. I have all the time in the world to help you.” The key, is to block these people out and not even acknowledge their existence. Especially, if you are a woman, no man should approach you for any reason. It is against Indian culture for a man to come up unsolicited to an unknown woman. It is considered extremely bad manners. If you are a woman, you do not have to be even slightly polite, and most people walking by will stand up for you. After a few days, they will not exist any more. They know who is easy and who isn’t. As one woman who lived in India for five years told me, “You mean people really get ripped off?” If you really do need help and someone offers it, there is a good chance the person is sincere. The proof of this, is that he just deals with the problem on hand and then walks away, maybe, after asking what country you are from. When you see some other Westerners that look like they have the same interests and are presently in the same economic status, stop them and ask for advice. You will find that Westerner will be more than willing to help you in any way. They usually love to talk about their experiences, and that’s what you need—experience. Tourist offices, as well as hotel clerks, are also good sources of useful information. If you are on a city street, just stop an intelligent-looking man, especially if he is older, and ask him if he speaks English. If he does, ask him to help you. You’ll be amazed how helpful they can be. Sometimes they will walk with you for five blocks to bring you to where you want to go. Or go to a shop that sells expensive items and ask for advice. I found that shops that sell cigarettes, cold drinks, and pan are usually good sources for information. The shopkeepers in these shops usually speak English and know where everything is located. Remember,
stop the person of your choice. It is usually best not to take advice
from someone who suddenly appears to help you. So my first suggestion to a person on his or her first trip to India is don’t go alone. Go with someone who knows the country. Or when you get there, join up with someone for the first week or two. If you are going with other first-time visitors, or by yourself, then I would suggest that you take your time in the beginning. I would say about 10% of the newcomers to India that don’t come with a tour group, experience a nightmare for the first week. After a few days, they just want to leave, and many of them do just that. The first three days can be the toughest. For many people, India is a culture shock. If you know of a informationthat is not correct or if you would like to help update our listings, please e-mail us at:
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