From talking to Radhika and passed to me from her mother, etc, I get the impression that travelling in India is not as easy as travelling in the US and other countries. (I think it was the sentence "It's not as easy to travel in India as it is in the US." that tipped me off.) The point is, we want everyone to have a good time and not get ripped off, robbed, etc. which seems to be the main thing to worry about when travelling around India.
Some basic ways to protect yourself are to:
- Not trust people you don't know or we haven't pointed out to you (it's like The X Files, trust no one)
- Not use your debit card (obvious)
- Check the State Dept's Travel page for India for any security warnings or travel alerts
There are many additional things you can do, but the message here is just keep your eyes open. From talking with Radhika, I think the general trust that we have here in the U.S. (that we'll get the services we've paid for, or that people will do what they said they'll do) just doesn't exist between strangers there.
Again, it's coming from someone who's never been there, so... Maybe someone with more current experience (*cough* Salil *cough*) can give us a more recent picture of things. If anyone has something to add, please comment.
John
