Post: #1

Aight, here’s an India datasheet.

A lot of conventional advice tends to veer towards “Don’t go, its hell, it’s a shithole, you’ll get sick, you’ll get ripped off, people are weird, its corrupt” etc, and to an extent I agree. There are a TON of problems in the country, and especially if you’ve never been outside the Western world, it may be a MASSIVE culture shock. In the west, we tend to thrive on a certain sense of order, control, personal space and sanitation. This is why the complete chaos, absence of personal space, prevalence of communicable diseases and general squalor stand out in stark, and sometimes, chilling contrast. However, if you take a few precautions, you can negate most of the problems first time travelers often encounter.

Who I am and why you should listen to me
I’m half Indian (My dad’s Indian), I lived in the country for slightly over two years (Mid 2012 through 2014) and had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout the country for job related reasons. I’ve lived in all the major metropolises, and spent most of my vacations off the beaten path, away from the cities. That being said, I’m a proud American and was raised in the west, so share a lot of the same experiences and value systems that members on the forum have. Maybe I’ll write about some of my experiences later on in the thread, if people are interested, but briefly –

1. Spent a night in Jail in Uttar Pradesh after the cops raided a hookah lounge for political reasons. Was let go when they realized I wasn’t part of the group they were targeting.
2. Got lost in the mountains of Sikkim with a group of friends in freezing weather with no network communication when the only cell phone we had, which doubled as a navigation device, was stolen.
3. Had my first psychedelic experience in a village in western India, in a thatched hut lit up by an animal dung fireplace during the local monsoon season.
4. Converted from Christianity to Hinduism.
5. Became semi-fluent in two local languages, and was “accepted” into a group of local thug enforcers affiliated to the reigning political party because I was foreign, spoke the language, and had a distant relative who was a member.

Why you should plan on visiting once in your lifetime –

1.Getting out of your comfort zone-
For reasons mentioned above, traveling to India is phenomenally rewarding and often comes as a major culture shock for the western traveler. I guarantee that once you spend some time in the country, you will come to reevaluate some of your beliefs regarding ethics, morality, the nature of humanity, dealing with change and learn to thrive in chaos.

2. Cultural experiences-
India is the birthplace of religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism (although I’d say all of them have evolved from Hinduism and have certain common aspects). The country has a very rich and colorful history – the Dravidians in the South with their ancient languages to the fair skinned Aryans in the North, the small Jewish and Parsi communities concentrated in the West, the Persian and Islamic influences from the Mughal era, the rise and fall of the Maratha empire in the West – and their greatest leader Bajirao who never lost a battle in his life, and Shivaji whose image has been adopted by radical Hindus to engage in grassroots politics and violence in the last couple of decades, the even more ancient Hindu rulers of the North, their eventual acceptance of Buddhism and its spread to the Far-East and South-East Asia due to these rulers, to the more recent British colonial influence and the country’s eventual rise as an independent nation and the changes that it has wrought. All of these different historical events have shaped the culture, the rituals, the architecture, the people and the land itself.

Also: The Caste Structure and ancient Indian Horoscope that to this day affects the local populace’s occupation, status in society, love prospects etc. The country is a living library of some of the most interesting events in history and even if you were dropped in the middle of nowhere and travel a 100 miles in any direction, you’d be able to discover something completely new.


3. Language immersion - Disclaimer: Im not a language expert and an amateur language enthusiast at best, so this is far from perfect but should suffice generally - North, Central, Western and to an extent eastern India has a set of languages (and over 150 dialects: India has a Hindu belt in the West-Center-North not unlike the Bible belt in the States) seemingly evolved from Indo-Aryan languages (the ancient languages in these regions such as Pali have long since become extinct). Although many of these languages have their own scripts and alphabets, most of them seem to have evolved from the Sanskrit – Devanagri script (Kind of like how English and Russian have similar scripts). Exceptions being Urdu and Arabic, which the local Muslim populace use. The South has its own set of languages and scripts, evolved separately from Sanskrit and mostly unchanged for over 3000 years. The North-East has its own set of languages evolved from the local tribal populace.


Precautions you should take –

1. Drink bottled water / soda at all times, unless you plan on living for over 2 months.
2. Try and eat in the high end / clean restaurants, or get a cook (***highly recommended***).
3. Always carry hand sanitizer, use it at profusely.
4. Carry a face mask if you plan on staying in one of the crowded cities for a week or two.
5. Avoid using public transport. Auto-rickshaws are fine, but avoid buses and trains as a general rule. The South has better public transport, but just avoid it and hire a vehicle (and driver?) instead. (If you enjoy riding bikes, hire a motor scooter or motorcycle ***ROYAL ENFIELD BULLETS are highly recommended for swag value (unless you’re a sub 120 pound pussy – just stick to auto-gear motor scooters then)***

6. ***Extremely highly recommended*** Get a friend on the ground, preferably a local. If you have a contact on ground, get in touch with them. If not, use social media to get reliable pen-pals / travelers / locals ahead of time. The difference between doing your own thing and having someone show you the ropes is vast, and your experience in the country, whether long or short, will be significantly more rewarding. Avoid agencies and touts, they will almost always rip you off. I had some familial connections that helped me get set up and pulled me out of trouble a couple of times since I have a tendency to rush into new experiences with a general disregard for risks (pretty sure I'd have gotten fired for those things if the fam hadn't used their local clout).
A local friend will show you the best places to go, the best food to eat, help you grease the right palms, keep you away from the cops, and prevent you from getting ripped off. Just trust me on this. Research, develop your friend network, and then go. Do not just book a one way flight into the country on a whim.
7. Be prepared to haggle in shops (exception: restaurants). When the local people see a clueless foreigner, they tend to jack prices up 10X or more. I don’t blame them, since one sale to a clueless foreigner could hypothetically feed a family for a week, but just be comfortable with haggling. Initially, I would get an item for a quarter of the price asked, and proudly brag about my haggling skills to local friends, only for them to facepalm or double down in fits of laughter.

Okay this turned out to be a much larger post than intended. The country is very diverse and I doubt it can be covered in detail in one or two posts, so I decided to make a thread about it and will try to add to the thread as and when time permits.

Tomorrow's post - Broad opinions on major cities, places to visit, local cultural differences, current political climate.

***This is not intended to be a thread on getting laid in India.***
I'll add some information on getting laid eventually, but tend to agree with the general forum sentiment that you should not visit the country if your primary objective is to get laid for a vast number of reasons - Honeytraps, gold diggers, (even though the repressed cultural landscape is rapidly changing and the current crop of millenials are pretty sexually open) the extremely aggressive police reaction to rape accusations (since it is a major problem in the backwaters away from the cities --- it is widely considered to be almost impossible to get away from rape and drug related charges unless you have very significant political or local clout), and the fact that most of the WBs are usually sequestered in social circles too complex to navigate in a short time. I did get laid plenty, but not initially, and the Indian heritage helped a bit. Will address it perhaps after a couple more travel related posts.

Post: #2

Great datasheet, thanks for taking the time to get it down. I'm headed to Mumbai for 3 months in December along w/ a good friend of mine from India (so I'm covered for your point #6)

In your city breakdown tomorrow I'd love to hear 1.) any Mumbai venue recommendations you have (both day game and night game) 2.) experience w/ cold approaching --- is it a good way to get numbers/dates or does India's culture make it not work for some reason?

Post: #3

Nice Datasheet!

And great recommendation about the food. I have not met anyone who has gone to India without getting the Ganges coming out of one end.

Post: #4

Okay, I’ll break down information about the country into six different zones – North, South, East, West, Center and North-East and try to cover each region as exhaustively as I can. Caveat: I’m not an authority on the country by any means and some information may be dated by about 2 years - happy to answer specific questions but I’d strongly recommend speaking to more people to figure out if the situation on ground has changed.

The West -

Western India is BY FAR my favorite region for a number of reasons and I spent the most amount of time there.
Three states you want to visit – Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa.

Major places –

Maharashtra - Bombay, Pune, Mahabaleshwar, Bhimashankar

Gujarat – Ahmedabad, Gir National Park

Goa - Margaon, Panjim, Anjuna, Baga, Calangute

Best time to go is winter, weather is bearable. Summers are hot. Late December is crowded during Christmas and New Years, and I’d recommend dodging the crowds but otherwise, its pretty okay.

If you’re doing a short trip, do Mumbai - Pune and head south to Baga/Anjuna. There’s a Mumbai – Pune – Goa freeway that is pretty convenient, Mumbai – Pune is 4 hours by road and add another 5-6 hours to get to Goa. Goa and Mumbai are especially hot and sticky in summer and it pours during the monsoons, so winter is definitely the best time to go.

@Road to 100 – The night club scene is the best place imo, if you’re in the city for a short time. I’d recommend targeting foreigners. If you desperately want an Indian flag, try learning a few short phrases in the local language – For Bombay and Pune,that would be Marathi. Even though most people speak English, girls do react well to a foreigner trying to speak the language – this works most places, and definitely in India. Day game is icky, your best bet would be malls and pubs/beer gardens – plenty of large malls around, try and target mid 20s middle-upper class independent-careerist chicks. Avoid approaching girls who appear to be with families – that will generally not end well. Your best bet will be the brand-whores ... hang around malls that have high end clothing and footwear stores. Usually chicks who stay away from families for work related reasons (especially if the family is in a different city) are dtf. With reference to the night clubs – I think clubs usually have a couple of days when drinks/entry for women are free (Tues -Wed?) – your best bet would be to go during these two days of the week, otherwise ratios are pretty fucked.

Aer, Tryst, Trilogy, Vivanta by Taj are the best clubs. Usually go to one associated with the big hotels – Taj, Marriott etc. I’d strongly recommend not going during the Christmas – New Years week – cops are a fucking pain and the crowds are out in full swing, so the roads and clubs will be REALLY crowded. Also, during that week do not drink and drive. You will get caught and fucked in the ass with wet bamboo sticks. I’d recommend house parties during that week – Booze is cheap, smoke is cheap, not sure about drugs but in Bombay and Goa you’ll get pretty much anything you want, if that is your thing, from what I hear. Definitely visit Leopold’s café – it’s a historic café which was one of the places where India’s version of 9/11 happened - the café walls are still riddled with bullets even though everything else was renovated after the incident – good food, definitely worth a visit.

If ancient ruins and caves are your thing, head down to Ajanta-Ellora for a day. Marine Drive is good. Definitely make a trip to “Khau galli” ("food alley") in Bombay – hands down the BEST Indian food there. Visit the Dharavi slums if you want the slumdog millionaire experience – go with security. Most likely nothing will happen, but shit can go from 0-100 real quick there.

My absolute favorite place in India is Pune, which is a smaller city close to Mumbai. Highly recommended. Wrote about it here . Apparently there's a Trump tower going up soon.

If wildlife and nature is your thing, I’d highly recommend going to Bhimashankar (close to Bombay-Pune), the Gir wildlife sanctuary in Gujarat for Asiatic lions (they’re tame, tbh, I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way) and Tadoba national sanctuary for tigers (I think this is in Maharashtra – SUPERB, highly recommended).

Gujarat used to be a dry state (unsure if this is still the case, but probably is), so if your plan is to party and bang, avoid. Food is decent, but you’ll get good gujarati food in Bombay which has a huge Gujurati community. Honestly, unless you’re in the area for a long time and want to do the usual touristy stuff, probably a good idea to just skip Gujarat. Bombay-Pune-Goa is the best place to be.

Goa – There’s a couple of datasheets on the forum, use them. Pretty accurate in my experience. Definitely rent a bike/motor scooter. Try the bacon, it is …. unlike American bacon. Try the cashewnut liquor in Goa – I think its called Fenny or something --- I found it disgusting, but hey, new experiences. Best part about Goa is drinking beer on the beach, going in for a dip, coming back to more beer and hookah all day, then changing into nice clothes and going to one of the better clubs. That’s pretty much it. Drugs too, if that’s your thing. Avoid the Russians. Not much more to say.

---

Political climate – Conservative, but all three places have historically had stable, secular governments. Be careful on Valentine’s day though, weirdly enough there are a couple of regional political parties that love playing the moral police on that day. I remember being in Pune on Valentine’s day and these party-workers were going around with a Hindu priest and a set of garlands “marrying” couples to protect the Indian culture or whatever. Any other day, pretty chill.

*** Important note about the recent future *** --

The government has banned the use of the 500 and 1000 rupee currency notes effective immediately to combat the parallel economy, black money and massive amount of fake currency supposedly floated by Pakistan-affiliated terror groups. I think the government is releasing a new 2000 (or 10000?) rupee note soon, so if you take cash back from vendors or restaurants, DO NOT accept the 500/1000 rupee notes. Anything else is still legal – just read up on that before you go.

I’ll try and post on the thread as often as I can, been bombarded with a ton of shit at work so might not be a daily update.

Post: #5

Wow, Man! Awesum and adventurous. Keep it coming!

(PS - as an undergrad, I had an American historian whose specialty was India and South Asia - for a year of Asian civ. I haven't traveled to Asia at all, yet. Maybe in little pieces, or "piece by piece?")

Post: #6

Awesome to see this data sheet Wahawahwah! I look forward to gaining more knowledge from you as well as adding my own 2 cents every here and now, as i slowly grow more and more familiar with this country.

You're right about the "its not just about getting laid" here, this place is truly magnificent for inner growth, and positive change in many many ways.

I second the point on the Bullet motor bike, and as for currency, the 500 and 1000 Rs notes have now been replaced by a new 2000 Rs note. A new 500 Rs note will come within the next few months.

Looking forward to reading more on this thread, and maybe opening my own progress thread once I'm free from exams

Post: #7

Any thoughts on Cochi or the Kerala area?
Heading there to see Munnar and Thekaddy