Shiva (Murudeshwara, Karnataka, South India)
If you have never been to India before, here are three travel tips that can make your everyday life in India a lot easier.
1. Always carry some change
Nobody ever has any change in India. I mean nobody. Rickshaw drivers, shops, supermarkets, restaurants, bus drivers, chai stalls; nobody ever has enough change for anything bigger than a ten-rupee note. If you pay with a note that’s too big you’ll have to wait forever while the shopkeeper/driver/chai seller runs around asking everyone for change. Even the places that should have change (like post offices) rarely have enough, especially if you’re trying to pay with a Rs500 note. So save the 500 notes for paying for the big stuff, and always keep small change with you.
If someone tells you to “pay later, no problem” they do actually mean it. This incredible statement of trust towards a complete stranger is surprisingly common in India. So when you do have the correct change, please do go back and pay!
2. If you want to learn the local language, it’s not always Hindi
You want to impress the locals and break the ice and you’ve read somewhere you should learn a few words of the local language. So you study your Hindi phrasebook and memorise a few phrases and go to the local tea stall to practice your new language skills. The problem is, you’re in the middle of Karnataka, South India, where the local language is Kannada, where there is a very strong pro-Kannada movement and where nobody wants to speak Hindi.
India has more official languages than you even want to know and while learning a bit of Hindi is great for travelling in many areas in North India, it won’t get you very far in many places in South India. Much of Karnataka speaks Kannada, much of Tamil Nadu speaks Tamil and much of Kerala speaks Malayalam, except that of course there are dozens of different dialects too… before you go, make sure you’re learning the right local language.
3. Bring earplugs
India is incredibly noisy. Around the clock. If you have never been to India before, it is impossible to imagine how much noise there is: the traffic, the car horns, the music from the temple, the calls to prayer from the mosque, the TV your neighbour watches at full volume day and night with all doors and windows open, the vegetable sellers who pull their carts down the street at 6 am shouting as they go, the guy who is trying to start is motorbike at 4 am outside your bedroom window… if you want to get any sleep at all, bring earplugs. Bring a few pairs, too: I don’t think they’re available in India.
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