India (Frommer's, 4th Edition) (11 page)

8 The Best Savvy Traveler Tips

•
“You pay what you like”:
This rather annoying response from guides, drivers, and rickshaw-
wallas
to the question “How much will it cost?” will no doubt end with at least one of you feeling very disappointed. Try to find out how much something should cost
before
you enter into this dialogue (we’ve tried to advise this wherever possible), and always negotiate the fare or rate upfront. (Note that “I come later” is another irritating response, this time after you decline service, and you will need to remain firm or prepare to go through the entire experience again.)

•
“Just look, no buy”:
You will be urged to enter shops from all corners in both explicit and less obvious ways—your driver, guide, even the seemingly innocent bystander offering assistance, are almost all operating on the ubiquitous commission system, and whatever they make on the deal is added to the quoted price. Note that to avoid this kind of hassle, look for the fixed-rate shops or those that mark their wares with prices. But as is the case everywhere, do beware of closely named imitations of fixed-rate shops with good reputations—for example, Cottage Industries Exposition shops, often marked CIE, are seriously overpriced outlets that cash in on the fame (and closely related name) of the government-owned Central Cottage Industries Emporiums. The latter may not be the cheapest, but it offers good value, and you really can “just look, no buy.”

•
“We look; we look”:
This response from a rickshaw-
walla
or driver usually means that the person either doesn’t know where you’ve asked him to take you, or you’ll end up somewhere with a similar name but nothing else to recommend it (Hotel
Chandra,
for example, rather than Hotel
Chand
). Prebook your accommodations whenever you can, so that you don’t have to deal with touts and hawkers when you arrive. And be aware that a hotel or guesthouse that is successful will often have a rival opening within the year with a confusingly similar name.

•
“So where are you from, good gentleman?”
(or more commonly, “Coming from?”): You will be asked this often, so prepare yourself. One of the possible reasons Indians kick-start conversations this way is that where you come from may in the past have indicated caste or social position; whatever the reason, engage in the opener—it’s far preferable to living in a five-star hotel cocoon.

•
“Hashish, taxi, guide, young girls?”:
In the well-traveled parts of India, you will be inundated with offers of assistance; again, the best response is to doggedly desist in what is essentially a game of endurance, and certainly ignore those unsolicited offers that are illicit—these can carry a hefty penalty, including a lengthy jail sentence.

•
“Cof-fay, chai; cof-fay, chai; cof-fay, chai?”:
This incessant call given by the
chai-walla
wandering the corridors of your train will put to rest any romantic notions about the relaxation of train travel. Note that you will be most comfortable aboard the overnight
Rajdhanis,
which connect all the major cities, while the best daytime trains are the
Shatabdis
(book Chair Class). Time allowing, you should definitely book a “toy train” to the hill stations of Shimla or Darjeeling—the latter approach is so spectacular it has been named a World Heritage Site.

•
“Yes, madam”; “Yes, sir”:
You will hear this everywhere, usually from hawkers wanting to draw your attention and con artists wanting to strike up a conversation. Unfortunately, the only way to get rid of these irritants is to completely ignore them. In places like Varanasi, even saying no is perceived as a willingness to interact, and your pursuer will then continue to try to draw you into conversation. Just pretend you can’t be bothered, and hopefully, in a little while, you won’t.

•
“You wait, no problem”:
Finally, we can’t emphasize enough how important it is to simply relax and accept whatever’s going on around you. Many Indians subscribe to the philosophy that life is destiny, and getting uptight or flying into a rage usually won’t solve much. You’ll have a far better vacation if you simply give in to the moment and enjoy the experience; after all, the only aspect you have control over is your response.

Chapter 2: India in Depth

A great triangle of land thrusting out of Asia, past the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, and deep into the Indian Ocean, India is a vast country (similar in size to Europe) and home to an ancient culture with a host of historic and architectural treasures unparalleled in the world. But more than anything else, it is India’s enigmatic “otherness” that so fascinates the first-time visitor, for perhaps no other country on earth can offer so much contrast—traveling within the subcontinent feels at times like traveling through time. From the snowy peaks of the Himalayas, where prayer flags flutter against an impossibly blue sky, to the golden deserts of Rajasthan and Gujarat, where women wear saris saturated with fuchsia and saffron; from the vast plains of Madhya Pradesh, dotted with ruins and tiger parks, to the lush tropical mountains and paradisiacal beaches off the Malabar Coast, the spectrum of images and experiences is stupendous. Perhaps one of the most heterogeneous cultures in the world, with a mosaic of languages, dialects, religions, races, customs, and cuisines, India and its people cannot be defined, labeled, or pigeonholed—only experienced. Whether you’re planning your trip to do a spiritual pilgrimage, view (or shop for) its myriad treasures, live like royalty in medieval palaces, unwind on unspoiled beaches, or simply indulge in the most holistic spa therapies known to man, India will leave an indelible impression on you. The following essays are merely a backdrop; to come to grips with the strange and fascinating world that is India, you will need to immerse yourself in some of the reading suggested at the end of this chapter. And travel to India again. And again. And again.

1 India Today

by Frommer’s authors and Anita Pratap

Pratap is a former CNN bureau chief for South Asia, author, journalist, and columnist for
Outlook,
India’s weekly newsmagazine

Whatever your understanding of India today, the exact opposite is probably equally true. Life has changed dramatically since India began to liberalize its economy in the 1990s, and yet it remains a land where several centuries exist simultaneously. If you visit one of its scientific centers, you could well believe you are at NASA, but walk to a village that still has no connection to a drivable road (and there are thousands of them), and you will find people living exactly as they did 2,000 years ago (albeit, perhaps, with a cellphone pressed against an ear or a satellite dish poking out of the roof of a mud house). More than 25% of the world’s software engineers are Indian, but another 25% of the Indian population goes to bed hungry every night. Women like Pratibha Patil, the female president of India elected in July 2007, have risen to top positions of power and authority in both the political and corporate world, yet in some regions, girls are still awaiting access to primary school education. Millions more across the country struggle without the most basic human rights.

India has the world’s highest number of malnourished children, yet obesity in urban children is a new and menacing problem. The country has armed itself with nuclear weapons, but has difficulty providing drinking water to millions of its citizens. It ranks low in the United Nations’ Human Development Index, which measures quality of life, trailing even Sri Lanka and the Maldives in meeting targets set in the U.N. Millennium Development Goals Report, but in terms of purchasing parity, India is the third-biggest economy in the world after the United States and China. During the call center boom time, the country saw the rapid emergence of a large new class of young urbanites keen to flash their disposable incomes, and as a result a luxury market in India exploded, with every international brand from Louis Vuitton to Greubel Forsey vying for their slice of this burgeoning market. Yet, with its shackled judicial system and excessive regulation, India struggles with a reputation as a “mostly unfree” economy coming in at 123 in the 2009 Index of Economic Freedom, trailing even Gabon.

Meanwhile, agrarian crises continue to brew in rural India, with droughts and floods, paradoxically, always major impediments to the earning and survival strategies of millions of people across the nation. In 2009, a much-delayed monsoon once again severely hampered crop production. And to compound natural disaster, India struggles with a massive, often overburdened, infrastructure and bloated bureaucracy. In 2008, the country fell behind China in the Global Corruption Perception Index, and many people on the ground harbor suspicion and some sort of resentment against the government, no matter who’s in charge; studies reveal that Rs 9,000 million is paid in bribes by 30% of the population (which lives below the official poverty line) just to coerce public servants into doing jobs they’re already paid to do. In mid-July 2009, the issue of corruption came into the limelight in a big way when a bridge under construction for the Delhi Metro collapsed and killed six people; reports revealed that the accident was a direct result of cuts to the safety budget on the project, supposedly to save on construction costs, but in actuality a selfish scheme to put more money into the pockets of fewer contractors than was appropriate.

All of this doesn’t exactly enhance India’s marketability. It ranks low when it comes to attracting foreign visitors; in comparative studies of India’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness, it comes in lower (relatively tiny places like Panama and Puerto Rico rate higher), and that’s in the wake of the most intensive national branding and marketing campaign—“Incredible India!”—the country has yet seen; there are more hotels and tourism products than ever before, and the international imagination has surely been touched by films such as
Slumdog Millionaire
and the success of the book
Shantaram
.
Yet acts and threats of terror, perceptions of crime and poverty, and fear of illness, scams, and hostility continue to plague India, keeping many travelers away. No wonder India is confusing, confounding, incomprehensible. How can you make sense of this land? It’s like emptying an ocean with a spoon.

All through the 1970s and even 1980s, Western diplomats and journalists predicted the “Balkanization” of India. It didn’t happen, but in 1991 India’s foreign exchange reserves plunged to a catastrophic $1 billion, barely sufficient to service 2 weeks of imports. India was forced to embark on its radical liberalization program. Since then, India’s economy has grown at a rate rivaled only by neighbor China: 2007–08 saw India’s thousand-billion dollar economy grow by a staggering 9.8%, the fastest in 20 years; and even with the world economic slump, the nation’s GDP grew by 6.7% in 2008–2009, while the stock market has continued soaring to unheard-of numbers (on May 18, 2009, in fact, the Bombay Stock Exchange rose by 17.3%, the highest single-day percentage gain of any exchange across the world, ever). But this growth has also spurred inflation (which peaked at a whopping 12% in Aug 2008) and a rise in interest rates, not to mention the obvious fact that India will no doubt experience the knock-on effect of the world’s economic winter.

Statistics show that the overall standard of living has improved drastically, but the truth is that the benefits of a booming economy have not reached a vast percentage of the population, and India still has the world’s largest concentration of poor. Nearly 300 million people live without the basic necessities of life: water, food, roads, education, medical care, and jobs. These are the Indians living on the outer edges of the nation’s consciousness, far away in remote tribal areas, barren wastelands, and dirty slums, totally outside the market economy.

With a billion voters, every national election here is the biggest spectacle of fair and peaceful democracy that humankind has ever witnessed. And yet increasingly democracy is often a masquerade for a modern version of feudalism. Clan loyalties propel electoral victories. The victor rules his or her province like a medieval tribal chieftain, often showing scant respect for merit or rule of law. Cronies are hand-picked for jobs, rivals are attacked or harassed, public funds are misused to promote personal agendas. Modern-day versions of Marie Antoinette abound in Indian democracy—while the poor were dying of cold in January 2003 in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, its chief minister, Mayawati, was strutting around in diamonds and celebrating her birthday with a cake the size of a minibus. Later that year, having been indicted by the Supreme Court in a case of alleged corruption, Mayawati resigned only to return to power with a resounding victory. Proof that real choices are limited? Perhaps, but many low-caste people, whose cause Mayawati (herself of low-caste origin) supposedly champions, support her fiery attitude and are inspired that she too can celebrate like India’s rich.

In fact, according to a seminal paper presented by Dheeraj Sinha in 2007, the mindset of India as a nation is changing—gone (or fading) are the priestly Brahminical values of knowledge, adjustment, simplicity, and restraint, and “in” are the warriorlike Kshatriya values of success, winning, glory, and heroism. Whereas Indians traditionally took refuge in the idea of karma and fate (see “Hinduism,” below), the emerging mindset believes that karma is shaped by one’s actions—that it is possible to achieve a life that one desires rather than one that’s destined.