Within India, Bangalore is considered to be something to aspire to, a model city. It represents the “New India” and one of the companies that has made the new development and growth in wealth possible is Infosys. It’s touched on in an essay by William Dalrymple titled “Finger Lickin’ Bad: Bangalore and the Fast-Food Invaders” that part of The Age of Kali. He says:

Here [Bangalore] the most successful of the home-grown software companies is Infosys, which seems to be entirely run by Indo-American Brahmins. On my visit the finance director had just returned, smeared in sandlewood paste, from offering a ten-hour puja at his ancestoral temple in Goa, but this did not stop him rolling out a series of state-of-the-art spreadsheets showing the company’s ever-growing profit margin and expansion plans. The old Brahminical astronomical disciplines and learning, he explained, trained the mind to understand mathematics and computing; the old learning had formed the seedbed for the new.

TED is a nonprofit organization that is, “dedicated to Ideas Worth Spreading.” They publish video’s of the short talks that people give at TED conferences, with subjects falling into the categories of technology, entertainment, and/or design. The video bellow is of Nandan Nilekani, one of Infosys’ co-founders, and what his ideas for India’s future are.

This book looks like something you’d get printed at the print shop down the block for a couple dollars. And it drives me crazy that the words in the title are not capitalized correctly. And also, the artwork looks like something I’d doodle on a bar napkin (I have no artistic skill). But all that aside, the information in A Girl’s Guide to India: A Survivor’s Handbook is actually very helpful to know if you’re a woman.

It’s broken down into sections on different topics ranging from toilets to mosquito nets, buses to taxis, etc. While most of the information does pertain to both sexes, there are a few sections that probably only women would find interest in and it’s great that the author, Louise Wates, decided to write her experiences down to share with other women travellers. Alcohol, bathing, Eve Teasing, feminine hygiene, husbands, sickness, toilets, and water were probably the areas that, to me, were most useful in having a woman’s perspective on the matter. In Louise Wates’ experience:

Alcohol is not something that women generally consume in India. I drink so that was kind of a bummer to find out. I checked with my friend Joe who said that he did not think this was necessarily true but he did tell me that when going to a bar or club people have to go as couples. I asked about different combinations of people, three girls, two guys and a girl, etc, but Joe said that it had to be a man and a woman together, but not necessarily “together.” Odd.

I liken the bathing situation to that of Japan’s, you sit on a stool and pour hot water on yourself and take a bath after you shower if you feel like it. India doesn’t do baths and that’s unfortunate because I love taking baths.

Eve Teasing is a nice way of saying you’re probably going to be groped. Meh.

What I took away from the feminine hygiene section was that you should bring tampons and keep them in a plastic bag. They aren’t available in many places and puff up due to the humidity. Good to know is all I’m saying.

When I go out and don’t want men’s attention, I sometimes wear a ring on my wedding finger. Apparently this doesn’t work in India. /sigh/ Wates says that sometimes inventing a husband or pretending a male friend is your husband makes things easier, but has annoyances as well since men will only talk to your supposed male counterpart and not to you directly.

Sickness and toilets go hand in hand for the most part since anywhere between 30% to 70% of visitors to India will end up with some sort of stomach problem that causes vomiting and diarrhea. Usually these problems only last a day if treated and can also be avoided by drinking water that is safe, choosing food that’s fresh and cleaned properly, and avoiding prepared foods that have been left to sit all day. But if you do have to use a toilet it seems they mostly use none Western style toilets, a.k.a. a hole in the ground. They use these in Japan and all I can recommend is wearing a skirt or dress instead of pants. Trying to pee in a hole while wearing trousers is really, really hard if you’re a girl. Oh, and bring your own toilet paper with you.

My family’s beach house in the Caribbean uses rain water we collect in a cistern for all tap water so I’ve grown up knowing not to drink the tap water and that it needs to be used sparingly. Same rules apply in India. Bottled water is generally sold in liter form so taking a smaller bottle to travel around with is recommended.

A Girl’s Guide to India is a worthwhile read and I’m really glad my mother bought it for me as a gift. It’s filled with useful and practical information that’s easy to read and even funny at times. You can find it here on Amazon.com.

According to Travisa there are two ways you can go about applying for a tourist visa, in person or through the mail. Since I have the time I think I’m going to apply through the mail. I now reside in Richmond, Virginia so this saves me a trip to DC. There are a few requirements that are necessary to do this: an application that’s provided online to fill out and print, a passport that will not expire within six months and has two blank visa pages, two passport photographs, and a photocopy of proof of address (license, utility bill, etc).

The online application is pretty lengthy and requires some information you may not have on hand. You’re able to save it though so you can save and exit for a period of seven days. The site generates a visa application ID and temporary password that you’ll need to log back on to a saved application. There are four sections to the application. The first asks for basic information such as your full name as it appears on your passport, date of birth, permanent address, and phone number. The second asks for professional information, passport information, and your parent’s names and nationalities. The third asks for the type and period of visa you’re requesting, the places you plan to visit, and a few questions about whether you’ve ever visited India before, been refused an Indian visa, etc. The last section asks for expected date of departure from the US and arrival in India, and for a reference name and address for someone in India and the US. For the reference name in India you are allowed to list a tour agency or hotel if you don’t know any person residing within the country.

After you’ve filled out the application and gathered all the other requirements you ship it in an envelope to Travisa. It’s also noted that you should include your application ID on the lower right hand corner of the envelope you mail these items in to help with tracking. You’ll also have to include some sort of payment, money order is recommended although you can choose to pay by credit card. The consulate and Travisa service fees are $73 but you’ll also need to pay for shipping. For them to generate a shipping bill for you to send the package and then have it mailed back by Fedex Overnight will cost an additional $42. So , in my case, the total for the money order made payable to Travisa Outsourcing should be $115.

The estimated time it takes to process a visa application is three to five business days. Shipping and holidays may lengthen the process though so I’d estimate the actual turn around time to be at least a week. Travisa’s website offers you the ability to track document’s status online, all you need is your application ID and Last Name to sign in.

Your visa start date is the date they issue the visa. Since I’m applying for a six month visa is will last six months from the date it’s issued. I plan to visit India in late December/January so I could apply today if I chose to although I’ll probably wait a couple weeks to firm things up. There will be follow up posts on the process as it unfolds, wish me luck!

People I know that either are from India, lived in India, or have been there before are, I’m hoping, going to be a great resource for information. And hopefully because I have an eclectic group of friends, they’ll all offer different insights, stories, tips and tricks. Examples of friends I’m going to be calling/emailing/having lunch with:

JJ: Indian, resides in North Jersey, has traveled with family to India multiple times, a friend I met while attending school in Switzerland

Pulin: Indian, resides in India and Indonesia, maintains residence in Mumbai, is a friend of my mother’s

Joe: American, lives a few blocks up from me, worked in India and participated in an autorickshaw rally, met through mutual friends in Richmond

Kristen: American, is constantly travelling for volunteer and pleasure, just recently spent six months in India and is thinking of returning in December, one of my mother’s friends

Another thing I did was borrow, buy, and order fiction and nonfiction books that covered a wide range of topics pertaining to India. The only travel guide I bought was the Lonely Planet guide to India. It was recommended by Kristen and one of the only guide book series I trust and think offer information that useful to someone in my demographic. Other books that currently occupy my nightstand include:

India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond by Shashi Tharoor

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy and Sister Nivedita

The Age of Kali: Indian Travels and Encounters by William Dalrymple

A Girl’s Guide to India: A Survivor’s Handbook by Louise Wates

A translation of the Mahabharata by C. Rajagopalachari

The last source of information I’m using is the internet. Besides hunting down information on things like visas, passports, and airfare there are a few other tools the internet can provide that I imagine may be useful. I think Google maps will probably come in handy for tracking distance and familiarizing myself with the larger cities. I’ve already been a member on the Lonely Planet and TripAdvisor sites for a few years and plan on using their forums.

Now all I have to do is actually get started on reading and meeting up with friends! I also think I’ll start pricing out travel expenses to India and within India. Oh, and convincing everyone I know that they should come with me.

This means a lot of researching and planning. I love spur of the moment travel, but in this case I don’t think that’s wise. Costs, transportation, history, customs, food, what places I can squeeze in to a few weeks period of time… Taking my rash and generalized statement that I will be going to India come the end of December and actually making this a realization is going to take a bit of work. But then I’ve claimed college student status for the past six years, so research is my middle name.

I want to use this blog as a place to keep track of information I gather and to share what I find and hopefully get feed back from those who read it. Why go it alone when the whole internet is there to help, encourage, criticise, and join in for the ride?