How Shimla Scandal Point actually got it’s name

While in Shimla if you choose to believe everything that a guide tells you then he’ll tell you that there’s a spot named “Scandal Point” in Shimla, now this is the place where the Mall road meets the Ridge road, and there’s a board at the very point to help you more.

 

Now no one knows the exact story behind why that spot is named as Scandal Point, except us ;-)

 

But before that allow us to tell you a little about the Maharaja of Patiala

This dude was the biggest Casanova of his time, considering that he had 5 wives and numerous affairs and fathered over 88 children and then dying at a rather early age of 46, he is a clear inspiration for the budding Romeos.

 

Now he is the same guy who was banned by the British for entering Shimla for some unknown reasons. Well imagine what would you do if they ban you to enter Taj Mahal, you’ll probably go back home and surf it’s images on your laptop wherever your friends plans for a trip to Agra.

 

Not this guy, he established his own summer capital 45 kms from Shimla and named it Chail.

 

I am not a good historian but that certainly equalled showing a big middle finger in the face of those whites.

 

Now this is the same guy who build the India’s second monorail in Patiala and world’s highest (in those times) cricket ground in Chail, and that beautiful palace in Chail.

 

 

 

Ok so now you know that was the dude who could have been involved in that scandal happened on Scandal point.

 

But there should also be a girl involved to make it a scandal.

 

So the girl was the daughter of the British Viceroy, ya I know it was really a crazy and brave thing to do in those times, but that’s what Sikhs are known for, right. Doing something which the world says “are you crazy, that’s not possible even in your dreams”. Well that reminds me of one more story about this brave clan, but I’ll tell you that next time.

 

So according to the tour guides, this lady eloped with the Maharaja of Patiala from here.

 

Now here’s the twist in the story, the eloping incident did happen but it happened in 1892. Now I know the first reaction of you would be scrolling up and checking Maharaja’s birth date.

 

YES!! He was 1 year old at that time. Now either I should leave for Patiala right now to light a lamp at his resting place for being such a stud that he wooed a lady much much older than him, now’s that’s interesting.

 

Now the Viceroy of India at that time was someone by the name Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice. He had two daughters, one was born in 1870 and the other was born in 1877. Now since the incident happened 1892, so in any case the one who was born in 1877 couldn’t have been the one, because then it would have called a kidnap. The name of th lady born in 1870 was Evelyn Cavendish.

 

Now if you search for her on Wikipedia then you will notice that she got married in 1892.

Uuuummmmm... coincidence!!

Naah I don’t think so.

 

Now the story says and everyone believes that she eloped with the Maharaja of Patiala, now I have not doubt about the abilities of our Dude, but wasn’t he too small to run away that time, I am sure he would have been captured 100 meters from the spot even after a week of elopement. So let’s just keep our dude out of this affair at least.

 

So who could have been there who also happened to be the Maharaja to Patiala

 

Aaah his dad of course...

 

 

It was Maharaja Sir Rajinder Singh Ji, who happened to be 20 years old, so understandably it was the SENIOR DUDE who did the unthinkable.

 

Look at the irony, the above photo was taken in 1892 ;-)

 

Karva Chauth

Karva Chauth is a one-day festival celebrated mostly in the Northern Part of India. During this day married women fast from sunrise to moonrise for the safety and longevity of their husbands.

Married women typically start preparing for this festival few days in advance with shopping for the special day including dress, make-up, cosmetics, jewellery, Karva lamps and plates.

 

 

Women typically wake up around 4am which is typically before sunrise and eat feni with milk and sugar which helps them abstain from water the whole day.

 

During the day women should not eat or drink anything but the good news is, they don’t have to do any household work, which is passed on to the husbands without their consent of course.

 

During the day time women engaged themselves in getting mehendi (henna paint) done on their hands and as the evening approaches, they gather at someone’s house and sit together praying for their husband’s long life while passing on the gift baskets full of fruits, almonds, pieces of jewellery.

 

No one knows the true reason behind this festival, but a reasonable possibility of the start of this festival is that this festival occurs typically after the reaping season of the summer harvest and just before the sowing season of winter harvest, so this was the best time when military campaigns used to happen in the ancient times, and this was the time when long distance travel usually occurred. So in order to keep her husband safe from harm, married women used to observe this festival.

 

Lastly, although a married man is not expected to observe the fast with her wife, but do remember that she’s waiting for you expecting that diamond ring you promised her 3 years ago.

 

ZAUK and the man with a silver spoon

A restaurant which has made a name for itself in less than a year is already getting all the attention from the Mughlai lovers in the city, and I am sure by the time you end up reading this, you’ll cancel your next trip to one of those so called air-conditioned dhabas at murthal and head to this place for a delicious Mughlai meal.

 

We at travdiary believe in exploring the lesser known but authentic taste foodie-paradise in the city, and this time we took a ride to greater Noida after hearing about this place on facebook, and then the “Recommended” tag from trip-advisor and those super ratings on zomato from the people who had been there made it all the more alluring for us.

 

We decided to go on Thursday just because it is the second most less-crowded day of the week after Tuesday. The route is straight and the road is beautiful, and thankfully the weather was awesome with a little drizzle.

 

We reached at 3 pm and went inside expecting the place to be empty, but to our surprise, it was almost full, and since we were 4 of us, so we had to wait for 10 minutes to get our seating.

 

The interior decor of the place is very soothing to the eye, the first thing I liked about the place is that the man hasn’t tried to make the place look like Arabia, which gives you an idea how the owner puts his entire effort in the taste of the food.

 

We ordered our starters and the waiter asked us to wait for 10-15 minutes.

 

Well, fair enough, if you have driven 50 kms to reach this place, you would certainly not want to leave the place in another 30 minutes. So we came prepared for a complete 90 minutes meal.

 

Since we were four of us including a pure vegetarian, so we ordered 3 non-veg dishes and a Paneer 65.

 

My other non-veg friends ordered a chicken malai tikka and a mutton seekh kebab.

 

I ordered a Mutton Galouti Kebab, now if you guys have been to an authentic Mughlai restaurant and if you had tried the Galouti Kebab, you must have noticed the extra oil and that separate taste of spices in it now that tells that either the chef was in a hurry, or he doesn’t know how is it made. In either way, you as a customer are in loss.

 

In all the places that I have been, I didn’t find a single place with the perfect galouti kebabs, the way they cook in Hyderabad. So I was expecting the same taste I had all across north India.

 

Our order came and we all took the first bite of our dishes. I could see them all chewing their kebabs and chicken and paneer, but mine it just melted and disappeared in my mouth... it was heaven, purely heaven!!

 

I have no words to describe the taste of those dishes. It was just perfect.

 

Our expectations from the place got sky-rocketed. For the main course we ordered Nalli Nehari, Chicken dum biryani, Dal Makhni, Achari paneer, Khamiri roti and one ulte tawe ka paratha and to tell you the truth we all got blown away by the taste. There came a time when our minds, hearts, mouths and hands wanted to eat but our stomach refused to cooperate. And how I wished that I had a kumbhakarana’s appetite that day.

 

But we did try those sweet dishes, and boy I don’t even know of a place who serves “Shahi Tukda” and no wonder that it is the most hot selling item of the restaurant, but I am personally a fan of that Zafrani Phirni which in itself was superb, a less sweeter than Shahi tukda, but amazing in taste.

 

 

In the end we desired to meet the owner of the place, that’s when a slim tall gentleman with grey hair appeared from kitchen with a silver spoon in his right pocket, probably for frequent tasting of the dishes.

 

“Hi, any problem with the dish sir” he said. And I so wanted to kiss him for the favour he is doing on us poor souls who are wandering from one end of the city to the other trying to find a perfect place to have Mughlai.

 

Our search for the perfect Mughlai food in Delhi-NCR ended at ZAUK, greater Noida.

 

Oh ya, do try those Galouti Kebabs and Shahi Tukda for sure.

 

Keep travelling, Keep exploring, Keep sharing!

 

 

 

Article credit: travdiary.com

Travel plans and the fear of travelling

 

Most of us have long dreamt of taking a long leave from work to travel the length and breadth of our country. Few of us even sit with friends every Saturday planning about it over drinks. Every time we are supposed to leave on Sunday morning and every time that fucking hangover kills it. And the week starts all over again.

 

Few of us has even done an agreement with our lives that we’ll never be able to do it, these are those people who sits inside their house looking outside the window with a 90ml Jack Daniel’s poured in a large base glass with exactly 5 ice cubes floating on the top. They sit there thinking about their good hostel days and those unplanned outings they used to do scaling over the tall barbed hostel walls.

 

Well, we are the same species where a 60 year old man is scaling Mount Everest and a 35 year old is still sipping whiskey in a bar and planning for the last 10 years to go on 10 day trip.

 

The reason is very simple – Fear!

Fear of leaving the comfort zone.

Fear of travelling alone.

Fear of one’s safety.

Fear of unknown places, unknown people and unknown routes.

and many more...

 

If I am right then you have just two options with you

1. Get back to work and stop killing yourself over something you can’t do.
2. Or, just do it for once and put an end to this constant question mark in your head.

 

Since you are still reading this article so I assume you are the ones who still think that point number two isn’t that bad an option for you. So now let’s talk about your fears one by one and what can you do about it.

See, since we were 3 years old, we were taught not to take any unnecessary risks and always play safe and quite frankly if you would have been absolutely happy doing what you are doing right now, then you won’t be on internet searching for such articles and certainly you won’t be reading this one either. And this is not even a risk, it’s all about leaving your comfort zone and going out in the unknown.

 

Trust me, from your balcony it do seems like an uphill task, but once you are on the road with a backpack, you’ll feel a sense of unexplainable dancing excitement under your belly. That’s the exact feeling that you were yearning for so many years.

The moment you step outside your house and catch the first bus will be the moment of “letting it go”.

While travelling with your family, you might have to plan things a bit in advance, but a few check points are enough for you to travel free minded:

• Search for the best route of travel in advance.
• A list of things you should carry along.
• Keep your peeps informed about your travel status.
• You might have to book hotel in advance. Or at least search for hotels well in advance.

 

Fear of safety – Well to be very honest, you are absolutely safe anywhere and everywhere unless you screw it up yourself. Keep your eyes, ears and mind open and stay with the crowd and avoid staying out in night.

 

If you have the fear of the unknown places and unknown persons then I don’t think you should be travelling anywhere, because it’s the people and places that makes this whole thing interesting. Just keep in mind that you should be careful of the friendly ones and even more careful with those who impresses you.

 

Now keep that glass of whiskey down and decide a destination you wanted to go for so long. List down the places to see there, those must-try restaurants and the things you should be doing there. Now calculate how many days you require to completely refresh your mind, and finally think of a bloody good reason of absence from the office and drop in a mail and even before your manager reaches office, hop on to a bus and disappear!

 

Most of the people live their lives as if there are 6 more left to live.
Remember it’s one, just one!
Make it count...

 

 

 

 

Gokarna - a place to find your solace

 

After spending roughly 12 hours a day in office this week, the code finally went live and one more rough week just ended for us all.

It was a long weekend and we all were sitting at our favourite juice corner in R.T. nagar randomly throwing names of the places around Bangalore where we should head to spend the coming weekend, and I suggested “Gokarna”, and within next 15 minutes we booked our ride and in two hours, 12 of us were in a tempo traveller travelling to the west coast.

The place is about 500 kms from Bangalore and it would take the entire night and even the first half of the next day to reach Gokarna.

But 50 kms from Bangalore, the driver of our tempo traveller started acting weird, he already took 3 breaks and smoked 3 cigarettes and had like 4-5 cups of tea wherever he could find a tea stall. I was sitting right next to him on the very first seat, so I could sense his condition, I asked him for like 10 times if he was feeling sleepy, but every time he replied “no sir, I am fine.” And then he dozed off, but luckily for us, our vehicle wasn’t speeding.

I jumped and grabbed the steering which was slowly drifting to right. By then he also came to his senses, but he knew what went wrong, so this time he didn’t try to convince me, he simply got up and lied down on the floor of the mini bus.

My friend sat on my seat and I took the steering, that was the first time I drove a big vehicle.

It was then I noticed how black was the night, the highway was empty and there wasn’t a single star shinning, probably because of the clouds.

The only thing which was shinning were the reflectors on the tree trunks, and to be honest, it was just because of them that I could figure out which way was the road turning, and mind you, that was the ghat region and with a dark night like that and those road curves going up and down, right and left on every turn, I am thankful that our driver slept on the straight road and not on those curves.

I drove the whole night listening to my rock songs and when everyone woke up, I was sipping my morning tea over-looking the famous jog falls experiencing the worst cramp in my left calf muscle.

It was our driver who got up first. He came running towards me saying how sorry he is for whatever happened, but to be honest I wasn’t angry over him because I just had the most memorable drive of my life.

“Next time, just tell the truth, rather than risking 12 lives” I said to him.

We reached Gokarna at 2pm, and as I could barely walk because of that severe cramp, my friends literally carried me down to the beach, after much loitering around, we got 5 rooms for us, now the question was who will get the rooms, so I along with one of my friend volunteered to sleep on the beach.

The shack we stayed in had these Nepalese guys who cooked the best continental I ever tasted in my life, we tasted almost every dish they had on their menu, and except prawns fry, everything else was stupendous. They even had beer, mocktails and cocktails.

The beach was not too clean and the water was salty, but that didn’t stop us playing in the water.

That night me and my friend slept on a mat on the beach smoking a flavoured hookah which my friend bought with him.

The night in itself was quite eventful.

At first I felt someone trying to get into my blanket, when I opened my eyes it was some drunk guy who desperately wanted to sleep, but his friends just took him away apologising to me for his behaviour.

Then second time, it guess it was early in the morning around 3:30am or may be 4:00 am when I heard few sound “hu..hu..hu!! heya.. heya.. heya!” I woke up and saw my friend sitting next to me looking at the sea. There were 4-5 people who appeared to be dancing right next to the water, it took us a while to notice that they were fishermen pulling their net.

So we slept again.

It was the third time when I felt someone’s giving me a wet kiss on my cheeks. Now imagine you open your eyes and you see a bull’s face 5 inches from you. I almost shit my pants there.

So anyways on the second day, after having our breakfast, we went for a small trek to paradise beach, passing through half-moon beach.

Paradise beach is one another beautiful beach to swim, provided if you are a good swimmer. The beach had 4-5 shacks offering fantastic food, and of course beer.

The trek took us one and half hour, but it was well worth.

We spent the afternoon there gorging on those Russian salads, calzones, pastas and what not...

At 4 pm we took a boat back to om beach, and saw a pair of dolphins swimming next to our boat.

That evening we swam for hours and then drank like crazy because we knew that next day we had to go back to that 4x4 cubicle.

But all in all that was certainly the best trip I ever had.

and somehow I have a feeling that this year will also end on that same beach... ...

 

 

 

KASOL- the HIGH-est point of Himachal (if you know what I mean)

 

 

Situated in the beautiful parvati valley besides the river Parvati is a small village, hidden from the selfish land of money minded people.

A place overrun by hippie joints, cafes, reggae bars and cheap stays is the favourite hangout for those who want to relive the life of the seventies.

 

The moment you step in, you’ll notice all those Hebrew sign boards everywhere serving hummus and pita bread. And it’s doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this place is filled with Israeli tourists in Indian summers, but it is equally famous with Indian tourists as well.

---

Things to do:

1. Trek to Malana village, which consumes your 1 full day.

   

2. Trek to Kheerganga is another beautiful trekking route.

   

3. Trek to Tosh is yet another beautiful trekking route.

   

4. Visiting Manikaram sahib early morning, and taking holy dip in hot spring there.

   

5. Get high and spend whole day on the banks of river making art form out of the running water.

   

---

How to Reach:

1. If you are going from Delhi, take a bus from ISBT Kashmere gate to Kullu / Manali
2. Get down at Bhuntar
3. Hop on to local buses going from Bhuntar to Kasol.

---

Local Food: considering that they have Israelis coming in so the food is amazing. For those of you who haven’t tried hummus and pita, it’s different and neutral in taste which grows on you very fast. Also continental food served there is great there. Checkout the food options here Food in Kasol. Also add some more places which you think people should know about.

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Stay: You have many cheap guesthouses offering you rooms in decent prices. You can roam around before settling for what you like, they have places ranging from budgeted options to big hotels.

---

 

The place is ideal for a 3 day trip if you plan to do a trek, otherwise 2 days are enough.

 

Note: I wouldn’t advise you to travel with kids. Rest is your wish

 

Happy exploring!

 

 

I found a hidden Rajasthan fort

It was September of 2015, rains had already ignored Delhi that year. So with that extended spell of harsh summers almost coming to an end, a family outing looked desperate when you know that coming 2nd October is a long weekend.

 

And with a week to go, all of us started looking for a new destination to explore and relax our minds, that’s when my dad comes up with a place I’ve never heard of – Patan Mahal in Kotputli, Rajasthan.

 

 

I did some googling, but couldn’t find anything much about the place, but since the place was 3 hours drive from Delhi, we took off on 2nd.

 

With almost zero expectations we were blown away by the place when we reached there.

 

It was a sprawling estate comprising of three structures – a palace on the ground, a ruined fort cum palace on the slope of hill on the opposite side and an intact fort on the top of that hill.

 

 

Apart from the palace on the ground, the remaining two structures are abandoned but you can still trek to reach there.

 

The palace on the ground which is now converted into a luxury hotel has a swimming poolsurrounded by a lush green garden with colourful flowers, indoor games like pool table, table tennis, they have their own kitchen garden and a private forest, yes you heard it right, they have their own private forest.

 

The outlook and the entrance of the building is where you’ll fall in love with the place. Once you enter that huge wooden gate, you will find yourself in a courtyard with colonial style furniture and those colonial royal photographs hanging everywhere.

 

 

 

You are welcomed with a traditional welcome drink which would evaporate your travel fatigue.

 

The rooms are brilliantly designed in Rajasthani architecture. That red sandstone and those colourful glasses windows will mesmerise you. Each room has a different layout but the interior is simply breath taking.

 

 

 

They had a separate dining area all together where you have a buffet of Rajasthani cuisine including the traditional kair-sangri, gate ki sabji, lal maas and much more. The chef is in-house and knows his business well.

 

We wanted rooms next to the swimming pool and garden but they were already booked, so we chose the top floor, which was a good decision. After our dinner we sat outside, watching those zillion stars twinkling.

 

 

The place had a different vibe, that alluring silence of the hills, that mild breeze, that smell of sand in the air, the sound of the slightest movement of footsteps of some wild animal afar, that shadow of the fort on the hill top opposite to you. The whole thing just takes you back in the time and you start to think how it would have been in those times, and you just don’t want the night to end. But alas it did.

 

Next morning I started the trek to the two forts on the opposite side and it hardly took me 20 minutes to reach the first one. It certainly was in bad shape with walls crumbling and revealing the secrets of the old times. If any of you wondered how these huge forts, beautiful palaces we built, you should go to this place.

 

 

 

 

This fort has 5 levels. The lowest was an underground level where rain water was stored which was then used for internal purpose of the occupants. The two above that were huge halls for meetings and indoor activities, but was now occupied by thousands of bats. Move with absolute silence if you are there, you certainly don’t want to feel what batman feels standing in between those flying bats around him.

 

Fourth floor is where you enter the fort, moving through those tight rooms you reach the top of the structure from where you could see the Patan Mahal from where you started your climb. This is the place where the king once used to sit and enjoy the music and dance happening one level below him.

 

 

The place had many rooms around the main structures, which is believed to be of those maids and servants that used to work there. It even had a stable area for the horses and elephants.

 

And then there was a huge hall which was otherwise hidden hadn’t its roof been broken. I spent 4 hours looking how to get there, but couldn’t get to it. By then I was so tired and thirsty that I couldn’t gather the courage to trek to the top of that hill for the second fort. So I came back to Patan-mahal and spent the rest of the day in the pool sipping on my beer.

 

All in all it was a nice peaceful getaway from the rat race of Delhi.

 

 

 

 

Article credit: travdiary.com   Dated: 15th July 2016

A foreign tourist should expect this about India

After a lengthy paper work and Visa processing, when any foreign tourist finally lands in India hoping to get enlightened and be mesmerised by the mix bag of culture and diversity. It doesn’t take long for him to realise that he is already 30 years late.

 

For those of us Indians who have been to Singapore or Canada or USA, the first thing you note after coming out of the airport is the cleanliness and the order in which things move in that country. Now just imagine the expectations of a foreign tourist when he lands in India and what actually greets him after coming out from airport.

 

A long queue of taxis

 

 

You will find their owners waiving at you or even try pulling your luggage towards their vehicle as if they know you even before you were born.

Reason: everyone wants to earn, and what’s better than to show them that you care for them.

Good news: You can opt for Ola, Uber cabs in metro cities.

Solution: ignore the ones who are trying to get your attention, because they’re the ones you were warned about. Look for the pre-paid taxi stand, ask any police officer for pre-paid taxi stand and take a cab from there. Because they have to inform the officers who they are taking and where they are taking.

 

 

Slums, Beggars, Filth

 

 

Reason: This is a country of 1.2 billion people with more than half of the country living on Rs 50 a day, so don’t expect to see high-rise buildings and apartments everywhere. Slums are there because it was once a village around which a city has grown now.

Those beggars will surely follow you till the end of land, and giving them money is a punishable offence here. But if you still choose to give something to one of them, it’ll be a matter of seconds till you see yourself surrounded by hundreds of them. So please don’t.

Good news: With “Swatch Bharat” initiative people are realising the dire need of cleanliness, and cities are now becoming more cleaner.

Bad news: Government is yet to ban smaller packaging of food material including gutkha, pan masala which is the major contributor of filth in the entire country.

Solution: Keep your bag safe and ignore those beggars while walking.

 

 

Animals on the street

 

 

Ok, let me make it very clear now and for the last time. This is the land of 3 crore gods and people here are very religious and at the same time very protective about every animal.

So you have to live with it. This has always been the real India and it will always be.

Animals were there all along, roads and cities came later. And we love our animals.

Good news: You’ll experience this for the first time and you’ll miss it when you go back. Take my words on it.

Bad news: You have to live with it, there’s no other way out for you guys.

Solution: Catch them in your camera, show it to your grand kids when you get old.

 

 

Those honking idiots

 

 

Reason: We have the traffic signals and we even have those timers at major junctions for the commuters to save fuel.

Now every time that reverse countdown on that timer goes ...5...4...3...(honk!!)...(honk!!)... honk honk honk honk...

It’s not that we love honking, it’s just the (patience level) + (frustration) + (high stress level) + (heat) + (no traffic sense of people) + (not following of the traffic rules of other people) that comes out from the press of that small honking button.

Good news: it’s normal to honk here. No-one gets offended.

Solution: put in your ear phones and let your driver handle that.

 

 

Wrong side driving

 

 

Well this sure is a problem and you’ll find it everywhere you go in this country.

Reason: Well imagine a class room when the teacher goes out for 10 minutes, or even if that teacher falls asleep for 5 minutes. Same is the case here, we haven’t grown yet.

Good news: You are not driving.

Bad news: even if you know driving, I would not suggest you to do it.

Solution: walk, or take public transport.

 

Touts

 

 

This was the biggest problem for foreign tourists a while back, but since the internet explosion, it is going down drastically.

Reason: Same, who doesn’t wants to earn more.

Good news: it’s going down

Bad news: it’s still not out completely

Solution: Do your research properly before arriving so that you don’t look like a dumb pigeon when you land. And of course it goes without saying, ignore every single one of them, they are the ones you were warned about.

 

 

Haunting eyes following you everywhere

 

 

You might find it odd when people look at you awkwardly.

Reason: most of times it is because of what you are wearing and of course that different skin color, and then they tend to drift away thinking how you came here all this way on your own, which country you must be from, do you even know English, are you married, do you have any loan on your head...

Good news: 99% of them won’t even talk to you only 1% will try to have a conversation with you.

Bad news: it is obvious to feel awkward.

Solution: The best thing to do is not to make an eye contact because that’s what starts a conversation, and even if anyone do start a conversation, don’t get too friendly with them, NEVER get too friendly with ANY of them especially if you are a girl.

 

 

Choice of Clothing

 

 

Reason: You have to respect the rules of the land. Now I know that hot pants are becoming common here in India. But amid security concerns it is advised that you wear proper Indian clothing, which by the way looks more stunning on you than those short pants and tank tops.

Good news: Always remember, a foreign tourists respecting Indian culture gets more respect in return and even unexpected help from strangers.

Bad news: western clothing may bring unwanted attention from unwanted people.

Solution: wearing western clothing or Indian clothing is purely upto you, but don’t wear revealing clothing as it might offend someone’s cultural beliefs.

 

 

Safety Issue

 

 

Just like every country, India too have safety issues, and then there is media which blows an issue so much out of proportion that it generates a sense of fear in every traveller’s mind.

See, if you’re dumb enough to ignore things then you are simply inviting trouble. I can’t list down all those hundred things which you should not be doing when you are travelling in an unknown country. But I can only tell you how to avoid getting in situations like these.

Now listen closely: as said earlier, wear modestly, avoid going out alone at night (usually an hour after sunset), keep emergency numbers handy, dial 100 and ask them for any help, trust GOOGLE and NO-ONE else for directions and places. And most important avoid crowded places especially on days like new-year. God forbid if something goes south, get in touch with your embassy at the earliest.

Good news: It’s not unsafe at all, if you attentive.

Bad news: These things still happen, which saddens me.

Solution: remember what you mom and dad told you about – not to go out alone at night, not to drink with strangers, taking care of your drinks, not to leave your stuff/drinks unattended, trusting absolutely NO-ONE, be home on time, lock the door of your room from inside, keep emergency numbers handy, updating your loved ones about your whereabouts every day... you already know the drill!

 

 

Hygiene

 

 

It has been a big issue for long but things are getting better day by day due to this government’s policies and initiatives. New travellers are also appreciating the work done by the present government. People are now getting more involved in keeping the country clean.

Good news: It’s getting better day by day.

Bad news: dust-bins and public urinals are still missing which make people do what has been happening for so long.

Solution: always keep a hand sanitizer, tissue roll with you, and always maintain your personal hygiene.

 

 

Note: Always pose yourself as “I-know-everything” and “never-mess-with-me” person. Never be gentle and don’t even think once that it would look rude to say “No” to anything. If anyone is persisting, it’s time to get yourself out of there.

 

And god forbid if anything goes wrong, always remember there’s always something that can get you out of trouble. So stay calm and think of all the possibilities which can pull you out from there.

Like:

1. Should you use your embassy name.
2. Should you run.
3. Where was the last police guy/car you saw.
4. Remember a big politician’s name which you can use along with your embassy name.
5. Should you call 100 (police).
6. Should you shout at the top of your voice.

 

This article is written for you to understand what to expect when you land, it doesn't mean that this place is unsafe in any respect.

I've been to many countries myself and to be honest this is the land where you'll find the most generous, the most humble, the most friendly people in the world.

And one more thing, if you plan to eat outside (I mean the street food) I better suggest you to carry your medications for upset stomach. It takes much more to be an Indian afterall.

 

There’s a reason why this land is known as incredible India. Come and experience it!

 

 

 

Article credit: Veer Nehra   Dated: 14th July 2016