Travel Ideas

Population

Over one billion now which means the cities are teeming with people. The mass of the population still lives in the countryside though you could be forgiven for not seeing that as you pass through vast, empty plains on the train. The number one rule in India is that you can never be alone.

Climate

The hot season is from March until June/July when the monsoon breaks. This isn’t a dangerous season like in the Caribbean, it’s simply inconvenient with more rain falling than you’ve ever seen before for weeks and weeks in a row. Looking after your health and drying your clothes can be a challenge in monsoon.
It never gets that cold in India unless you’re up in the mountains where the winters can be very hard.

Rent

In most of the country you’ll be able to rent a large house and fill it with furniture for next to nothing. Prices vary drastically from a mud and wood house in the Himalayas for $50 a month, to nice apartments with refrigerator and kitchen in the cities or Goa for $200, to studio apartments in Bombay for more than you’d be charged in Manhattan.

Economy

The average India works for a couple of dollars a day or less. Even someone with education like a teacher or journalist probably only makes around $200 a month. But with the BPO boom, people in IT or customer services can now make around $350-600 a month.

There’s also plenty of money in India, it’s just all in the hands of the rich who live in their own world behind gated communities, living lifestyles more decadent than anything you see in the West.

Costs

Food costs next to nothing with rice averaging at 25 cents a kilo. If you live it up then you might find a way to spend $300 a month but you could get by on much less. You can clothe yourself with a handful of dollars and get second hand books cheaply. Tech items are pricey though as India still has restrictive trade restrictions which mean you’ll want to bring your laptop and camera from outside and sell them when you go.

Religion and Culture

Indians are Hindu, a religion to which outsiders are automatically excluded. You’ll never fit in, in India but you’ll be merrily tolerated as an eccentric.

Spirituality enters every nook and cranny of life in India, most notably in its innate fatalism and belief that all life is sacred – except, perhaps, human life.

Visas

Visas are given for 6 months at a time and start from the date of issue. Then you need to head to Nepal or Sri Lanka (round trip = $300 by plane) to get another 6 months.

Business and work visas can be obtained if you get letters of invitation and the right paperwork but then you enter the world of Indian bureaucracy and that’s somewhere you don’t want to go.
There exist 5 year visas for people of Indian origin and certain embassies sometimes start giving these out to tourists also.

Americans can get a ten year visa but they still need to leave the
country every 6 months – this can be done at the Nepal border.

Language: There are 15 languages on the Indian rupee so English acts as a unifying tongue for them all and it’s easy to get by in most places with English alone. That said, if you learn the local language or even just Hindi then Indians will forgive you just about anything.

Rent: $50 for a house in the Himalayas or a village. $200 for an apartment in the city.

Hostel: from $2-10 depending on the region with $4-5 as an average.

A meal out: $1-3 in most places.

Transport: India can be travelled for a handful of dollars by train, bus and even plane these days.

Living Estimate: $100 scraping by. $300 for an okay life. $600 for all you need.

Travel Estimate: $5-15 for your basic needs before drugs and books.

Overall – India isn’t the kind of place you would want to live if you like a well-ordered, productive life. It’s more the kind of place where you take life slowly, drink chai and contemplate maya, the great illusion of existence. It’s one of the cheapest places in the world to live though and has great natural beauty – if the people don’t drive you insane you could live here peacefully.

The infrastructure is abysmal though and power and internet connections go down all the time. Nothing seems to work properly, in fact and Indians place very little value on like time so expect to wait a long time for anything to get done, if it gets done.
Also, foreigners can’t expect to fit into Indian society. It’s ordered on a caste system and impure outsiders like you don’t have a chance even if you do learn a local language. You’ll be tolerated and even welcomed but don’t expect to make too many Indian friends unless they come from a richer background with more Western values.

Where to live in India

Goa is probably the most sustainable place to live these days with many ex-pats staying through the monsoon season of July-October and many shops and restaurants remaining open as a result. It’s more expensive than the rest of India but the houses are beautiful and there’s a sizeable community of English, Italians, Germans, Israelis and just about anyone else you care to name.

The Himalayas are more economical and are breathtakingly beautiful through most of the year and are the easiest place to spend the monsoon with all the water pouring away. Once the snow falls though it can be really tough with no power, frozen water pipes and shortage of supplies – you’d better make sure you have enough firewood or else head south to Goa for the winter.

Other Indian cities may have slightly more reliable infrastructure but tend to be quite hellish. Pune might be an option with a sizeable ex-pat community but is a little overshadowed by the Osho Ashram.

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