Help me Understand India and the Indian Culture

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Question for you najniran,

My wife (born in Canada, family from Kerala province) tells me that the toilets dont’s have toilet paper, just water and a pitcher to wash yourself with, and that I had better get used to the idea when we go there to meet the family and show the new baby. This has me somewhat secretely freaking out, as I am a bit [bad pun] anal [/bad pun] about higiene. Is this really the case nowadays? She hasn’t been back for 5 - 7 years or so. Any advice for us westerners on this topic? (Rubber gloves? kleenex pocket packs?)

Many thanks,

-trupa

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I’m only going by what my friend said; since he’s Tamil and he lives there, I figured he knew what he was talking about. I have no personal stake in the matter. :slight_smile:

Of course most of India is hot in the summer. Heck, on my first trip I was in MP and Rajasthan in March, and that was plenty hot for me. However (and I think this is what my other friend was getting at), the combination of heat and humidity is tough going for people who aren’t used to it, and uncomfortable even for those who are. I see that Saturday’s weather forecast for Chennai calls for scattered thunderstorms, a high of 92 deg. F with a heat index around 100 deg. F, and max. humidity by evening of 78%. Personally, I’d rather have the dry heat. :slight_smile:

Re the toilets: Indian style (squat) toilets do not, in fact, have toilet paper, and it was politely suggested to me that one not try to use toilet paper with them because the plumbing will clog. (There is no water to flush with other than whatever water you pour from the pitcher, although there is almost always a tap on the wall nearby so you can get as much water as you need.) Outside your wife’s family home you might be tempted to make use of a bit of paper, but if you don’t want to create plumbing problems for the relatives you might want to practice technique at home before you go, and bring some anti-bacterial hand wipes with you if the thought really skeeves you out.

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Your wife would be correct in that most commonly…they do not have toilet paper and just have a tap / water pitcher. I understand your hygiene concern, because I had the same thoughts. However, you can readily find toilet paper in most of the stores there. Its just that most natives there dont buy it.

I HIGHLY reccomend taking a bunch of those new Kleenex Wet-Wipes things. I imagine you’ll be taking them for your baby anyways, so its not like you’ll have to be carrying anything extra around. I took em, and I know I’m happy I did. I couldnt find anything but one-ply toilet paper there…and well [bad pun]…my spoiled-ass just wasnt used to it. [/bad pun] Just go down to Costco and buy a big old tub with the pull-top thing. I think they’re also called “Wet-ones” as well. Worst comes to worst…just consider the tap/pitcher thing as a low-tech bidet. hehehe. :smiley:

oh, and congrats on the new baby!

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While your query has been answered… I couldn’t resist pointing out an irony here. Indians have the exact same apprehension before they get to the West. It totally freaks them out to imagine using paper to wipe themselves and walking around the whole day feeling dirty…

(TMI: It is not too hard to understand when one realizes that those who grow up on a “water-washed feeling” think the paper-wiping is incomplete… it is an uneasy thought further accentuated by images of stubborn particles still stuck here and there)

sunfish
I assume you haven’t lived in 120 F :slight_smile:

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Well I hope I am not too late to contribute my 2 cents. Actually my PC was dead for nearly a month and its only now that Im getting online. **Philster**, Mahape is on the outskirts of Bombay and technically is located in New Bombay, so I can fairly confidently say that you will be staying in New Bombay most of the time. Although Mahape is not that far off from Bombay,(it is about a 90 minute drive away) it makes more sense to reduce travel time. It is a good thing that you have a company car to lug you around because cabs and 3 wheeled auto-rickshaws can be a hassle.Just in case you have to avail them make sure that you pay by the meter and tell the driver beforehand about this.(As far as possible try to have some local with you while you travel) Communicating wouldnt be a problem as most of the people understand english and all street signs etc are in english as well. I work for a firm which does BPO stuff (although its not in New Bombay)and food is not a major problem because the office hasa pretty decent and hygenic cafeteria.Although take plenty of care about the water you drink, as normal water could land you in some trouble.Some of my friends fell sick after they drank tap water or non boiled water, and they were in the US for just 4-5 years! I am pretty sure you wont find our roads strewn with donkeys/cows/buffalos etc like its shown in movies (atleast not in Bombay)and driving in New Bombay shouldnt be a major problem, although years of driving in the US could confuse you a bit because we drive on the other side(a british legacy). Food wise you can get a wide variety and yes beef is avaialble at quiet a few places. Re:Toilet Paper and Western style commodes. Many places here have western style commodes and most hotels you might go to will have both the options.Although toilet paper wouldnt be available everywhere,I suggest you carry a few sides with you in case of emergencies.Dont worry bout clogging the toilet,just an urban legend or a nice excuse for not providing any paper. Well you can get a wide choice of TV channels for your viewing pleasure, CNN,BBC,HBO are there, you also have a choice of 3-4 24hour english news channels,ZEE English and Star World can show you sitcoms and stuff (Friends,Seinfield,70s Show etc…)
All of these things are just top of the head now.If you need something more specific, feel free to ask.Hope this was of some information to you.

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To be fair, Delhi is arguably the worst city in the entire country as regards traffic discipline. Thank your stars you won’t be living in Delhi. The same goes for most of north India, although to a (slightly) lesser degree.

OTOH, a person used to driving in Bombay wouldn’t last more than a few minutes on the streets of Delhi. Like I said earlier, traffic is chaotic, but it is also disciplined. You won’t die of fright on our roads :slight_smile:

Weather-wise, summer is very unpleasant in Bombay. It’s not the heat (max. temp. rarely crosses 40 degrees C) - it’s the humidity which is killing. I moved to Poona (beautiful weather here) 8 years ago, after almost 2 decades in Bombay, and now I hate going there in summer, if even just for a day!
The best months to be in Bombay are undoubtably from end November to mid-February. Average temp. is in the upper 20s (Celcius), and humidity is not uncomfortably high. Mahape (being in New Bombay) will definetly be more comfortable than Bombay itself.

Re. toilet paper. If you’re staying in a hotel, you’ll obviously be provided with it, along with what is slowly becoming a standard - a hand shower for your butt. If not, buy toilet paper (multi-ply is available)… or get used to finger-water-ass contact! Personally, both toilet paper and the above-mentioned contact gross me out… we’ve been using a hand-shower ever since I can remember. Old buildings will not have toilets equipped to handle toilet paper, so use judiciously if you’re put up in one.

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Nope. :slight_smile: In truth, the max I’ve experienced is about 106 F. I’ve just always preferred to be dry roasted rather than steamed, since I can always drink more water, etc. but I can’t stand that feeling of never being able to truly dry off after a shower. Plus high humidity really makes my hair frizz out of control. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Sunfish, I sent your “Rules of the Road” link to my mother, who lived in India for five years in the 1950s, to ask her if driving had changed any since she was there, and this is her reply:

“My goodness! To think they haven’t changed their rules an iota in all these years! I guess that is because they work so well!”

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I’m glad your mom got a kick out of that, Mama Tiger. Yup, as crazy as it got at times, it really does work at some level since every driver knows what to expect. I’m so glad to hear, gouda, that it can’t get much worse than Delhi, because now I know I can cope with driving patterns anywhere. :wink:

And I’ll confess that more than once after I got home and was sitting somewhere in traffic, I wished I had the guts to just cut across all lanes and start driving up the shoulder to pass everyone else by… :smiley:

50

Bump.

Our partners from India are in the office this week, keeping me busy. Just had to get our phone switch set to recognize international dialing.

We are getting ready to ship our first wave of folks over there in about two weeks. I’ll probably find myself there over by this spring/summer.

The info provided here is - of course - more valuable than what our little consultant had to say.

The best info seems to be about the water. Don’t drink the water is the common theme.

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One other water-related thing that bears repeating: if you’re eating from a roadside stall (or even in some of the better restaurants), salad stuffs might have been washed in tap water, or not washed at all. Therefore avoid stuff like lettuce, or other stuff if it hasn’t been cooked or recently peeled.

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FYI, even avoiding roadside stalls and unwashed produce is not enough to prevent disease. After arriving in Calcutta, I only ate at the hotel restaurant and drank only bottled water–even brushing my teeth with bottled water–and I STILL caught bacterial dysentery.
l

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Yeah, as gobear says, even with the best precautions, there’s a likelihood you’re gonna get sick anyway - maybe not as bad as that, but be ready. I survived a month in Nepal with no problems, then got baccillic dysentery from the plane food on the journey out! Bring rehydration salts (available in all pharmacies) and Imodium if you’re in a position where you’re not going to be near a toilet. Otherwise, just let rip (you’ll understand one advantage of using water instead of toilet paper when you have to go 30 times a day). Keep well hydrated.

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Philster, all the water-related advice given is good stuff and bears repeating several times, but in the end is no different from the rules you follow to keep from getting Montezuma’s revenge in Mexico. :wink: Be careful with the water and you will eliminate the potential for most problems right away. Again, just be careful that the bottled water you buy has an intact seal. IMHO Aquafina was the best bottled water, and Bisleri was at the bottom of the list in terms of taste.

As gobear and jjimm point out, it’s still possible to get sick even if you are careful with water. In the two months’ time total that I spent in India, I was mildly sick on just four occasions - twice after eating pizza from what I think is a well-known establishment in Delhi, once after eating a boiled egg curry (delicious, but in retrospect not a good idea), and once after eating just 3 grapes (offered to me as a guest and I felt unable to refuse yet another proffered treat). These sorts of things are inevitable to a degree, but to cut down your risk avoid anything sold from a cart on the street (food as well as sugar cane juice). Eating at a roadside joint called a dhaba can be perfectly fine. Just have a look around, and if the tables are clean, the cooking area looks tidy (you can watch the cook at work because he is generally right up front), and there’s a tap or something where you can wash your hands, you should be okay. My work had me out in the countryside most of the time where there often was no alternative to eating at a dhaba, and the food was usually pretty decent.

By the way, I was advised by some folks to avoid dairy products like ice cream and curd (plain yogurt), and milk if it was served cold, because it isn’t always pasteurized. Milk in tea is boiled along with tea as it’s made, so that’s okay. I also learned to like cornflakes with hot milk (tastes better than you might think). I usually avoided coffee because a) it was served with cold milk on the side and b) was often powdered coffee made at less than full strength. YMMV.

If you do get diarrhea, Imodium really is your friend. The rehydration salts jjimm recommends are also an excellent idea, but I suggest bringing some with you in case you don’t feel up to looking for a pharmacy at a critical time. Don’t bother with drug stores here, because at best they will only have Pedialyte for kids (nasty stuff); instead, get yourself to an outdoors store with serious camping supplies, or else buy online. My recommendation goes to Gookinaid, an excellent powdered mix that works really well even for basic hydration in hot weather. One packet mixed with a liter of water per day is usually enough to keep you in good shape.

If your diarrhea lasts more than a couple of days and/or you’re running a fever, get yourself to a doctor. They can prescribe whatever medicine you need right away, important if you really need antibiotics. BTW, medication is significantly cheaper there - a colleague of mine got a 5-day course of amoxicillin (500 mg doses) for a bad sinus infection and paid just 2 USD for it!

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On to cash matters –

I found it pretty easy to get cash from ATMs in Delhi, and I assume Mumbai would be equally easy. However, I would recommend that you exchange some dollars, maybe about 200 USD, to rupees at the airport exchanges in order to have proof of your exchange rate. (Current exchange rate is roughly 1 USD = 46 INR.) Apart from possibly needing it for your own office accounting department, you’ll need to show that receipt when you exchange money back into dollars at the end of your trip, if you choose to do so. (Technically you aren’t supposed to take rupees out of the country, but if you’ll be going back and forth frequently I can’t see a problem with taking a few thousand rupees with you. Also, I’m not sure but I think that you wouldn’t be allowed to exchange more rupees into dollars than you originally cashed in in the first place.) Avoid going to banks to exchange cash/traveler’s checks if you can, because it WILL take you forever to get through the transaction in all likelihood.

If you travel outside of Mumbai on a tourist jaunt, be aware that unless you’re going to a heavily trafficked tourist spot (like Jaipur or Agra) you may not be able to find an ATM, and the banks may not be able to process an exchange for you.

If you go to an ATM, don’t go by yourself – beggars will sometimes hang around hoping to get money from visitors, and your just having withdrawn Rs. 15,000 from the machine makes you a big target. You may feel lousy doing it, but your best bet is to walk away as quickly as possible if someone does try to hit you up – as gouda said, you’re not really helping these folks any with a handout. On a related note, don’t give ANYTHING to small kids who come asking – no candies, cookies, etc. You may have enough for the first 10 who show up, but another 20-30 (or more) may quickly materialize that you can’t treat the same way…

One of the things you’ll have to get used to is that 50-count bundles of bills are not wrapped in paper or rubber-banded, but rather stapled together. Repeated stapling leads to bills that are pretty perforated, to say the least. :smiley: If someone tries to give you a bill as change that is in bad shape, give it back and ask for a bill in better condition. The shopkeeper may be able to bury a tattered bill in a stack of other bills, but you probably won’t have the chance, and other merchants can refuse to take your bill as payment if they think it is too damaged.

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These days regardless of travel plans it’s a good idea to have been vaccinated for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and tetanus. The CDC also recommends a typhoid vaccination and a one-time oral polio booster for adults. Note that there used to be a vaccine offered for cholera, but the last I heard it was withdrawn here in the U.S. because its effectiveness varied too widely among individuals to be reliable. The hepatitis vaccines require multiple shots at specific intervals; you won’t be able to get fully vaccinated for those before October if you go then, but at least you can get started.

Mefloquine is the anti-malarial drug of choice for India, since the mosquitoes there are chloroquine-resistant. It’s not considered necessary unless you plan on spending more than a month at a time in India, and/or a lot of time in rural areas. Be aware that since mefloquine can have some serious side effects, including liver damage, the decision to take mefloquine is sort of a toss-up. Another side effect is supposed to be vivid dreams, but to my disappointment I never had any I can remember. :stuck_out_tongue: Just bring a good bug repellent with you if you’re concerned.

By the way, if you health insurance company is anything like mine (Aetna/USHealthcare), they will likely refuse to pay for any of your vaccinations and/or mefloquine unless your doctor specifies that you must have it (and even so… God forbid they spend any money on “preventative care” :rolleyes: ). Getting the hep A & B and typhoid vaccines, the tetanus and polio boosters, and a prescription for 6 weeks of mefloquine cost me nearly $800 out of pocket. I hope your company will pay if your insurance will not.

57

Family from my mother’s side, residing in England, has been visiting us every year since forever. My aunt and uncle were born and brought up in Bombay, but my little cousins are pukka Brits. They usually come down in December, and stay for upto a month at a time.

They all get themselves vaccinated against Malaria and Hepatitis A, B and C before coming down. For the children, they usually bring along vitamin supplements (not sure why, but they do). They use only bottled water for drinking and brushing and ice. They don’t eat or drink anything from a roadside stall, no matter how good it might look, smell or taste. They very politely refuse any uncooked food when they go visit other friends and relatives. Bug repellent is always handy.

In over 20 visits, not once has any member of that family fallen ill.

Moral of the story: Be careful, but don’t necessarily overdo it.
Drugs (of the medicinal variety :p) in India are indeed inexpensive, and almost anything you get in the US, you’ll get here - it’ll be called something else though. You won’t really need to stock up before coming down.

Regarding ATMs, don’t worry too much about it. Almost all banks employ security at every machine. They ensure that no beggars or suspicious characters hang around nearby. Encashing a travellers cheque used to be a major hassle earlier, but not so much anymore - it usually doesn’t take more than 10 minutes, last I did it. Avoid national banks if you can though - their queues tend to be longer.

sunfish, dhaba food is the best ever!! I recently went on a holiday touring the northern state of Himachal Pradesh. I was on the road a lot, and made efforts to time meals with a stop at one. I’d do that road trip again just for the food!

And cornflankes with hot milk?? UUGH!!

Milk in India usually is pasteurised, and most households will do it again at home just to make sure. So even if you are served cold milk, in all likelyhood, it is safe. Going by my cousin’s experiences, curd shuld be pretty ok to eat as well. Flavoured yoghurt you’ll only find in stores stocking imported stuff - more often that not, it’ll have been imported from south-east asia or the middle east.

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I would reccomend that you take all the required vaccines as soon as you come over here because they are relatively cheap and you wont have to rely on your insurance firm for the expenses.
You can get pastuerised and packages curd and milk over here so thats not a big worry.
As gouda mentioned,ATMs are virtually everywhere in Bombay and you can use your Visa/Mastercard/Cirrus/Maestro to get cash,although AMEX ATMs are virtually non existent.According to new regulations, note bundles are not stapled anymore and most of the notes that you will be transacting in are in fairly decent condition.
Dont plan to bring much alcohol when you come here because the custom officials are known to have great fondness for scotch and might force you to “gift” them one bottle(if you have several)
But dont you worry bout alcohol just in case you are a regular drinker you can get all the stuff you want over here.

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I just knew someone would say something about those cornflakes, gouda. :wink: I’m totally serious though. For whatever reason, quite a few of the places where we’d eat breakfast offered a bowl of cereal and then a tall pot of steamed milk. You can adjust the degree of mushiness with the amount of milk, sprinkle a little sugar on top… not too bad, really, especially if you already like oatmeal.

About the milk/curd warning… maybe that was emphasized to me because I was spending so much time out in rural areas? I was in a lot places where Western tourists would not normally wander, so the local food places might not be in the habit of boiling all milk themselves, and shopping for our own perishables (apart from oranges and bananas) wasn’t practical. To be honest, I didn’t hold back from curd on my second trip and I was fine. Btw, I was lucky enough to eat homecooked meals on a few occasions and really I was blown away by delicious food - certainly no problems there!

As for eating at the dhabas - that was really an enjoyable experience on the whole, I agree. Great for watching life go by. It was also great to stop late in the afternoon, after we were done working for the day, and relax with a glass of chai while sitting on one of those cots with the rope mesh (what are those called?). Ooh I envy your trip to Himachal Pradesh - did you go trekking there? My old officemate did his thesis field work in Uttaranchal around Mussoorie and Shimla, and the pics he showed me were just breath-taking…

The ATM/money advice comes from personal experience… maybe it’s just more fuel for the friendly feud between Delhi and Mumbai? :wink: Interesting to hear that bundles of bills aren’t stapled any more, that must be a recent change? Philster, you might want to have a waist pack or backpack handy for your money when you first exchange it, until you get the chance to sort some bills into your wallet… even just a few bundles won’t fit easily in your pockets. :slight_smile:

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What will my purchasing ‘power’ be there, without getting into what my US salary is? If I was there for a while, how much in US dollars would I spend weekly if I wanted to live very well?

Maybe I don’t know how to ask this, but is there a ‘night life’ or what other entertainment opportunities will there be? Sporting events? Dance clubs, etc. And can/should I look forward to any of this?