I’ve got my plane tickets, a handful of guidebooks and some anti-malaria pills. It’s really gonna happen. I’m going to be based in Delhi, where my uncle is living, but I’m going to do as much traveling around as I can. I’ll be there for up to three months. Considering I just came up with this plane a couple weeks ago, it’s hard to believe that it’s really happening.
Any last minute tips or suggestions?
Get a visa!!! (unless you’re, like, an Indian national)
Just got mine today, see you in Darjeeling in November 
Lots of those diarrhea pills. No matter how many times my relatives boil water for me I and I drink Limca/Thums Up/Bottled Water I still come back with minor dysentery!
Maybe it’s not relevant (if you’re not female / you don’t menstruate) but I took sealed/packed tampons to India in 1997 in August and they got messed up by the humidity-they expanded (even in their plastic packets) and I fainted after I put one in. I banished myself to pads after that-being in rural Goa I didn’t really want to risk TSS. When I go back again I’m probably going to bring Instead cups.
I find loose cotton tunic shirts and cotton pants to be cooler than tanks and shorts. Also, people stare less.
I don’t really know what else to suggest-if you have any questions I suppose I could try to answer them although I haven’t been back since 97 (school obligations) although the rest of my family has been back a bunch of times and I used to go frequently back in highschool. My sister says that it has changed quite a bit.
Since I’m 1/2 Konkani & 1/2 Marathi-I will throw out a suggestion to go to Goa and Maharashtra. Have fun 
Never been to india and have no practical suggestions for you, but just wanted to pop in and say I’m glad to see you doing something wild, wacky, and “outside the box” instead of staying at safe, semi-mindless, minimum-wage jobs. You won’t regret it!
Have a blast, and experience as much as you can while you’re there.
From what I’ve read in travel books skirts or very long shirts are a must for chicks in rural areas because you may have to take care of business by squatting in the middle of a dirt field.
It might not apply to places you’re going, but pack an extra skirt just in case!
Also, you must visit the tigers! They have a really cool tiger sanctuary there, part of it is on the grounds of some old summer palaces. It’s very cool in pictures I’ve seen. I’ve got to go before I’m overcome with jealousy…
Good luck, I’m sure it will be amazing!
Maybe you’re referring to Corbett National Park?
I know someone that worked in Uttaranchal in Kumaon for a while and she lived near the tiger sanctuary area. It really is supposed to be a wondrous area-I think she was posted in Sithla.
Don’t miss out on Orissa-Sun Temple of Konarak is supposed to be fantabulous and I don’t know how many people go out of their way to see it.
No, but silly me not remembering they have several of them. It’s Ranthambore National Park.