back to my roots

Overall, our trip to India was a memorable experience. Personally, I now feel connected to my Indian roots. My fellow travel companions can now say that they have experienced a new culture and have willingly embraced the customs and lifestyle of a people that they felt they once misunderstood. We will certainly return again to explore this beautiful, vast region.

Travel Documentation:

• The most essential documents for Indian travel are a passport and visa, along with their photocopies.

Passport

Passport

• One of the two most important India Travel documents to carry with you is your Passport. Make sure to have this basic document with you all the time. Before the trip starts, check that your passport is in order and will be valid for the period of your stay. Otherwise, get it renewed. If, by any chance, your passport gets lost or stolen, immediately contact your country's embassy or consulate in Delhi. And don't forget to inform the nearest police station at the same time.

Visa

• The second essential document for an Indian visit is a visa. Only in the case of Nepal, you don't need any prior visa. The only requirement is of identification papers, and visa is issued at the airport itself. There are different types of visas for different travel purpose. Make sure to apply for the correct visa type, as per the purpose of your travel.

Photocopies

• Don't forget to keep photocopies of your important documents for travel to India. Keep them separate from the originals, in case the originals get lost or stolen.

Visa

Currency:

Indian Rupee

• The Indian rupee is the official currency of the Republic of India. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India.

• The modern rupee is subdivided into 100 paise (singular paisa). Bank notes are available in nominal values of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 rupees. Coins of the rupee have nominal values of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 25 and 50 paise as well as 1, 2, 5 and 10 rupees.

• However, with effect from 30 June 2011, 50 paise will be the minimum coin accepted in the markets as all denominations below it will cease to be legal currency.

• The Indian rupee symbol is derived from the Devanagari consonant "र" (Ra) with an added horizontal bar.

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Accommodation:

• Like any destination there are the normal hotels in India. These range from Budjet to Luxury hotels and are located all over India. But what we wanted to do when we were in India was to find the unique accommodations, and this is one of them:

Srinager Houseboats

Srinagar Houseboats

• "Kashmir Houseboats" are among the best and most luxurious accommodations in India. Houseboat holidays are considered one of the most romantic accommodations in India.

• Srinager Houseboats is one of Kashmir's largest and leading hospitality enterprise founded in 1950. They have won a number of awards due to their luxurious accommodations!

Dilli Haat

• Dilli Haat is a combination food plaza and craft bazaar located in the heart of Delhi. It has stalls representing each state of India, giving a complete variety of tastes available all over India.

• There are also stalls of crafts from all over India, and from a variety of cultural traditions of India. Around 2003, this market became fully wheelchair-accessible, including an accessible bathroom. This is a relative rarity in India.

• There are plans to open more Dilli Haats all over Delhi.

• Unlike the traditional weekly market, the village "Haat", Dilli Haat is permanent. Some shops are permanent but other sellers are rotated, usually for fifteen days. Products offered may include rosewood and sandalwood carvings, embellished camel hide footwear, sophisticated fabric and drapery, gems, beads, brassware, metal crafts, and silk and wool fabrics.

• Shows promoting handicrafts and handlooms are held at the exhibition hall in the complex.

• To sell wares, there is an application process and spaces are allocated according to which state the seller is from.

• Note: There is a nominal entrance fee to shop at Dilli Haat.

Dilli Haat

Souvenirs:

• Indian Tea: Tea is an essential part of Indian life. Visit Darjeeling or Assam to see how tea is grown and prepared, and be sure to bring home a few boxes of your favorite varieties. No time for a tea plantation? Go to any tourist emporium for attractively wrapped teas from all different regions of India.

• Carpets: You can also find some amazing carpets in India. Handmade Kashmir and other fabrics are woven into these masterpieces to create a unique style and design. We bought a few of these amazing carpets in the Northern regions of India beause this is where they are cheaper and more common to find.

Basic Eitquette and Customs

• Namaste is a traditional Indian greeting. We quickly found out while in India that men can shake hands, but women cannot shake hands and children cannot shake hands either. Your own personal space in India is going to be a lot less than what it is in the Western world. Don’t be surprised to find someone standing way to close to you in a line. Our guide told us that they don’t mean to be rude when they do this, it is just the cultural norm.

Namaste.

• People won’t even really mind if you aggressively push your way through one of them!

• In India a lot of people eat with their hands. Some restaurants even have special stations to wash your hands before and after you eat.

• Don’t be a sucker! Shopkeepers will immediately charge you a premium if you look like a foreigner. We had to get very stubborn when we were bartering in the marketplace with the locals.

• Indians are also more accepting about taking phone calls in social situations.

• Feet are considered unclean, so don’t go around pointing them at people or getting to close to someone with your feet. It sounds funny until you do it to someone.

• When given a gift, don’t open it in front of the person, wait till later on when you are away from them to open it.

• It is not respected to blow your nose in public. It can startle people, sometimes the wrong person.

• When visiting religious sites, be sure to research what specific guidelines and rules they have about entry. Each place may vary. For instance, some places may ask you to remove your shoes, wash your hands and feet, or to wear something to cover your head. My travel companion was even denied entry at one of the stops on our journey because of this, so know in advance!

Remember your etiquette!

• Expect stares, people are curious.

• Don’t show to much skin, it can be taken the wrong way especially if you are a woman.

• Tipping the cab drivers is not the norm, you don’t even have to tip at the hotel if you choose not to.

Our most anticipated stop on our journey was to the Taj Mahal, India’s premier tourist attraction. Listed as one of the ‘Seven Wonders of Modern World’, this mausoleum was constructed by Shah Jahan as a love offering to his wife. This marvelous structure, which took 21 years and 20,000 workers to complete, is recognized as the culmination of Indo-Persian architecture. Emperor Shah Jahan himself described the Taj Mahal in these words:

Should guilty seek asylum here,
Like one pardoned, he becomes free from sin.
Should a sinner make his way to this mansion,
All his past sins are to be washed away.
The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs;
And the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes.
In this world this edifice has been made;
To display thereby the creator's glory.

While here, we also visited the Agra Fort, located near the gardens of the Taj Mahal. The Red Fort of Agra is a powerful fortress of red sandstone which encompasses within its 2.5 km long enclosure walls, the imperial city of Mughal rulers. It comprises many palaces, such as Jahangir Palace and the Khas Mahal; audience halls, such as the Diwan-i-Khas; and two very beautiful mosques of white marble, the Moti Masjid and the Nagina Masjid. Several of the buildings are made from pure marble with beautiful carvings. Emperor Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son in the Agra Fort, from which he had a view of the beautiful building he erected for his wife. He is said to have died in the Musamman Burj, a tower with a beautiful marble balcony.