India is beautiful and amazing, but also mad and frustrating. There is no country in the world quite like India and if it’s your first time in India, you’re in for a culture shock. Here are 4 tips for surviving:
Beach Life in India
1. Don’t expect things to happen on schedule. Few things do. Most things do eventually happen, but not necessarily by the time you expected them to happen, and not in the way you expected them to happen. It doesn’t help at all to get angry or frustrated. The sooner you give in to the fact that India works in its own special way and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it, the easier your time in India will be.
2. Take your time. Don’t try to see the whole of India in two weeks (or even the half of India). Travelling in India takes time and can be tiring, and if you have to rush from one city to another every day, you’ll end up exhausted. Take your time to travel India, or if you just have two weeks in India, pick your favourite destination or region and don’t try to cover half of the country. Allow a couple of days off from travelling in case you get sick or simply have to rest.
3. There are people everywhere. More than a billion people live in India and it’s hard to escape the crowds. Being constantly surrounded by large crowds of people, and very often also being constantly stared at by large crowds of people, can feel intimidating at first. Personal space and privacy are luxuries in India and if you plan to travel here, you’ll just have to get used to it. If it all gets too much, there are a few places to escape to: try Ladakh in the Indian Himalayas for some peace and quiet, or leave the cities for a few days and head to Goa or Kerala for a beach holiday.
4. Western travellers are often looking for a simple answer for “dealing with the beggars” in India. I don’t think there is one. Some people never give any money, some people give some money sometimes, some people prefer to donate to a charity instead. I often see Indian residents give money to beggars without making a big deal out of it. I’ve also seen Indian shopkeepers give some free veggies or fruit to beggars and I’ve seen other shopkeepers chase beggars away with a stick.
India is, apparently, the up-and-coming economic superpower, but it is still a third world country with third world problems. Poverty is widespread, millions of people don’t have enough food, millions of people don’t get clean drinking water. But it is not the poverty that is so shocking – it is the disparity between the very rich and the very poor. There are some very very poor people in India, and there are some very very rich people in India. If you are interested in donating to a charity, Operation Shanti has done an amazing job in helping the poorest in Mysore, South India.
My experience of Indian culture shock while going in and coming out, in two personal feature stories: http://jpgmag.com/stories/15772 & http://jpgmag.com/stories/16308
Nice stories and great photos!
India is a place where new travelers get culture shock mostly people coming from western countries.I have lot of friends coming from states and i have seen them getting culture shock on many occasions I remember taking them to attend marriages in my Kashmir family they were so puzzled to see huge crowd of guests 4 people eating together in same big plate but in the end they were happy & really liked it.
http://bit.ly/KRjhfk.