Wondering about India...?

Question

I am an American and would love to visit India. I want to see the Taj Mahal so bad because it looks so beautiful in pictures. Is english spoken in India? Will I be treated as a second class citizen being that I am a woman? What is a proper way to dress in order to not offend the natives?

Answer 1

Okay:

First, yes - English is one of the 800 different languages and their 2000 dialect.
And i'm not sure if woman are respected that much, as an overpopulated developing country with tousands of years old religions, India is not truely respecting all modern human rights, but they advanced a lot so i would not worry.
And finaly: Don't dress like a wh., they're not as liberal as Canada, but the're not as conservative as Saudi Arabia (Hmm... in fact both have millions of muslims... Hmm...) just dress like you're in a Church.

More info on the Republic Of India:

The Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world, dates back at least 5,000 years. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated onto Indian lands about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. Arab incursions starting in the 8th century and Turkish in the 12th were followed by those of European traders, beginning in the late 15th century. By the 19th century, Britain had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands. Indian armed forces in the British army played a vital role in both World Wars. Nonviolent resistance to British colonialism led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU brought independence in 1947. The subcontinent was divided into the secular state of India and the smaller Muslim state of Pakistan. A third war between the two countries in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. Despite impressive gains in economic investment and output, India faces pressing problems such as the ongoing dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, massive overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and ethnic and religious strife.

English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language.

Major infectious diseases:
degree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, and Japanese encephalitis are high risks in some locations
animal contact disease: rabies (2005).

general assessment: recent deregulation and liberalization of telecommunications laws and policies have prompted rapid change; local and long distance service provided throughout all regions of the country, with services primarily concentrated in the urban areas; steady improvement is taking place with the recent admission of private and private-public investors, but telephone density remains low at about seven for each 100 persons nationwide but only one per 100 persons in rural areas and a national waiting list of over 1.7 million; fastest growth is in cellular service with modest growth in fixed lines
domestic: expansion of domestic service, although still weak in rural areas, resulted from increased competition and dramatic reductions in price led in large part by wireless service; mobile cellular service (both CDMA and GSM) introduced in 1994 and organized nationwide into four metropolitan cities and 19 telecom circles each with about three private service providers and one state-owned service provider; in recent years significant trunk capacity added in the form of fiber-optic cable and one of the world's largest domestic satellite systems, the Indian National Satellite system (INSAT), with five satellites supporting 33,000 very small aperture terminals (VSAT)
international: country code - 91; satellite earth stations - 8 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean region); nine gateway exchanges operating from Mumbai (Bombay), New Delhi, Kolkata (Calcutta), Chennai (Madras), Jalandhar, Kanpur, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, and Ernakulam; 5 submarine cables, including Sea-Me-We-3 with landing sites at Cochin and Mumbai (Bombay), Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) with landing site at Mumbai (Bombay), South Africa - Far East (SAFE) with landing site at Cochin, i2icn linking to Singapore with landing sites at Mumbai (Bombay) and Chennai (Madras), and Tata Indicom linking Singapore and Chennai (Madras), provide a significant increase in the bandwidth available for both voice and data traffic (2004).

Answer 2

YOU HAVE MADE A GOOD CHOICE OF GOING TO INDIA. INDEED THE TAJ MAHAL LOOKS NICE. I ONLY BEEN THERE WHEN I WAS SMALL SO I REALLY DONT KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE INSIDE. MANY PEOPLE GO TO INDIA SO ENGLISH IS SPOKEN THERE. MANY TOURIST FROM AROUND THE WORLD GO VISIT THE TAJ MAHAL. YOU WILL NOT BE TREATED AS A SECOND CLASS CITIZEN BEING THAT YOU ARE A WOMAN. IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU ARE A MALE OR FEMALE ALL GUESTS ARE TREATED EQUALLY. TO DRESS PROPER YOU CAN WEAR A INDIA SUIT. YOU COULD ALSO WEAR YOU NORMAL CLOTHES BUT NOTHING TOO FANTASY WOULD REALLY DO IT.

Answer 3

In the urban areas almost every one speaks english. In the rural areas you might have a slight problem. Being a white female tourist is no problem at all and you wont be treated as asecond class citizen. Its a friendly place. However you should take the precautions you would take when you travel. As far as clothing goes jeans and t-shirts is just fine unless you are going to the disco then you might want something a little trendy. Have a great time . A word of advice though be careful of the food on the road side stalls though, It smells great and tastes even better but it might not be the best thing for your stomach. only bottled water for you coz we wouldn't want you getting sick and dont forget the sunblock, actually it doesn't matter you can buy it there.

Answer 4

no nobody treats others as second class citizens..Indians r very friendly..u will be treated very well dont worry abt it, yes most of the ppl. in India speak English....it doesnt matter abt ur dress code u can wear whtever u want to but let it be decent...then 1 more thing Taj Mahal is not the only place to c in India there r many place to c...hav a nice time in India... hav a save journey

Answer 5

hi
nice to know u r planning to visit india.

here r some tips which i am sure will help u in ur visit

as for english:- it is very much spoken in india, though u may find the accent a bit difficult to understand in the beginning but there are lots and lots of people who speak english here so that should not be a problem.

no u wont be treated as a second class citizen.

i agree that women in india arent as liberalized as their american counterparts but there isnt much of difference atleast in cities.

in villages u will find that people will be more accomodating because in india a guest is on par with gods.

as for the dress u can dress in anything casual anything which u r comfortable in.

but u will have to dress according to the places.
while in metros u will be shocked to find "native" girls wearing something which u never would have thought people wore in india.

but when u go to smaller cities just make sure that u wear not too revealing clothes.

all in all best of luck for ur visit. and if there is any other query post it up. we will be only to glad to answer it.


one more thing just make sure that u stick to bottled water and that too from reputed companies to avoid any unpleasent happening.

Answer 6

india is indeed beautiful place
not all places are nice some stink.Taj mahal is the most magnificient buildings.english,yep at many places.no way the women are been giving lots of attention.dress properly, dress full not like people rome about there

Answer 7

traditionally India treat tourists as guests and guest is god or send by god. many cultures involved in India, it is better to make tours covered dresses. because Indians use to wear covered dress. if you look different you will be a cent re of attraction and you won't feel comfort. and in some times and places it is not safety also.govt also give publicity's to help tourists to feel comfort.
you are always welcome to India.

Answer 8

What are you talking about offend the natives??? They are just people of a different culture dress like you would here, its not really that different. Yes, most people speak english

Answer 9

yeah they are english speaking. but you really have to cover up if you are traveling alone..

Answer 10

so you don't mind being groped by strangers?