Precautions Delhi, like any other megapolis has its good and its bad. We shall try to tell you in this page what you need to beware of. Health | Weather | Social | Places you should not visit HEALTH - Actually not too much of a problem in Delhi and most other big cities of India. The city is equipped with large and modern hospitals and plenty of doctors all over the place should you ever need them. Chemists shops are to be found in practially every market place. There is no problem with medicines either. The list of common medicines (available without prescriptions) and their usage is listed below: Disprin Minor aches including headaches. Similar to Panadol or Tylenol. Crocin Effective Paracetamol plus analgesic tablets Flagyl 400 You would need this if your stomach gives way. Iso Gel If you want your stomach to give way Mexeron Anti nausea and vomits Baralgan Painkiller, used for stomach aches. Micropyrin Pain killer Combiflam Strong pain killer, often used for muscular pains. Dettol / Savlon Disinfectant antiseptic lotions. Alex / Strepsils Anti tussive cough lozenges As in most of the world, if your taking in an injection, do insist on a fresh and disposable syringe and a needle. One more thing, the water is not as bad in India as it is made out to be. Nothing will happen to you if you drink water in most places. Water in restaurants and hotels is absolutely safe. (They wouldn't want bad publicity, would they?). Only that you should not have tap water just about anywhere. A bottle of mineral water (available everywhere), sold at about Rs14 a bottle, might be handy. WEATHER - A bad time to come to India, is during the summer months. It is really hot, very dry and dusty. Good chances of getting a sunstroke unless you take precautions. So what you should do is choose your clothing carefully. Light cotton is the best. Try to keep your head covered. You might get tempted to move around in bermudas, short skirts, sleeveless garments and the like, but we would advice against them. You should not wear such stuff between 10AM and 6PM (in the summers) definitely. If not exposure to the heat, the exposure to the sun will give you sun burns. Also, Delhi is at its polluted worst during these months. It is common to mistake a heatstroke for an ordinary flu/fever . The ways to distinguish are as follows: A patient with sunstroke has dry skin, whereas a normal person has moist skin. Medicines to control fever induce sweating. As persons suffering from heat stroke do not have enough water in their system to sweat, the fever medicines are not effective. The body temperature recorded in the skin (armpit) of a person suffering from heatstroke will be the same or greater than the temperature recorded in the mouth. However, in other persons, normal or sick, the temperature recorded in the mouth is one degree more than the skin temperature. Precaution: Have lots of fluids, water, juices, soft drinks etc. Yeah, beer tastes great but it also is a diuretic. So even if you have beer, please do remember to have plenty of water. Something that you could use is a packet of glucose, marketed under the brand name Glucon-D or Glucon-C. Mix in a tumbler of cold water with a pinch of salt and drink it up. This is also the thing to have, in case you get a sun stroke or a mild heat stroke. Besides this, for oral rehydration, you can buy a packet of Electral (from any chemist) and mix with water and drink. That should help you to remain healthy and enjoy your trip to India. SCAMS - It is not too uncommon to hear tourists being scammed some way or the other by local traders, transporters etc. Some of them are easy to catch and some are very craftily created. We found quite afew listed in different places, including other travel guides in print. Some are to the poaint of hilarity too. Try and be a little careful and don't fall for at least the obvious ones :-). Try and arrange your transport from the airport to your hotel before hand. If you do take a prepaid taxi from the airport, do not pay heed to persuations and get to your hotel. If you are told the hotel is closed, get inside the hotel and check. If you are told most of the city is under curfew, just laugh. Because it does take an enormous lot for the capital city of a country to get under curfew. SOCIAL - Indians are a little touchy about their religion and the like. Try and not offend them. In most places of worship, you would be expected to take your shoes off. In some places you might have to take off your belt (leather) too. Women are to be respected. Stay away from beggars and touts. If you are invited for dinner at someone's place, you can afford to be about 15 minutes late. Most Indian foodis eaten with the hands without cutlery, so feel free! Women all over the world like flowers and they would be appreciated if you carry some for the hostess. Post dinner, an appreciative comment about how nice the pulao was or how delicately the chicken was cooked might get you another invitation.
Delhi, like any other megapolis has its good and its bad. We shall try to tell you in this page what you need to beware of.
HEALTH - Actually not too much of a problem in Delhi and most other big cities of India. The city is equipped with large and modern hospitals and plenty of doctors all over the place should you ever need them. Chemists shops are to be found in practially every market place. There is no problem with medicines either. The list of common medicines (available without prescriptions) and their usage is listed below: Disprin Minor aches including headaches. Similar to Panadol or Tylenol. Crocin Effective Paracetamol plus analgesic tablets Flagyl 400 You would need this if your stomach gives way. Iso Gel If you want your stomach to give way Mexeron Anti nausea and vomits Baralgan Painkiller, used for stomach aches. Micropyrin Pain killer Combiflam Strong pain killer, often used for muscular pains. Dettol / Savlon Disinfectant antiseptic lotions. Alex / Strepsils Anti tussive cough lozenges As in most of the world, if your taking in an injection, do insist on a fresh and disposable syringe and a needle. One more thing, the water is not as bad in India as it is made out to be. Nothing will happen to you if you drink water in most places. Water in restaurants and hotels is absolutely safe. (They wouldn't want bad publicity, would they?). Only that you should not have tap water just about anywhere. A bottle of mineral water (available everywhere), sold at about Rs14 a bottle, might be handy. WEATHER - A bad time to come to India, is during the summer months. It is really hot, very dry and dusty. Good chances of getting a sunstroke unless you take precautions. So what you should do is choose your clothing carefully. Light cotton is the best. Try to keep your head covered. You might get tempted to move around in bermudas, short skirts, sleeveless garments and the like, but we would advice against them. You should not wear such stuff between 10AM and 6PM (in the summers) definitely. If not exposure to the heat, the exposure to the sun will give you sun burns. Also, Delhi is at its polluted worst during these months. It is common to mistake a heatstroke for an ordinary flu/fever . The ways to distinguish are as follows: A patient with sunstroke has dry skin, whereas a normal person has moist skin. Medicines to control fever induce sweating. As persons suffering from heat stroke do not have enough water in their system to sweat, the fever medicines are not effective. The body temperature recorded in the skin (armpit) of a person suffering from heatstroke will be the same or greater than the temperature recorded in the mouth. However, in other persons, normal or sick, the temperature recorded in the mouth is one degree more than the skin temperature. Precaution: Have lots of fluids, water, juices, soft drinks etc. Yeah, beer tastes great but it also is a diuretic. So even if you have beer, please do remember to have plenty of water. Something that you could use is a packet of glucose, marketed under the brand name Glucon-D or Glucon-C. Mix in a tumbler of cold water with a pinch of salt and drink it up. This is also the thing to have, in case you get a sun stroke or a mild heat stroke. Besides this, for oral rehydration, you can buy a packet of Electral (from any chemist) and mix with water and drink. That should help you to remain healthy and enjoy your trip to India. SCAMS - It is not too uncommon to hear tourists being scammed some way or the other by local traders, transporters etc. Some of them are easy to catch and some are very craftily created. We found quite afew listed in different places, including other travel guides in print. Some are to the poaint of hilarity too. Try and be a little careful and don't fall for at least the obvious ones :-). Try and arrange your transport from the airport to your hotel before hand. If you do take a prepaid taxi from the airport, do not pay heed to persuations and get to your hotel. If you are told the hotel is closed, get inside the hotel and check. If you are told most of the city is under curfew, just laugh. Because it does take an enormous lot for the capital city of a country to get under curfew. SOCIAL - Indians are a little touchy about their religion and the like. Try and not offend them. In most places of worship, you would be expected to take your shoes off. In some places you might have to take off your belt (leather) too. Women are to be respected. Stay away from beggars and touts. If you are invited for dinner at someone's place, you can afford to be about 15 minutes late. Most Indian foodis eaten with the hands without cutlery, so feel free! Women all over the world like flowers and they would be appreciated if you carry some for the hostess. Post dinner, an appreciative comment about how nice the pulao was or how delicately the chicken was cooked might get you another invitation.
WEATHER - A bad time to come to India, is during the summer months. It is really hot, very dry and dusty. Good chances of getting a sunstroke unless you take precautions. So what you should do is choose your clothing carefully. Light cotton is the best. Try to keep your head covered. You might get tempted to move around in bermudas, short skirts, sleeveless garments and the like, but we would advice against them. You should not wear such stuff between 10AM and 6PM (in the summers) definitely. If not exposure to the heat, the exposure to the sun will give you sun burns. Also, Delhi is at its polluted worst during these months. It is common to mistake a heatstroke for an ordinary flu/fever . The ways to distinguish are as follows: A patient with sunstroke has dry skin, whereas a normal person has moist skin. Medicines to control fever induce sweating. As persons suffering from heat stroke do not have enough water in their system to sweat, the fever medicines are not effective. The body temperature recorded in the skin (armpit) of a person suffering from heatstroke will be the same or greater than the temperature recorded in the mouth. However, in other persons, normal or sick, the temperature recorded in the mouth is one degree more than the skin temperature. Precaution: Have lots of fluids, water, juices, soft drinks etc. Yeah, beer tastes great but it also is a diuretic. So even if you have beer, please do remember to have plenty of water. Something that you could use is a packet of glucose, marketed under the brand name Glucon-D or Glucon-C. Mix in a tumbler of cold water with a pinch of salt and drink it up. This is also the thing to have, in case you get a sun stroke or a mild heat stroke. Besides this, for oral rehydration, you can buy a packet of Electral (from any chemist) and mix with water and drink. That should help you to remain healthy and enjoy your trip to India. SCAMS - It is not too uncommon to hear tourists being scammed some way or the other by local traders, transporters etc. Some of them are easy to catch and some are very craftily created. We found quite afew listed in different places, including other travel guides in print. Some are to the poaint of hilarity too. Try and be a little careful and don't fall for at least the obvious ones :-). Try and arrange your transport from the airport to your hotel before hand. If you do take a prepaid taxi from the airport, do not pay heed to persuations and get to your hotel. If you are told the hotel is closed, get inside the hotel and check. If you are told most of the city is under curfew, just laugh. Because it does take an enormous lot for the capital city of a country to get under curfew. SOCIAL - Indians are a little touchy about their religion and the like. Try and not offend them. In most places of worship, you would be expected to take your shoes off. In some places you might have to take off your belt (leather) too. Women are to be respected. Stay away from beggars and touts. If you are invited for dinner at someone's place, you can afford to be about 15 minutes late. Most Indian foodis eaten with the hands without cutlery, so feel free! Women all over the world like flowers and they would be appreciated if you carry some for the hostess. Post dinner, an appreciative comment about how nice the pulao was or how delicately the chicken was cooked might get you another invitation.
It is common to mistake a heatstroke for an ordinary flu/fever . The ways to distinguish are as follows:
SCAMS - It is not too uncommon to hear tourists being scammed some way or the other by local traders, transporters etc. Some of them are easy to catch and some are very craftily created. We found quite afew listed in different places, including other travel guides in print. Some are to the poaint of hilarity too. Try and be a little careful and don't fall for at least the obvious ones :-). Try and arrange your transport from the airport to your hotel before hand. If you do take a prepaid taxi from the airport, do not pay heed to persuations and get to your hotel. If you are told the hotel is closed, get inside the hotel and check. If you are told most of the city is under curfew, just laugh. Because it does take an enormous lot for the capital city of a country to get under curfew. SOCIAL - Indians are a little touchy about their religion and the like. Try and not offend them. In most places of worship, you would be expected to take your shoes off. In some places you might have to take off your belt (leather) too. Women are to be respected. Stay away from beggars and touts. If you are invited for dinner at someone's place, you can afford to be about 15 minutes late. Most Indian foodis eaten with the hands without cutlery, so feel free! Women all over the world like flowers and they would be appreciated if you carry some for the hostess. Post dinner, an appreciative comment about how nice the pulao was or how delicately the chicken was cooked might get you another invitation.
SOCIAL - Indians are a little touchy about their religion and the like. Try and not offend them. In most places of worship, you would be expected to take your shoes off. In some places you might have to take off your belt (leather) too. Women are to be respected. Stay away from beggars and touts. If you are invited for dinner at someone's place, you can afford to be about 15 minutes late. Most Indian foodis eaten with the hands without cutlery, so feel free! Women all over the world like flowers and they would be appreciated if you carry some for the hostess. Post dinner, an appreciative comment about how nice the pulao was or how delicately the chicken was cooked might get you another invitation.
theteam@delhigate.com New Delhi, India
HEALTH - Actually not too much of a problem in Delhi and most other big cities of India. The city is equipped with large and modern hospitals and plenty of doctors all over the place should you ever need them. Chemists shops are to be found in practially every market place. There is no problem with medicines either. The list of common medicines (available without prescriptions) and their usage is listed below:
WEATHER - A bad time to come to India, is during the summer months. It is really hot, very dry and dusty. Good chances of getting a sunstroke unless you take precautions. So what you should do is choose your clothing carefully. Light cotton is the best. Try to keep your head covered. You might get tempted to move around in bermudas, short skirts, sleeveless garments and the like, but we would advice against them. You should not wear such stuff between 10AM and 6PM (in the summers) definitely. If not exposure to the heat, the exposure to the sun will give you sun burns. Also, Delhi is at its polluted worst during these months. 
SOCIAL - Indians are a little touchy about their religion and the like. Try and not offend them. In most places of worship, you would be expected to take your shoes off. In some places you might have to take off your belt (leather) too. Women are to be respected. Stay away from beggars and touts.