General Tourist Information - Customs & Immigration, Legal Requirements, Common Idioms, Phrases and words, Transportation Facilities

India being a vast country, the climatic conditions vary from place to place. It is generally very hot (Upto 42 Degrees Celsius) in summers (April to August) and very cold (upto 2 Degrees Celsius) in the winters (November to February) in Delhi. In Bombay, the temperature stays normally around 20 - 30 Degrees Celsius, but it stays humid all year around. Madras, being in the southern part of India is very hot in summers and comfortable in winters, with high humidity levels. Calcutta again is humid, being next to the sea shore, with the temperature straying between 18 Degrees (winters) to 37 Degrees Celsius (summers).

Culture & Languages

India is a diverse land with varied cultures, religions and languages inter mingled in the 950 million population.
There are innumerable languages spoken in the country, but for all practical purposes, the knowledge of English can sail you through almost everything.

Infrastructure

Railways: India has the second largest railways in the world. Virtually every place is connected via rail. There are superfast trains plying between the major cities and metros. To get an idea of rail travel, a journey between Delhi and Bombay (about 1350 Km.) is covered by Rajdhani Express in 17-18 hours.
Roads
Roads connect even remote areas and villages to the rest of the network. The average speed on the national highways can be around 60 Km. per hour. Though there are 8 lane highways coming up, like the one between Delhi and Jaipur, which take the average speed up to 75-80 Km. per hour.

Air Travel

All major cities are inter meshed via air routes. Both private as well government run airlines traverse the domestic sector.
Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, all have International Airports.

Communication

Telephony
India has the best of communication technology in the world. Almost all places are connected (local telephony, International Subscriber Dialing and Subscriber Trunk Dialing) via telephone. Local/STD/ISD & fax service booths are always within easy reach in the cities, highways and prominent places.In most of the states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and larger cities, mobile telephony & paging services are available. In the metros, you can even hire mobile phones for a day or two.

Internet & E-mail
In the major cities like Delhi, Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Pune, Internet is accessible easily via telephone dial up. There are also kiosks and Cafes which offer Internet acccess facilities in these cities. Most of the 3 Star or above hotels have business centres which provide Internet access. You can stay in touch via e-mail on a daily basis.

Hotels & Restuarants

Hotels & restuarants are available at most of the places. Among other things, hotels also offer laundry services. The better ones offer business centres, swimming pools, health clubs, discotheques / night clubs, tennis courts etc. Some of them offer their customers the services of golf courses and a particular hotel in Jaipur gives the facility of landing your helicopter in the backyard of your room!

Food & Drinks

In the major cities, you can always find all kinds of cuisines: Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, Spanish, Mexican, Continental. All kinds of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food is available.
Apart from a few states like Gujarat liquor is freely available. You can get Blended Scotch, Whiskey, Beer, Vodka, Gin or Wines. Mineral water and cigarrettes are freely available at all vendor outlets.

Banks

The normal banking hours are between 10 A.M. and 2 P.M. Automatic Teller Machines are conveniently spread over the metros. Most of the banks offer money changing, wire transferring and other services.

Hospitals & Medicines

Hospitals & chemists can be found at almost all places. In most of the cities, 24 hour hospitals and chemists can always be found. Foreign drugs / molecules can be purchased in the metro cities.

Emergencies

In emergencies, the Police ( telephone number 100 ) and the ambulance ( telephone number 102 ) and the fire brigade ( telephone number 101 ) can be summoned. In critical moments, you may want to get in touch with your travel agent, who will arrange for othere things. In general, the populace will always be helpful in emergencies.

Shopping Arcades & Bazaars

The shopping arcades of the cities like Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Bangalore offer you everything that you can buy anywhere else in the world: from a Mercedes to hiking boots to a video camera to the latest in Canon photolense/movie cameras/camera rolls.

Entertainment & Sports

Satellite television is an integral part of India. You can watch CNN, BBC, MTV, Discovery Channel among other Indian, Asian and American channels, almost everywhere. The release of audio cassettes and Holloywood movies (in metros) is almost simultaneous in India as in the US. You can easily lay your hands on the latest CDs, audio cassettes, video cassettes in the metros and large cities like Pune, Ahmedabad or Jaipur.

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