8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India

Tripoto
25th Jul 2013
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 1/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Camel Trek. Jaisalmer.
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 2/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Indian Barbie
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 3/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Cycling. Hampi.
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 4/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Fishing nets. Kerala.
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 5/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
McLeod Ganj
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 6/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Gandhi's last footsteps. Delhi.
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 7/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Hawa Mahal. Jaipur
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 8/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Jodhpur
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 9/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Polo match. Leh
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 10/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Pushkar
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 11/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
India-Pakistan border
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 12/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Laundry. Mumbai.
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 13/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Manali-Leh Highway
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 14/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Palolem. Goa.
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 15/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Pizza Hut. Kolkata.
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 16/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Puppets. Jaisalmer.
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 17/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Sikh guard. Amritsar.
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 18/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Sweeper. Agra.
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 19/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Temple. Hampi.
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 20/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Udaipur
Photo of 8 Tips for Solo Women Travelers in India 21/21 by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Varanasi

I can’t explain precisely why, since forever, I was infatuated with going to India, to the extent that it was on the second place of my top 3 countries to visit. The problem was precisely the fear. That fear of, simply, being a woman.

I arrived to India a few months after the brutal attack to Amanat (a student from Delhi named like that by the media), who died a few days after six men put an iron bar inside her vagina during a group rape, while traveling in a moving bus, from which they threw her away. I arrived at a time when all the backpacker horror legends about India have risen more strongly than ever from the newspapers pages. But there I was. And I wouldn’t go back.

And you shouldn't either. If you are a woman, forget to pack the fear in your backpack and just go!

Here are some tips that made my life easier:

Tip # 1. In India do as the Indians do

Even when I would love to change many things about women condition in India, for once, I decided to follow the crowd. India is one of the most complex countries on the face of the Earth (probably the most complex one), so pretend to understand its culture in a short time is naively utopian, to say the least (if not stupid) and to change it... no way. For respect and for your own safety, behave as they do: cover yourself, be respectful at temples, avoid to walk alone at night. There will be opportunities to share your opinion with other people and help to make a change in smarter ways than swimming against a current of 1.2 billion people.

Tip # 2. Before going to India, get married!

Before going to India, get married. Do not stick to a simple boyfriend. That’s not enough: GET MARRIED. Many Indian men seem to have no respect for women, but they seem to have respect for marriage. I understand that many Indian guys may think that foreign women come by default with vaginas that don’t discriminate anybody, and they will try to hook up with you at all cost, but only with the verbal hologram of an imaginary husband is enough to keep them away most of the times.

Tip # 3. Travel at least in 3rd class

Overall, India is very, very cheap, so it really worth paying a little bit more and travel in 3AC or 2AC in case of trains, where families often travel with you and you will feel safer (some of them will even share their food with you). 

Tip # 4. Yeah, take a taxi or a rickshaw, but…

1.The safest way is to catch one of the police prepaid taxis or rickshaws (yes, they are managed by the police), located in major train stations and airports.

2. Ask the people at the hotel to pick you up at the train station, especially if you are arriving at night. Some hotels offer this service for free.

3. If you have no choice but to get on a taxi or rickshaw on the street, look for the license number (usually, it is written with white paint inside the vehicle), take your cell phone and  make a very loud ghost phone call. Remember to scream to your husband (yes, to your husband) that you are already on your way and you’re in the taxi number XXXXX. 

4. NEVER, NEVER EVER allow the driver to be with someone else in the taxi or in the rickshaw at the same time as you are there.

Tip # 5. Never look them in the eyes

Men interpret that if you are looking at them you are inviting them. Avoid to stare at them the same way they stare at you.

Tip # 6. Defend yourself

As long as you are in a public place with enough people around you (which is not unlikely to happen in the second most populous country worldwide), just verbally defend yourself if you don’t like something. In India, what people may think of you is super important, it’s a society strongly based on the family and on the opinion of others, so if a man does something that bothers you, just say it very load. He knows he is doing wrong and he may even LITERALLY run away from you.

Tip # 7. Guys may touch your breast with their elbows. Watch out!

In fact, it was not until I sat down to write this that I confirmed it, meanwhile I was reviewing some other articles from solo female travelers in India to be sure to contribute as much as I could. At that time, I had doubts because it seemed such a bizarre way to touch me that I didn’t know how to react. But some of them may touch you in that way. Watch out!

Tip # 8. Lose the fear

Thousands of women have traveled alone in India and thousands will continue doing it. Chances are that if you go to India, you will survive. As I survived as well.  So just go to India and lose the fear of, simply, being a woman!

Messy city, but with a lot of interesting things to do, especially if you are a Gandhi's fan.
Photo of Delhi, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Most amazing landscape ever!
Photo of Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Meet the real Tibetan culture here and run into the Dalai Lama.
Photo of McLeod Ganj, Himachal Pradesh, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Amazing and surreal place, like being on the moon.
Photo of Leh, Himachal Pradesh, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Almost cried in front of the Taj Mahal!
Photo of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Raw India, but essential to understand Hindu religion.
Photo of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Chaos, but interesting to walk around. Another raw India chapter.
Photo of Kolkata, West Bengal, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
The romantic India I had in mind.
Photo of Jaipur, Rajasthan, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Holy lake and holy cows wandering around.
Photo of Pushkar, Rajasthan, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
The Golden Temple and the sikhs: one of the warmest people I have met on the face of Earth.
Photo of Amritsar, Punjab, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
The most bizarre closing border ceremony ever! (But I wonder how many closing border ceremonies are around the world...).
Photo of Atari, Punjab, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
The blue city with its festival, RIFF, one of the top 25 music festivals worldwide.
Photo of Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Sleep in the desert, under the Milky Way and wander around the fort.
Photo of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Lakes and palaces. Incredible India!
Photo of Udaipur, Rajasthan, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Great place to spend Diwali under the fireworks next to the Arabian sea and to live urban India.
Photo of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Party hard Goa Style after amazing sunsets on the beach.
Photo of Goa, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Surreal landscape with temples all around.
Photo of Hampi, Karnataka, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón
Indian paradise.
Photo of Kerala, India by Andrea Aguilar-Calderón