After knowing an incident that happened to my friend who visited India recently and after studying several news reports ..I like to follow and advise our CD friends to keep the following in mind when they travel to India. ( For that matter it may be true in any travel situation in any country ... but travel is relatively safer/more secure in North America and parts of Europe)

1. Don't think that it is your place, you know everything and your are fully secured. You are out of the system there and try to travel with crowd particularly when you are visiting new places.

2. If you have reached the airport in the middle of the night and do not have a friend/family to give you a ride, use either secured public transport system or wait till morning before taking a private transport / cab.

3. Avoid travelling to new places alone with women members of the family in the night ( particularly after 9 pm before 6 am)

4. Avoid travel with wife or daughter on a two wheeler to the outskirts / remote areas.

5. Avoid self driving on highways/nights .. particularly when you are visiting just for a short period.

6. Do not talk your personal things / money matters / your travel plans while travelling in a private cabs hired on a long term basis. ( it is better not hire cabs on a long term basis ... known cab drivers came out to be more dangerous in many situations and involving in crimes).

7. Do not let Canadian oriented kids travel by themselves into Indian cities without assistance.

8. Prepare and try to have a plan to come out of a trouble situation to save yourself and your family .

Any more tips !!!

Gurram,
Not sure if you are giving the advise to Desi's or Gora's.
I am sure that Desi's need not worry except take the usual precautions like SMS the vehicle number, donot walk in the dark, try not to use accented english and preferable get a male companion to be with you.

Murali

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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.

- Avoid travelling alone even in public transport. You will be judged by the miscreants that you are from abroad and will try to fool/rob you. In some cases, the people are hypnotized and they give away all valuables they have. This hypnotism only happens to alone persons.

- Don’t trust anyone. After living few years in NA, you may start trusting others. There are good chances that you will be fooled by others e.g. door to door sales persons.

- Try to get ride from known persons only – friend or relative. Only hire a long term private cab through reliable sources with a reliable driver.

- Avoid travelling if weather/road conditions are not good. Fog causes accident.

- Don’t travel with large amount of money in public transport. Divide money in different pockets. Pocket picketers can smell you easily.

- Never involve in any quarrel or road rage. People are getting short tempered nowadays.

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A Delhite in Toronto

Never reveal your Canadian identity in public ... The only thing that saves you from not being distinguished as a foreigner is your skin color .... Use this safety cover wisely .... I have to lie when in public about my reality in order to feel safe.

It is slightly more difficult with kids .. so bear stronger precautions when you are traveling with kids and don't let them out of your sight.

For everything else , unlearn your NA life and go back to your Indian days which would remind you how things work in India . Just like we switch to left side driving.

I never drive on highways but hire a driver always .

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Fido.

Buy some pant and shirt cloth pieces and have it stitched from your street corner tailor in India. Sometimes the clothes NRIs wear, apart from nasal english gives them away

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