bringing valuables to india

rocknroll

Ill be in madras in a week, and will be in india (mostly madras) for 6 weeks time. I was planning on bringing my new laptop and my cd collection, which is pretty big. Luckily, ill be staying with family during my time in madras, and i think my laptop will be safe there when i venture to different citys, but would it still be a risk to take it even so? there are close to 200 cds in my collection and i have to travel with them either way, but will they be safe? Not only is it worth hundreds but it has taken me years to build it up and its priceless because im a huge music buff, if i lost it it would be like losing a family member, seriously. How at risk am i and what kind of things should i do to keep my babies safe? thanks for the help.

guerik

If you absolutely positively need 200 CDs for a 6-week vacation, you could burn copies of some of them to keep the originals safe. You could just take a couple of favourite songs from each and then you'd only have 20 CDs or so? They're probably more at risk of being damaged or lost than stolen anyway, depending on how you're travelling around.

DianeN.

Uh....why would you want to bring so many CDs to India anyway? If you listen to that many you will miss what is going on around you!! If you were planning to move to India then I can see bringing your music collection...but for a six week holiday?????? Hello????
Why don't you take a plunge and listen to Indian music while you are there...you may get addicted and want to build up a collection in that direction.

And how much do 200 CDs weigh? How much space do they take up? Can you reasonablly carry them all in your backpack??

Personally, I think that if you have anything that is priceless, you shouldn't travel with it. Unless you are a refugee and have no hope of returning.

rocknroll

thanks, but yeah, its a necessity to bring them, i couldnt bring just 20 because i listen to music all day long and whole cds, and just, you dont want to know how bad it is, my music addiction. but i guess i was wondering more things i should do or look out for if im in a shadier part of town or a crouded train or things of that sort to keep em safe.

DianeN.

If you have a music addiction , maybe a trip to India without your collection might be just the ticket. There are so many sights and sounds going on around you that it would be a real pity to miss out because your head is full of songs that you can hear the other 46 weeks of the year. You won't hear the calls of the people selling things, you won't hear the chatter of children wanting to talk to you, and more importantly--you won't hear the announcement on the train telling you to get off.
You music won't go away without you if you leave the majority of it at home. But you will miss out on something if you bring it with you and spend all your waking time with music playing.
Listen to the natural music of the country--the children playing some instrument hoping that you'll toss a coin their way....a father/daughter singing traditional Rajasthani songs....the garbage collector coming by looking for newspapers and books.

You'll be so worried about your collection you won't enjoy the trip. Bring a few copies and make do. That's what travel is all about anyway....

lonelyaztec

Hey, if u are coming here with a 200 CD collection, and all that u are going to do is listening to music, why come here in the first place.

U can stay where u are and listen to ur favourite music. Besides it would not be required to move ur CDs and laptop that way.

What say ?

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rocknroll

well its not like im only going to be listening to music there, but on my downtime i enjoy listening to music and get very perticular about it, but you guys do raise good points and i may not bring the whole thing, but just in general for my laptop and everything else, what are some precautions i should take? ive heard people chain stuff to their bed on trains and stuff?

lonelyaztec

Hi rocknroll,

if u want to take ur laptop in a train, and if it is a overnight journey, pls use your laptop bag as ur pillow.

otherwise it might get stolen.

u will find that people chain their luggage, and secure it with locks in trains in the night.

tata.

indiamike

Please don't tell me that it's a collection of live 'Dead' shows

Burn'em to Mp3 format and squeeze all 200 onto 20 cd roms.

cyberhippie

Just another idea on the MP3 theme, if you are bringing your lap top with you anyway why not convert to your CDs to MP3 and store them on you hard drive???
Take a CD re-writable so you can just burn what you need for the day onto disc (you will then need a CD player that plays MP3 of course, available in India for about 35 dollars!!)
Just a thought!

guerik

Get an iPod and put them all onto that?
If they really are priceless, it's more like an insurance policy (with bonus iPod)

beach

What if it is 200 MP3 CDs !!!

It’ll be difficult for that customs man to understand your music addition Just use commonsense to safe keep the CDs and laptop during inland travels.

albaruni

I would go with the Ipod option, except, be careful that it does not get stolen or misplaced. It also takes a while to burn 200 cd's to mp3. (find a friend's MP3 files or something.)

Merchant

Customs will have a problem with your attempt to bring in 200 CDs. Anytime you transport something in large quantities that could be resold easily, you invite difficulty. In such a situation, you're not likely to be given any leeway, and you'll have to pay a duty or be barred from bringing them in--especially since the pirating market in India is HUGE.

Misiek

Hm, I plan to bring 50 blank CD's with me for storing photos from digital camera taken on the road.
What would be the fee at the border if customs classifies it as goods for sell?
Will I get it back (the fee) if I take all CD's back home after the trip???
What would be cheaper if they want fee with no return - bring my CD's and pay customs or buy new ones in India???

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