where is the most foreigner friendly place to live in India ??

Hi all,

Where would you say is the most foreigner friendly place for expats in India, except for Goa and the cities, because these places are too hectic, unless there are lovely places in Goa still which are not so commercialised, but I think not and way too expensive to buy there I think.

We've been currently living in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, but its not exactly foreigner friendly.

My husband loves going out on his racer bicycle but if he travels a few km out of the centre then kids often throw stones at him !!

He's also accosted constantly by beggars, local residents here for money and after 12 years of it, we are fed up! (Im a PIO from the UK, so look Indian but my hubby is Irish and part French and so is very western (white looking), therefore he gets targeted here.

Im looking for a chilled place in India, where my husband can roam around freely, ride his bicycle and not be seen as a constant dollar sign but as a human being.


Any recommendations, Ive heard Pondicherry is a good place for westerners....what do you think??

For eg. Does Pondicherry have a good private hospital?

Is there a Gym there?

A place for some evening clasees for eg...ie a few things to do to the passtime?

All help is very much needed and appreciated.

WTF ? seriously ?

Dammn , well Pondy is ok , but i would suggest moving to coorg , try it you might just like it .

Hills , soft people , nice climate .

Maharashtra is much better than that. On the other hand I haven't found much of that elsewhere. Try Pune..

After reading your post there is only one place that comes to my mind - Pondicherry !!!

A lot of french people still living there ! Got it's own french community there.

A pretty chilled out place and as you say a place to roam around freely and ride his by cycle. That's the place to be + (The Beach side)

And yes a lot of activities around there, so finding evening classes for passtime wouldn't really be a prob i believe !

And it's not too far from Chennai. Just a few hours drive.

>> Also happens to be one place which is not commercialized !

Aw this reminds me of my stay there last month and how i miss that place

Sudeep x

Pondy might be ok. Pune is otherwise nice especially people-wise, but I don't find it chilled or anything.

Yes Im afraid so, it happened everyday for about 6 months, after which he stopped riding there, but then was confined to one silly road about 1km...up and down up and down, up and down, but he gave up cycling totally in the end....

Having never been to coorg, can you tell me abit more about it please..for eg.
Is there a gym there?
A decent hospital?
A place for some evening classes to pass the time, say abit of cooking, dancing etc?
does it get really chilly,foggy, and damp in the winter?? (I have arthritis that plays up badly int he winter)
Do you have any idea how much land costs there?
Is it a retirement place? Kind of need some youth around me....
regards

Gosh Sudeep, you make it sound wonderful!! Although we dont speak French, do you think we'll still fit in?

When you say its not commercialized, can you explain alittle bit more by what you exactly mean please?

Regards

Where abouts do you mean in Maharastra, do you mean Pune itself.

Having never been to Pune, does it have much countryside? I get the image thats its very built up and busy???

Regards

Hello, ok...so you wouldn't say Pune is chilled, does that mean its really busy and hectic?

I imagine buying land in Pune would be very very very pricey too? What say you?

Regards

Really sounds like Pondy is the place for you There are ex pats from all over and plenty of activities to keep you interested. Gyms, hairdressers, spa resorts, wide variety of good food, beach, you can take classes in all sorts too. It's probably the most foreigner-friendly of the small cities. Bit of a hike to Chennai (around 4 hrs), but you'll probably enjoy it so much you won't care for big cities after that Also some great short trips from there available down south.

It is indeed a very nice place

Not knowing french will not be a prob i guess. When i went there i only communicated in English and din't really have a problem. Also french is not hard :P (I've been learning the language). Though the main language spoken there is Tamil.

>> Not commercialized as in somewhat similar to Goa. A lot of tourists keep visiting pondi mainly.

>> You'll easily able to find what you need to live there


You don't feel the usual city buzz there as i told it's pretty chilled out ! Also it's a Union Territory !

Why not go there on a weekend trip and see how it's like ? (Just to get an idea)

>> You get find more info here >

>> http://tourism.pondicherry.gov.in/intro.html

Climate > http://tourism.pondicherry.gov.in/climate.html

Also how i wish i knew someone there so that i could go there pretty often :P

Do let me know if you plan to move :P *Kidding*

Sudeep x

I've never heard anybody speaking French in Pondy! The local language is Tamil.

Mind you, I've only been there three or four times, for a day or two --- so they might have been hiding it from me.

Street names, etc, are in French. It is the only place in Southern India where my [Tamil-speaking] wife has problems telling auto drivers where we want to go!

I will definately let you know if I plan to move and Im not Kidding...lol

Thanks for all the info Sudeep, today I downloaded some videos of Pondi off youtube.

How long did you stay there for Sudeep? What did you do there on your trip? Just like to hear you talk about it more....

my fave website about pondy, it gives you a good idea what to expect:

http://www.actupondy.com/index.php

I have been to Pondi too, it's a nice enough place and lots of people do and can speak french. I speak french full time with my wife and kids.
There are nice restaurants and access to some European foods you would not find elsewhere.
Surely to know if you could live there you would need to find out what you could do there, or maybe you are financially secure...

Hi Nick, thanks for coming in!

Never heard people speaking French? Well that's interesting, do people such as the rikshaw drivers etc speak English? Or is that asking for too much? Was wondering because the only language I know is English and Hindi.

Ive never lived with or lived around Tamil people, seeing that your in Chennai, how did you find the Tamilians in Pondicherry etc?

I watched some videos today of Pondi on youtube and was alittle disturbed by the prostitution rackets and the very rowdy, violent people on the beaches etc at night, did you witness any such things on your visit there?

I'm also not a fan of Aurobindo and the Mother and was wondering are all the westerners there basically 'into' them?? Or are they there for other reasons too?

I wouldn't want to be in Pondi centre as I do like nature etc, do you think it would be safe for us to live in the outskirts in a kind of isolated situation?

Any feedback would be great.

I really wish I knew some people who live there or lived there for a long time, but I don't.

I did notice however, after reading some old threads on Pondi that a senior member of this forum called "Radesh" lived there for 22 years, is it possible to contact him directly? I did try but couldn't see the option of sending him a personal message etc, any ideas?

Regards

Gosh Nick! How did they manage to hide so many people from you? Even kids can be heard chatting in French, but this is probably mainly in the French quarter... If you were staying in the Tamil area, you would only hear French from time to time, but a lot of waiters/shop staff can speak in French if you ask them to!

Angelie, you can get by with English no problem there. You should take a test like Sudeep said

Thank you for your input Tikket. How long did you spend in Pondi? Regards