About safety

mverissi

Hi all,

Sorry if I make someone worried with this thread, but I have recently been in touch with a friend who was going to host me and he sent me some pretty bad news.

I have a plane scheduled for August 2nd to arrive in Delhi, and I would stay in a friend's house in Gurgaon, after which I would be backpacking around. I wrote him last Friday to start arranging things more concretely, but he told me that right now things aren't so good in India. Here is his email:

"Dear Marcos,

I have a series of bad news for you.

First of all, the situation here in Gurgaon is very bad, especially for foreigners. Terrorism threat looms across the iar, and we are virtually expecting it any time.

Based on this, the house owners are becoming reluctant to allow their tenants host outsiders, especially foreigners. We talked with him, but it seems not possible for me to host you in our rented house in Gurgaon.

Mumbai is indeed dangerous but Delhi is much more so. The hills are worse and people these days are very edgy about foreigners due to the H1N1 virus.

Under the circumstance, I would advise you to cancel your trip for the time being because as I see it, it is not the ideal time for tourism in India."

So, what is the real situation there? Are people being edgy with foreigners in general, or maybe it is just that my friend is worrying too much, and has an annoying landlord? Have you guys who live there felt or heard any weird rumors, and for the people who have been there touring around, what have you been feeling lately?

Once again, I don't want to be an alarmist but, given the terrorist attacks in India in the last year and a half or so, I guess one should not ignore when a local says such things, hence my request for more information. I'll be very thankful for any personal feelings you might be willing to share on the subject.

Cheers,

Marcos

wonderwomanusa

I think your friend is worrying too much ... but my message will bump this up to the front page and maybe some folks in Delhi will tell us how things are there at the moment.

I was in India last November, when there was a terrorist attack in Mumbai, and I do know people who cancelled their trips to India. I stayed on, and was happy to do so.

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realmacoy

all i could say is that ur friend is not wanting you here in india.... there are no terrorist threats and nothing alarming bout the flu...
as of now the weather in north india is getting better by the day and you will enjoy ur visit to india...so kindly pack ur bags and go for it....I , since i am a delhite, can vouch that there are NO SUCH THREATS as suggested by ur so called friend....best regds ajay

AwayFromHome

Rubbish!

Nothing is amiss in Gurgaon. Your 'friend' just doesn't want to host you - make what you will of that.

Don't cancel your plans based on this email.

Indianworker

Marcos,

Have lived and worked in Delhi for over 4 years now and at present things seem no different from what they have been over the last 4 years. Of course there is always the threat of terrorism but I'm afraid this is global not just in Delhi and if you lived your life worrying in this way you would not do anything!

Not sure why your friend/host is so negative other than I'm afraid he is not keen on you staying at his place or coming over to India.

Definitely do not cancel your trip and please do come and explore all the wonders this country has to offer.

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Indianworker

Amalfi

Well, Marcos ,whoever this guy is, he is no friend of yours.He is lying blatantly to avoid putting you up. What does he mean that it is unsafe especially for foreigners ? There are 5 million foreign tourists visiting India every year.

Please give me this guy's email id as I want to give him a piece of my mind !! Demeaning one's own country to hide his inability to host you. Dump this friend , Pronto.

Nick-H

I'm so glad Delhi-ites have replied, and replied that it is all nonsense. It really looked like a complete fiction to me, but I am a thousand miles away.

Change your host, but not the destination!

mverissi

Hi all,

Thank you all for your comments and sharing your feelings (although I wasn't hoping for flamed feelings towards my friend, but I can understand this ). Indeed the email struck me as weird, since it's been a long time that the Hindustan times does not yell about any terrorist threats I also forwarded the email to another friend who has been living there, an expat, and she also told me that people in her job had similar reactions - both with regards to the info respect to the situation and not wanting to host me. Well, he must have his reasons. Must be a long and complicated story involving this expat friend of mine...

Anyway, not a place for therapy or doing laundry Just would like to thank you. And yes, the trip is maintained!

Cheers to all,

Marcos

rav.9999

Hi

Glad that you have decided not to cancel your trip.Your friend must have had his/her reasons for the mail.Hope you would enjoy your trip.It is as safe as any other country. One must exercise normal prudence though.

mverissi

Being a Brazilian, I know about being unsafe... However, in Brazil we have no terrorist threats, although criminality in some big cities can do essentially the same job, especially in Rio and São Paulo. Apart from that, from what I've been reading (and I've been reading a lot!), seems it'd be pretty safe, especially away from Delhi and Mumbai, which would IMHO be the most obvious targets for terrorists... Anyway, enough of this paranoid talk, now I'm enjoying an almost complete re-planning of the first half of my trip to make my schedule match an arrival to Madurai on Aug 22nd or 23rd, when Ganesh Chaturthi begins and I would guess I'd have some interesting pictures of a festival

K_J

Your friend makes Gurgaon sound like a cross between Mexico, Iraq and Afghanistan. Admittedly the locals in North India have a few rough edges but I daresay they're not the xenophobic edgy lot they're made out to be.

Gurgaon is quite ok really.

wat

Quite simple really. Your freind dosen't want to host you and most of the people on this thread agree

nycank

Gurgoan is safer than Sao Paulo; and Delhi is safer than Rio. You already have street smarts to survive in the streets of Gaza

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EJS

I live in Gurgaon as an expat and have had no issues with renting an apartment here.

I would not say the terrorism threat is any greater than anywhere else in the world - be prepared to have your bag / car searched when going to malls / hotels, but it isn't a big inconvenience.

Have a great trip.

Haylo

As others have already told you, your so-called "friend" is lying through his teeth. Delhi is no less "safe" now than it was last month, last year, or ten years ago. If he really cared for your safety, he'd be advising you not to visit Delhi because of the traffic.

He has changed his mind about having you stay and doesn't have the courage to tell you straight.

I strongly suggest that you are wary about taking notice of any other advice that he offers you!

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