cost of living

eyesopenin

Just curious, could one live off $3000.00 US in say for example a place like Tiruvannamalai? And with no need to get all fancy, just living a frugal lifestyle. Also, if anyone lives in Tiruvannamalai or has experience being there, could you please advise as to a lodging place that would be fairly inexpensive, yet quite and fairly clean, doesn't need to be 5 star by any means. Also, as to what you believe it may cost if I where to pay up front for a year, this would be for a single guy, not sure if I need ac or not.

And where would be a good place to exhange my US currency for Rupees, and not get taken to badly by fees.

Thanks, this is a great forum!

Hal

Welcome.

$3000 a month?
Remember, most visas only allow 180 days maximum stay. But as an American you can get a 10 year visa and leave and re-enter India every 180 days.

eyesopenin

thanks, no actually I was hoping a year I don't need luxury by any means. Thanks for the tip on the visa.

Whatdoido

lol If you can deal with austerity you can live for free and never touch money again... or you have so many friends but if they are Indian they will typicaly not like you less the less money you have. but dayum! 3000 your rich you can afford a new car some people are proud if they can afford rickshaws for them self. gas is cheap here auto taxi goa to gokarna is like rs 1800

I was thinking about going to Tiruvannamalai because Tamil Nadu I purportedly the best place to look for a marriage, seemed more my kind of place in india, and is purportedly the best Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu

But im I am not going to devote myself to looking for a wife there when I can look when I goto my friends brothers marriage

Hal

$3000 for a year is about Rs 10,000 a month or Rs 330 a day. You'd have to live very frugally for that. You might be able to get a basic room for Rs 200 with a shared toilet, maybe with hot water, certainly no A/C and you'd have about Rs 130 a day left for food so you'd be looking at basic veg thalis and cooking your own. Very little left over for miscellaneous supplies, train travel or any sort of entertainment.

Nick-H

It's a little more, depending on the exchange rate.

It would be more than enough to support life in a village somewhere, with very cheap accommodation, perhaps a couple of thousand on rent would get one somewhere nice, and the rest on utilities and food. No travel or entertainment, and lots of home cooking, but that's all right!

Finding a wife is a little harder, for a foreigner, than just looking. You are already at the bottom of the heap so far as many people/families are concerned, and you don't even have the money to make up for it.

Whatdoido

You can do anything you want with 1.5 rupees as long as you are spending time on thinking how are these rupees going to bring me more rupees and a year on 1.5 lahk rupees. 1.5 lahk you can live in any area of india I think for 12.5 k the conveniences of the west will be less affordable like if you want a bathtub in Vrindaban the only place that has it is the best guestroom here which is Iike 10 k rupies per day. Normal Indians would think you are insane to rent this guestroom though

But you can rent REAL nice forget touristy hotels they will charge you high dont go where all the other western tourists go and and you might even live comfortably on 1000 rupies a month

My cost of living is like RS 3K per month 1250 for my internet package 700 for my room and 1k for anything else I wantto do

Edit 10.33 PM Vrindaban time

Whatdoido

eyesopenin I want to send you a private message

Hal

Of course, sorry. I always do the Canadian dollar conversion. So, it's more like Rs150,000 for the year.

Nick-H

Just about any licensed money changer (or unlicensed, if it comes to that!). Not a shop or a hotel.

atala

Never pay up front in India if you can avoid it, unless it is an appartment rent with a contract, or the hotel is demanding that sort of payment. But never do something like that for more than a limited period (like per week or month), because you cannot know how long you can stand it in one place.

A good option for you would be the Ramana Ashram itself. Stay there for free (attn from Dec-March always almost fully booked a year in advance) until you find your own suitable place around Arunachal mountain somewhere, or around the corner from the Ashram towards Agni Lingam.

You need to keep some of your money to go to Nepal or Lanka before 180 days are up, so calculate that in too.

Tiruvanamalai is a very dry and hot region in summer. And you cannot afford an AC. So you need to be able to go to the beach, like around Pondicherry, once in a while.

eyesopenin

Thank you for all the info guys, its very helpful.

'Whattodo' that is some very cheap livin, i'll have to do some research on Vrindaban.

I was thinking about 200rupees a night would be about right, no ac though, wow, I actually love really hot weather and am pretty tolerant to it, but, to have it sooo hot where you can't sleep, thats another thing might be good to invest in a fan.

Any villages near the area of Tiruvannamalai? I don't have to be right in Tiruvannamalai, but would be nice to be close.

atala, a good point, prb not a good idea to fork out to much money up front, in case something happened, I prb wouldn't get refunded. Nepal to renew my visa, I was thinking Sri Lanka, whatever would be cheapest though im up for. Actually would love to visit Nepal, AND Sri Lanka, hehe, to many places to see!

oh ya, who said anything about a wife, lol.

Nick-H

Tiruvannamalai, I think, is about to become another of India's ecological disasters at the hands of iron-ore miners.

Best check this out before making long-term plans for the place

Whatdoido

I get the impression you can find a hotel in any semi rural or outskirts area in india for 150 rupies per night
food will be very cheap but I recomend having atleast 100 rupies aside for food and drink. Bigger cities and nicely packaged food costs more money. also if your eating at restaurants only it might be difficult to find a filling meal at 100 rupies per visit. restaurants charge very high and give very little but sometimes spiced so much that you wont be hungry enough to eat so much anyways

Vrindaban is the hottest city in the world during summer time peaking at 140 degrees Fahrenheit

the water comes out boiling because they keep pipes open to the sun

Nick-H

If you are vegetarian, or at least able to be most of the time, you can eat in this part (South) very cheaply even in restaurants. A vegetarian "meal" (tali served on a leaf) can be had for Rs40 or less. You can keep your stomach full for a day on Rs100.

Personally, it would drive me crazy to eat like that every day (doing it just occasionally makes it a pleasure) but, hey... it is the staple diet of, what, millions, I guess.

My wife and I usually satisfy our small appetites with tiffin items like dosa, and usually eat out for Rs150 for the two of us. A non-AC restaurant would be cheaper.

Given the economies of scale, it is very hard to cook that sort of veggie food, for a single person any cheaper than eating out for 'meal' prices.