Power to the People
During the prep phase of any trip to India, the Western traveler is given any number of caveats about how different things are in India. For example:
“Be prepared to forgo Western sanitation standards.”
“Go ready to bargain–few things have fixed prices.”
“Learn to eat with your right hand.”
“Make sure there’s air-conditioning!”
The main thing to understand is that certain goods and services we take for granted in the West either simply aren’t available, or can only be acquired with some difficulty. Despite the number of warnings I received from well-meaning friends, I still got a few surprises, and in the interest of supporting “my people”–namely, you oddball rocket scientist sorceror-Geeks out there–I started writing today’s blog entry. These warnings apply especially if you are doing the low-budget, Lonely Planet/Rough Guide style travel. You folks who must stay at the Hilton, need menus typed in English at every restaurant meal, and require air-conditioned vehicles, can safely skip this blog entry, and go on to something more entertaining, like Boing Boing or Go Fug Yourself.
Right. The rest of you who are still reading, time to take notes.
Pretend you will be part of a Star Trek shuttle crew stranded on a strange planet by the usual Unidentified Anomaly. Now pack accordingly.
What this means is that you should commit part of your luggage space to those generic tools that will give you the maximum ability to repair things and people on the road. Some items we have found useful are:
- Leatherman Tool
- WD-40
- Duct Tape
- Single-use Krazy Glue
- Eyeglass repair kit
- Computer screwdriver kit and screws
- Emergen-C powder
- Vitamins
- High-velocity antibiotics
- Benadryl (tablets and cream)
- Toilet paper
Who you gonna call? What you mean, “you dunno”?
If you are committed to dragging along any tech at all, be it laptop, tablet, PDA, etc., take the time to Google out local tech support info. (Yep, “Google” is a verb. Deal with it, m’kay?) We discovered the hard way that support for IBM Thinkpads stops at Delhi. If you happen to be in the middle of a revolution in Nepal, one country over, well…”SOL you are,” as Yoda would say.
Electricity is just another service, not a right.
This, I think, was the hardest for me to adjust to. It was my good luck–or bad luck, depending on how you look at it–to be working as a contractor at PGE during the strange era of rolling black-outs in California in 2001. People’s indignation at the idea that they might be without electricity, even a scheduled outage lasting only a couple of hours, was practically palpable. “Do without electricity?” they raged. “Impossible! Everything comes to a halt!” These assumptions are absent in India, where outages both scheduled and random can happen daily. Instead, television stations carry frequent reminders to turn stuff off when not in use to save energy, hotel rooms are equipped with a master switch to turn off all electricity to the room when not occupied, Internet cafes have battery back-ups, and even trendy women’s magazines carry full page ads for voltage regulators and uninterruptible power supplies. When the power does go out, things do not come to a halt. They continue, but just a little more slowly and quietly. Vendors continue selling, since a drawer with rupees in it doesn’t really require electricity to function. Auto-rickshaws continue to ply the roads; dhabas and restaurants continue cooking, since they use propane tanks…the main things to disappear entirely are air conditioning and Internet service.
Given all this, take outages and not just the 240 voltage outlets into account when packing your tech. Be sure to include:
- Flashlights–bring several, including one hand-pump flashlight
- Candles
- Chargers
- Extra-time lithium-ion batteries
- Rechargable batteries
- Power converters
- Adaptor plugs
- Solar Panels
- Plan B technology in case your Plan A technology is unusable/unavailable. For example, can your PDA handle your email? If you don’t have landline Internet, can you use your cell phone as a modem?
Broadband is a service, not a property.
It may be just a function of my wayward itinerary, but so far in my Eastern travels I’ve not encountered anyone who has a broadband connection just for themselves. As in other places, satellite connections are available, but at a ruinously expensive rate. Broadband Internet connections tend to get bought and then repackaged as a service offered by an Internet cafe at an hourly rate. A corollary to this is that many things in India labelled “Internet” are often working off something related to dialup, and won’t work as fast as expected. A second corollary is that many things are labelled “Internet” or “broadband” for sales purposes, and may not work at all as expected. It’s common to see TV cable boxes packaged as “broad band” boxes.
In Rewalsar, as I write this, DSL style broadband is not really available. There’s not even a DSL node to connect to yet, for another few months. I’ve tended to change my surfing habits to fit my budget and the services available. Fastest email access we’ve found is via Gmail, so email forwarding to a GMail account is a good strategy for getting the most out of your 30-rupee hour in an Internet cafe. Worth1000.com, anyone? Nope, didn’t think so. Try popurls.com instead…
They’re not “spare” parts. They’re “sparse” parts.
After a little time in India, I began to realize how spoiled I’d been as a First World IT Geek. Need another CD drive? Get one off one of the spare computers. Need a second hard drive? Ditto. After a little time here, I began to realize that “spare” computer bits are few and far between–for the simple reason that if something still works, it’s still in daily use. Do not, even if you’re in the big city world of Mumbai or Delhi, depend on local stores for spare bits–if it’s likely you’ll need an extra one, pack it and take it with you. It’s a “First World” conceit to decide that something no longer works according to a random manufacturer’s decision. Microsoft’s pronouncement that they are no longer supporting Windows 98 is meaningless here. I have spent time in Internet cafes populated by machines running Windows 95 and Windows NT.
“MacGyver” is not fiction. He’s your role model for tech survival.
Once upon a time in Oakland I was having problems with a DSL modem. I called tech support and got the usual Bombay boiler room-style call center. After some wrangling, the tech suggested wrapping the modem in aluminum foil. I know, I know. It sounded stupid. It looked ridiculous.
It worked.
Ever since then I’ve come to realize the India is one of those places where it’s a cultural style to keep things working as long as possible, using whatever tools you have on hand. If the tools in question are aluminum foil, scotch tape, and a paper clip, that’s what you use. The same women’s fashion mag I quoted earlier also gives “home recipes” for cosmetics–get your own damn rose petals and milk, girly, cuz there ain’t no Avon lady.
Editrix’ note: Shortly after I wrote this I made the discovery that, in fact, the Avon lady does make stops in India, selling cosmetics and perfumes designed to suit Indian and Asian tastes. I stand corrected. Mary Kay and her pink cadillacs, thankfully, seem to be nowhere in evidence, although the Amway Army
seems to established itself on the sub-continent.
On the plus side this means that any competent techies you encounter in India will also be very skilled at any number of MacGyverisms to make things work. Should you find one, cultivate him closely, and treat him to many cups of tea.
Conclusion
So that’s what I’ve learned so far. Got a techie travel tip I’ve missed? Add it in the comments, and keep on keepin’ on.
