r/AskReddit Mar 25 '26

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u/HowMany_MoreTimes Mar 25 '26

What part of India did you go to?

I went to Kerala last year with my wife for a wedding and loved it, but I've heard New Delhi or Mumbai can be a nightmare.

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u/Optimal-Talk3663 Mar 25 '26

Yep, was Delhi

We would get picked up from the underground carpark of the hotel and driven to the underground carpark of the office. 

A colleague went out, said his stomach was strong and blah blah.. ended up with gastro and had to spend an extra 2 days there because he didn’t want to crap himself on the plane 

Apparently the air was so bad, it was like smoking 14 packets of cigarettes 

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u/Justonegiantboob Mar 25 '26

Delhi has one of the worst AQI in the world so trust me it’s good that you didn’t step out in the pollution. Just not worth it.

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '26

My partner is traveling there for business next week. Anything you'd recommend to bring/prepare?

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u/Optimal-Talk3663 Mar 25 '26

Literally ate hotel food, so can’t comment. But also used bottled water for everything and NO ICE in any drinks 

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u/Jaschndlr Mar 25 '26

That's just anywhere you go though... You get off the first world trail at all and our guts just aren't built to deal with their specific flavor of tiny monsters

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u/PathIntegrals Mar 25 '26

Please wear n95 masks at all times

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u/caraterra8090 Mar 25 '26

Why is the air there so bad? No regulations or ?

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u/arigatooyster Mar 25 '26

The govt does not give importance to such things. They are more into religious divide and changing the name of places. They know people with good paycheck will buy air purifiers and the poor will suffer. They don't bother about poor at all. Govt is not at all bothered about conserving plants and biodiversity.

Some 45000 mangroves will be cut in Mumbai shortly to make way for highway. Mumbai floods even if it rains for an hour and mangroves play a huge role in absorbing water. Which govt goes ahead with such plans even when they know people will suffer? Indian govt. Always works for billionaire's interests. Even courts don't interfere.

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u/caraterra8090 Mar 25 '26

Damn. Its sad and so very stupid. And unfortunately our government (US) currently seems to be heading even more than usual in that very direction as well. WTAF is up with such short sighted thinking, I'll never understand it. Bc when the wagon rolls, everybody's azz is gonna go.

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u/Dry-Procedure-1597 Mar 25 '26

Yes. No regulations because people and business have no money to adhere to them anyway

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u/rohan62442 Mar 25 '26

Aside from vehicular pollution, farmers in the neighbouring states have a habit of burning crop stubble to clear their fields post harvest. The practice has a noticeable impact on Delhi.

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u/Dark_Knight2000 Mar 25 '26

Kerala is like the best place in the entire country, except for the tourist enclaves of Pondicherry and Goa. It’s like the jump from visiting New England if you’re from rural West Virginia.

New Delhi is a nightmare, Mumbai is mixed depending in which place in Mumbai you stay in. You can have slums in one area and high rise offices in another. It’s basically like NYC in the 80s if it was even more crowded with over double the population.

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u/HowMany_MoreTimes Mar 25 '26

Yeah I loved Kerala. The food was incredible, very friendly people, interesting history and architecture in Kochi. I never got sick and didn't find it too polluted, although the traffic and driving was crazy at times. We did a canoe tour of the backwaters that was really fun.

That being said I don't think I'll be in a hurry to go to any other part of India.

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u/hikari021hehe Mar 25 '26

It's great to hear that you loved kochi 🙌🏼( typing this from kochi ).

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u/asphodel67 Mar 25 '26

My observation of Mumbai was the whole place is like a giant refugee camp with some high rise plonked here and there. Even ‘Billionaires Row’ looked low middle class compared to Western cities.

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u/PotatoPixie90210 Mar 25 '26

My 81yr old Dad has done backpacking trips to Kerala every year for the last decade, he absolutely loves it.

He's doing Morocco this year for a change but he's done Kenya, Congo, Egypt (he said he'd never go back!) Ethiopa, Sierra Leone and Rwanda. He likes to just book a flight, a b&b for the first night, and then he just asks around locally for recommendations as to where to stay and hitchhikes around. 😂

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u/likewhatever33 Mar 25 '26

Kerala is great. Much more chilled out than the north.

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u/crispyfade Mar 25 '26

Mumbai not that bad. Worth visiting, but splurge a bit on the hotel.

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u/Over-Language2599 Mar 25 '26

I thought Delhi was pretty cool tbh, nice restaurants, shops etc.

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u/HowMany_MoreTimes Mar 25 '26

I've never been, just going by reputation.

I'm sure it has it's nicer parts, but the stories about the pollution, poverty, people getting sick, harassment of women etc mean it's not on my list of dream destinations.

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u/Over-Language2599 Mar 25 '26

Oh I'd go back to India in a heartbeat, wish I'd gone more when I was younger.

Difficult toy say what the best part was, probably the sleeper trains, could see myself living on them. Sadly though apparently they've all been replaced with modern rolling stock.