Learn and Respect Local Customs, Etiquettes

Indians have a wide set of customs and etiquettes. Though most of these are not very hard to follow, they might be completely unheard of for the western travelers. For instance, when you go to someone’s house, it is customary to remove shoes before entering, mostly in western and southern parts of India. It’s a custom followed by some other Asian countries as well. A generous host might not mind if you do not remove your footwear, but it is absolutely compulsory to remove footwear before entering a temple, a gurudwara or a mosque.

Amongst etiquettes, it is considered rude to call people by their professional title, especially to those who engage in a physical nature of work, such as drivers, waiters, porters, etc. Most of the times you will have to be judicious to avoid this. For instance, if you want to find out the driver of your bus from a group of people standing around the bus, you should frame you question as, ‘May I know who will be driving the bus?’ instead of, ‘Who is the driver?’ If you ask a fellow traveler, ‘Are you the driver?’ he might be offended. How to travel in India is about keeping your eyes, ears and mind open to pick up local customs and etiquettes at your own as you go to new places, as you may not always have a guide with you. And whenever you have a guide, you should tell him to inform you of such customs.