India advice - entering the country with tools, test meters etc and customs officials

[edexlab]

Evening gents
I've a short term job in mid May in Bangalore should only be a few weeks

And I'm looking for advice from people who have worked in India
Innoculations , medical, malaria ,food issues and insurance etc all in hand

Any general advice would be very welcome

I'm particularly concerned about
issues like entering the country with tools, test meters etc and customs officials who I've heard are as corrupt as any politician and worse!, either trying to confiscate items they think are worth paying a backhanderbackh for

And any other scams anyone has encountered

 

[Richard Burns]

Not worked or been to India but the FCO advice is occasionally useful for travel warnings.

 

[SparkyChick]

When you say medical, do you mean you're taking your own sterile stuff like hypodermic needles etc.?

If not, I'd look to take a selection of needles and such like, just in case. Advice I received when I went to Russia in the 90s.

 

[Pete999]

Worked in both India Pakistan:
Don't eat the salad
Take plenty of Imodium
Take plenty of re-hydration solution
Go to the Drs and get ALL required jabs for where you are traveling to
DON'T drink the water
Don't drink the tea from the Char Wallah on site
Watch out for pick pockets/beggars even young children, don't give them anything,even if their disabilities are bad, they are normally employed as part of a gang so be careful.
If you are staying in a Hotel DON'T leave valuables about
Go to the Local Markets with some of your mates

I know a lot of this is common sense but believe me it's very easy to get the runs, sickness etc. I have as I said worked in India a lot, nice place, some nice people BUT BE CAREFUL.

 

[Midwest]

For inoculations and medical advice the FCO medical travel advice (Travel Health Pro), will always refer you back to your local GP or health professional, 4 -6 weeks before you travel.

I've heard they do a mind blasting curry (Ricky)

 

[Pete999]

Evening gents
I've a short term job in mid May in Bangalore should only be a few weeks

And I'm looking for advice from people who have worked in India
Innoculations , medical, malaria ,food issues and insurance etc all in hand

Any general advice would be very welcome

I'm particularly concerned about
issues like entering the country with tools, test meters etc and customs officials who I've heard are as corrupt as any politician and worse!, either trying to confiscate items they think are worth paying a backhanderbackh for

And any other scams anyone has encountered

How long is your VISA for? , don't want to go there and find the job is longer than you think and then find your visa is out of time

 

[edexlab]

Not sure how long the visa is for to be honest, job is supervising locals building our equipment, although we'll be working , hopefully we'll get a good bunch of blokes.......
Can be a false economy sometimes as foreigners can be lazy ,rough with the equipment etc
Jobs usually take us around three to four weeks to complete onsite using our own staff but this'll be my first supervised self build, this situation is quite common for our installs in places like India as the labour is so cheap and the customers see our quite for labour and have a minor heart attack! and usually insist on doing it with a Brit Electrician and mechanical guy overseeing things

But they usually ask for visa for around 6 months in most places as sometimes things are altered after a few weeks of operating and someone goes back etc
so I expect they'll make sure things are covered for this.

 

[Pete999]

Not sure how long the visa is for to be honest, job is supervising locals building our equipment, although we'll be working , hopefully we'll get a good bunch of blokes.......
Can be a false economy sometimes as foreigners can be lazy ,rough with the equipment etc
Jobs usually take us around three to four weeks to complete onsite using our own staff but this'll be my first supervised self build, this situation is quite common for our installs in places like India as the labour is so cheap and the customers see our quite for labour and have a minor heart attack! and usually insist on doing it with a Brit Electrician and mechanical guy overseeing things

But they usually ask for visa for around 6 months in most places as sometimes things are altered after a few weeks of operating and someone goes back etc
so I expect they'll make sure things are covered for this.

Good luck

 

[edexlab]

Re medical I just meant I've had jabs etc read up on things like malaria etc
Hygiene wise we go to some rough parts of China and I've worked in Egypt so I'm aware of the issues there, although I know India will be quite a bit worse!

I always take a small medical pack with hypodermic needles and sutures etc ,Mrs has access to these at work and they throw them out a month before expiry, so she'll sort that out, however should anything happen the firm will make sure we go to a decent hospital of which there are a few in Bangalore

 

[edexlab]

Yes should be interesting !

The only good foreigners I've worked alongside were Spanish and German electricians and also a Chinese crew who didn't speak a word of English but were all good blokes and did a good job,especially considering they were instructed by lots of pointing and hand motions lol

 

[edexlab]

What did you do there Pete?

I'm looking forward to this trip but got to say I don't think I'd be interested in going to Pakistan nowadays!!!

 

[7029 dave]

Don't put your tools in the over head cabin, in the hold.

 

[edexlab]

I think it's been quite a while since that was allowed lol

 

[7029 dave]

I think it's been quite a while since that was allowed lol

I was only having a crack fella.

 

[Pete999]

What did you do there Pete?

I'm looking forward to this trip but got to say I don't think I'd be interested in going to Pakistan nowadays!!!

What Pakistan or India? Daft question really I worked for the FCO Services we did all the M&E work within the High Commissions, only worked with the locals in Pakistan, they were an OK bunch, asked by the Brit manager to try and teach the local sparkies that worked for the HC testing procedures, that was an experience and a half, they, were as I said a good bunch, but oh dear, bang testing was their way of doing things. was there fo about 10 weeks, only got the runs once, lasted a few days, couldn't work, lucky they had a Brit Medic in the HC.