What things should be taken care of while travelling alone in India?

1. Do not stay in hotels. Especially if you’re a female. Backpacker hostels and guesthouses are better. Hotels are overrated.
2. Check for positive reviews before booking anywhere. However, in my experience, backpacker hostels are very, very safe.
3. Do not trust anybody. In Jaipur, a Chinese girl living in US mentioned many times how her luggage was stolen from a cafe in New Delhi. Apparently, she had left it at the table and gone to the washroom for 2 minutes. It’s ridiculous how petty thieves can be. She lost only her laptop but thankfully her phone was with her at the time.
4. Carry hand sanitizer and drink only filtered water. If there’s no filtered water available at the guesthouse, buy packaged water. I know plastic is becoming a huge problem in India as the govt isn’t doing anything to improve last mile connectivity when it comes to plastic recycling but there’s nothing worse than falling sick due to contaminated water consumption. (If you’ve traveled to Himachal, you’d know what a huge problem plastic is becoming and it’ll only get bigger)
5. This is for girls. If someone harasses you on a train, call the rail police ASAP. Do not think about it. Idiots need to be kicked out.
6. Don’t use taxis. Use local buses instead. Traveling is already a high carbon footprint activity so it’s better to use a bus or just walk instead of ordering an Uber for every little thing.
7. Sometimes, you may get bored. For such a scenario, buying ebooks on the kindle app is a good alternative.
8. Nutrition is very important for long term backpackers. So do not eat shit foods all the time. They’ll make you weak. Eat fruits and nuts as well.
9. Too much alcohol can cause a hole in the pocket and interfere with your travel budget. I sometimes drink wine but never go overboard. I know drinking wine isn’t considered a sign of masculinity but do I have any fucks to give? No, sir. Moreover, ever since I drank pure rice beer in the jungles of Meghalaya, I can’t stand the taste of preservative rich beer, vodka, and whiskeys.
10. Prepare yourself to live in new cultures without complaining. India is a huge country, full of diversity. Naturally, the cuisines are also different. Keep an open mind about it and enjoy new experiences. If you keep a closed mind, there’s no point in traveling. Stay at home, if that’s the case.
11. Do not entertain the company of idiots. Seriously. Not everyone who travels is enlightened. I have met a fair share of idiots who have told me things like “I hate Muslims because they smell funny” and “Girls in cities have started getting too much freedom nowadays; it’s not good for our culture.” I stop these people immediately and tell them why they are wrong. Uneducated donkeys need to be stopped before they start pouring venom in your ears.
12. Lastly, don’t believe the media stories. Indian media houses have sold their souls. They only cover bad things. Good normal everyday things get left out. The truth is that 99.99% of people everywhere are nice.
13. India is a very safe country to travel, even for females. You never get mugged and there isn’t a safer country in daylight hours.