About 20 years ago over the course of 3 years, I had a few extended stints working in India (shortest 3 weeks, longest 2 months), to undertake some compliance audits of two offshore service providers, post the migration of some highly regulated processes.
I spent time in Delhi, Noida, Pune and Mumbai and also took the chance to visit Agra and Jaipur whilst there. Because of the length of the trips, there was a fair bit of downtime, so I was able to get a good sense of what those places were like.
Noida and Pune are small and had nothing really to recommend them. Outside of the cuItural sites to visit I wasn’t overly fussed by Delhi. But I loved Mumbai. It’s more cosmopolitan, has that Bollywood influence and feels more akin to a city you’d find on a Mediterranean coast. There are lots of really top quality, funky rooftop bars and amazing restaurants to visit, perfect for spending a few hours on a warm evening watching the lights of the bay and the cool night breeze, whilst sipping on a cold G&T. You also have plenty of cultural sights you can visit too, some decent shopping malls and even tailors shops who will make exceptional, made to measure shirts, suits etc, from the highest quality fabric, for a fraction of what it would cost in the UK. Would recommend Kings in Bandra.
I also found the people generally to be lovely, friendly and welcoming, with some of the best service I’ve had in restaurants.
There are of course negatives. The traffic (especially in Mumbai) is HORRENDOUS! Be prepared to be sat going nowhere fast in 6 lanes of traffic on a 3 lane road….surrounded by cars, trucks, vans, motorbikes, tuktuks (both motorised and pedal powered), cyclists, pedestrians, dogs, goats and even the odd cow. Indicators are an extinct species - instead drivers beep their horns aggressively to warn of a planned lane change…..but only after they’ve already started pulling into your lane! And should that cow choose to randomly lie in the middle of said road to have a rest, then you aren’t going anywhere until the cow decides of its own accord to move (as they are sacred animals, no one will harry them along!)
Whilst on the subject of transport, I also wouldn’t recommend trains: crowded, not very clean and during one leg of my journey we had long delays after someone threw themselves onto the tracks - apparently relatively common. Also avoid motorway service station bathrooms - perhaps I was just unlucky, but the one I encountered was quite literally just a hole in the floor, with a bucket of water next to it.
Don’t visit during monsoon season if you can avoid it. We aren’t talking monsoons like some other countries experience them - a 20 minute rain shower once or twice a day, sandwiched between blue skies and sunshine. Monsoon here is sticky and humid with downpours that are unrelenting and often torrential. So heavy in fact they often cause large sections of the (poorly constructed) roads to be washed away, creating mini sink holes that aren’t quickly fixed. The last thing you need when the roads are already so congested!
The biggest shock for me was the abject poverty. It was a huge juxtaposition between the 5 star luxury hotel I was staying in and sprawling shanty town I could see from my window or being chauffeured from hotel to office in an air conditioned car, whilst beggars are tapping on your window at the traffic lights asking for money or food. Particularly upsetting are the young kids or mothers with babes in arms. The Indian Government tell you not to give to them as they say many are scammers who use women and children for profit, sometimes deliberately maiming them to make them more sympathetic cases. Even so, it’s very hard to not give even a little something in the moment, when you’re looking them in the eyes.
Being honest, India is probably not somewhere I would have visited were it not for work reasons, but I am really glad I got the opportunity. As someone who sounds pretty well travelled, I think you should give it a go - you might be pleasantly surprised.