Business contacts

Mobile phones All GSM and CDMA (Reliance and Tata) mobile phones will work here. You can buy pre-paid cards at kiosks all over the city. Look for signs saying Hutch, Airtel and !dea. For hired handsets, check with your hotel or try Matrix (Tel: 2649 8000/2680 0000). Office rental and secretarial services Desk space and office facilities can be hired from GESCO Corporate Centre (Tel: 2641 9757/9597/9884, email: info@gescocorporatecentre.com, website: www.gescocorporatecentre.com). Also try Diners Business Services (Tel: 2341 4741) or International Business Services (Tel: 2332 9000). GESCO also offers secretarial services. The business centre of your hotel will have a range of services and facilities. Car hire With a driver, this costs about [00a3]15 a day within the city. Self-drive isn’t recommended, and is often not available. Big hotels have an in-house agency or will provide contacts with private operators. You will also find kiosks at the airport.

Local press

The Times of India is bright, sleek, influential and the most widely read English-language paper. Its supplement Delhi Times gives a detailed daily listing of events and passes on all the buzz. If you’re planning a longer stay, pick up a copy of The Times Good Food Guide. Other major national papers are Hindustan Times, The Indian Express, The Asian Age and The Hindu, which all give city-event listings too. There’s also a spunky afternoon tabloid called Today. There’s no equivalent to London’s Time Out, but there is the weekly Delhi Diary, fortnightly The Delhi City and monthly First City. To get a weekly wrap-up of India, flip through the news magazines Outlook or India Today.

Internet

Most large hotels will have high-speed broadband and wi-fi services. And for those on the move, there are internet cafés all over town.

Money

The currency is the Indian Rupee. At the time of writing, Rs80 equals about [00a3]1. All major credit cards are accepted, except in smaller, informal establishments. Banking hours are usually 10am-3pm, and ATMs are fairly widespread. However, you should first check with your bank on whether your ATM card will work here. You can try to bargain almost everywhere except in government emporia. But don’t try to haggle in any eateries or hotels.

Tipping etiquette

Tipping always helps get good service. On restaurant bills, tip 10% if no service charge is added. At a health club or hair salon 5% is fine, but it should be at least Rs20 (25p). Also give 25p to the bellhop for a reasonably sized bag. Tip the doorman Rs200 ([00a3]2.50) at the end of, say, a four-day stay, rather than fumbling for change each time. Leave Rs500 ([00a3]6.30) for housekeeping staff for a similar stay.

Locals don’t tip taxi or auto-rickshaw drivers, but a quid pro quo for the driver of a hired car or driver and guide of your tourist bus would be nice. Don’t forget a smile and thank you (dhanyavaad).

Visa/vaccination

Make sure you obtain a visa from your local Indian embassy or high commission. You can’t get one on arrival. Business visas are usually for three or six months. Submit a passport valid for the next six months, two passport photographs, a completed application form (can be downloaded from the High Commission of India website: www.hcilondon.net) and the fee. Expect a slow-moving line at Immigration on arrival. If it’s any consolation, it’s not much quicker for Indian nationals.

A valid yellow fever vaccination certificate is mandatory for anyone who has been, even in transit, in Africa, South America or Papua New Guinea in the past six days. (Without it, you will be quarantined for six days!) The certificate becomes valid 10 days after vaccination. The UK Department of Health recommends immunisation against hepatitis A and typhoid (but not for short stays in first-class conditions) and preventative medication against malaria.

Public holidays

India has more bank holidays than most countries. Indians may be secular, but they love everybody’s festivals, apart from the national Republic Day and Independence Day which are their own. Several of these are ‘dry days’, which means you can’t get a drink in a licensed restaurant, but there’s no ban on drinking in your room, or in someone’s home.
26th January — Republic Day
8th March — Mahashivaratri
26th March — Holi
18th April — Ram Navami
22nd April — Mahavir Jayanti
15th August — Independence Day
19th August — Raksha Bandhan
26th August — Janmashtami
2nd October — Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday
12th October — Dussehra
1st November — Diwali
3rd November — Bhai Duj

Weather and climate

Delhi has extremes of weather, courtesy of the Himalayan mountain ranges and deserts in the vicinity, and no moderating sea breeze. It’s cold in December and January and public places aren’t effectively heated. Nights can go below 5C and days can be grey. Summer is a dry oven with dust storms. The plus side is resplendently blooming trees—and mangos. The monsoon (July-September) here is subdued compared to the lashing munificence (or nuisance) of Mumbai, but still good and wet. The best times are October to November and February to March when you get mellow sunshine, cool nights, massive dahlias and great eating.

Suggested reading

Delhi, by Khushwant Singh, is a fictionalised history by Delhi’s most celebrated novelist, commentator and Sikhism expert. Skip the lascivious personal chapters as the historical ones are racy and riveting.

City of Djinns by journalist William Dalrymple.

No Full Stops in India by former BBC correspondent Mark Tully.

The Indian Middle Class by bureaucrat-writer Pawan Varma. -