[Lighty]

Any of you successfully travelled about India with your laptops? Any tips on doing this without hassles? Any of you managed to create a lot of artwork whilst travelling about?

I'm starting this thread as I am both an artist and writer who is looking to stay quite some time in India travelling about. Hopefully this can be a place where other artists and/or writers can share their tips on how to plan for getting creative work done whilst travelling in India.

My main concern at the moment is should I or shouldn't I take a laptop with me? I searched 'laptop' on this site and found that some people were having real difficulties obtaining batteries, etc whilst they were in India. To be honest I still have not 'upgraded' to a laptop and so want to get one that is most appropriate to travelling with in a place where power supplies, security, etc can be a big issue. Perhaps it is best just to take a good fountain pen and some paper? Of course it would be so much easier in many respects to just type strait into the laptop, but I am wondering if it is worth the risk. Any comments/ advice on the logistics of getting about the country with a laptop, without it being a constant worry, would be much appreciated. I was in the north of India for a couple of months about three years ago, and so I do have some idea of what to expect.

Then there is the whole business of what art materials to take? I am mostly an oil painter, yet I can't seem to envisage a way of doing oil painting in India unless I stay in one spot. If anyone has any tips on getting artwork done, I would likewise love to hear about it. Should I send it back home as I make it, for instance? At the moment I can't see how I could take a great deal more than a sketchbook, some pencils, and perhaps some watercolours, but I would love to do some substantial artworks while I am there too. Any suggestions? If anyone knows of any good suppliers of art materials in India, I would love to hear about that too

I hope there are some artists or writers out there reading this!

[priya]

Welcome to the IndiaTree Lighty

If you tell us where you'll be travelling, i.e. starting point etc, members from the relevant cities will be able to help you regarding your oil paint/art requisites etc.

Laptop boffins should also be able to help you regarding what type of laptop would be best suited to your needs.

Someone, I'm sure will be here shortly to answer to your questions.

Enjoy your trip!!

[john.sw]

Hi Lighty!

I always take a laptop with me to India.  To be precise, it is a lightweight Tablet PC, made by Compaq, and it has Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LAN and a built-in modem.  I also have a 2GB pen drive for backups.

Because I also have a desktop computer in India, the laptop is mainly as a portable backup system for my photographs and any work I have done.  You rarely find good Wi-Fi access in India, and if you do, you are likely to get charged way over the odds!  Plugging into other people’s networks has never been an option for me, and I have never seen a Bluetooth network anywhere in the world!

If you want to get on the internet, you’ll probably end up in a cyber café.  

As far as battery life goes, laptop batteries are normally perfect for two or three years, but when they get older, they don’t hold their charge very well.  A new or newish laptop should give you no problems, especially if you turn off services you are not using, such as Wi-Fi.

I don’t know how you will be travelling, but size and weight may be a consideration for you.  I understand you can buy some sort of neoprene backpack for laptops, if that is your travelling style.  Some laptops allow you to remove the CD drive and install a second battery.  Although this increases the weight, it may be worth considering.

I have a RIM (Reliance India Mobile) phone that I can plug into mine for internet access.  On pre-pay it costs Rs.30 an hour at peak rates, and Rs.15 an hour at off-peak times.  Connection speeds are around 128kbps, which is great for listening to internet radio, writing your blog and keeping in touch with friends and family.  However, it is not fast enough for Skype or any other VoIp use.

I hope this helps!

[dzibead]

Lighty, on Oct 13 2006, 01:25 AM, said:

Then there is the whole business of what art materials to take? I am mostly an oil painter, yet I can't seem to envisage a way of doing oil painting in India unless I stay in one spot. If anyone has any tips on getting artwork done, I would likewise love to hear about it. Should I send it back home as I make it, for instance? At the moment I can't see how I could take a great deal more than a sketchbook, some pencils, and perhaps some watercolours, but I would love to do some substantial artworks while I am there too. Any suggestions? If anyone knows of any good suppliers of art materials in India, I would love to hear about that too

I hope there are some artists or writers out there reading this!

Have you ever worked in acrylics?  I'm not an artist, so I don't really know, but you might be able to achieve effects similar to working with oils, depending on what techniques you use, without the drying time problem.

[Snowcrab]

I took my laptop to India last time, will again. I found it handy to do all my text and picture manipulation on my familiar desktop at home and save my paid minutes in the cyber cafes for the time spent opening connections and uploading, which can take a surprisingly long time. And I didn't have to entrust any of my identities or passwords to a strange machine. It was easy to download from my digital camera so I never had to overload my camera's chip. I brought two batteries but only used the second one once. I got a surge protector and power adaptor in India.

All in all the only real disadvantage I found was the weight of dragging the box and all its cables etc around. For most of my trip I had a portable hard drive I took into the shops instead of my laptop, then I suffered a purse snatching and lost that. Very disapointing but I was happy it wasn't my laptop itself. Will probably bring one of those big flash cards next time.

It all depends upon how much you like your box. I have sort of a perverted love affair going with mine, get just as anxious if I don't have a computer at my elbow as I used to when my car was down for repairs.

Did a little painting in India first time I was there. We used white housepaint and tinted it with the little bottles of pigment that house paint is coloured with. Bought it in the hardware store. Worked fine on the classroom walls we were decorating, a year later they were still very bright, fresh looking and unchipped. One thing you want to do is bring good brushes, impossible to get in India. I saw some nice Indian paintings done on sari silk, incorporating the embroidery and goldwork. If you can find some of those you could ask the artists what materials they use and where they get them.

[Bumblebee]

I read here about people bringing their laptops. I am still doubting if I would bring a small (12 inch, 1.5 kg, I still need to buy it) laptop. I will be traveling in India for months, up to a year and I like to write. However, I have many questions regarding safety and carrying a laptop with me all the time.

It seems not safe to leave it in the hotel, neither to carry it with me all the time
Also, I feel I should not use it where people see it, because they could get to wrong ideas (of stealing). I would of course not use it in public places, but even when using it in a cybercafe (convenient since mails can be downloaded in Outloook) it feels someone who sees me, could get the idea of robbing me when I am outside (I am a bit paranoid towards this, I admit ;-) But also; can you use your own laptop in most cybercafes? The cybercafe I frequented in Pune did not allow it...

Any suggestions, experiences?

Also, is it necessary to use a surge protector in India? (again extra weight).

I have only been in Pune and Mumbai so far, and power cuts where seldom the case. How about other parts of India (I will be north, south, middle etc)? My laptop would be second hand, so battery life is very limited (extra battery is again weight).

Edited by Bumblebee, 15 July 2007 - 03:21 AM.

[cyberhippie]

Whilst there's no point in denying that theft occurs in India petty crime, such as theft from rooms is still in it's infancy. India remains an extraordinarily safe destination in this respect despite poverty.

Theft from hotel rooms is extremely rare only in Goa can I say there's a real problem with petty theft but again the percentage isn't high and a few simple precautions will keep your stuff safe.

1. Don't rent anywhere that is too remote from other dwellings and houses
2. Don't rent rooms in a traditional Goan house unless the family is around constantly. The roofs of these rooms are very unsafe and easy to break into. Rooms with sealed concrete roofs are much safer!
3. lock windows and doors anytime you leave the room

Lots of people travel with laptops and expensive camera equipment, most return to their home country with no tales of woe. So it can be done and is being done by many many tourists.
Buy yourself a sturdy padlock for the hotel door and for train trave, a bicycle lock is great for securing your luggage under your seat. For extra peace of mind you might want to invest in a pacsafe, a steel web which goes around your pack and can be secured eother in the train or in your room. Handy item though I hasten to add I've never used one in 16 trips to India and I've never had anything stolen.
I constantly leave cameras, money belt with passport etc in the room as it's a hassle to carry all your valuable around with you. Never had any trouble doing this. Small hotels are full of prying eyes, as such petty crime would be nigh on impossible without SOMEONE seeing the thief. Sue there may be the odd hotel around India where the management might be in cahoots with petty thieves but generally speaking hotels are run as a business not to entrap tourists and steal from them.
If it's a second hand laptop your thinking of taking then I'm sure your travel insurence would more than cover your outlay in the unlikely advent of theft.

Pretty much all hotel rooms have sockets where you can charge up your laptop and as far as linking to a network goes then there are some cybercafes that will allow you to to do this for an hourly charge. Alternatively you can just transfer your photos/text to a rewritable disc and upload on a cyber cafe machine.

Surge protectors are definitely needed as there are often spikes in the Indian supply network. I understand you can buy these quite cheaply in India!!

[Bumblebee]

Thanks cyberhippie!

I have already some padlocks form my previous trip to India and maybe I should take one more bicycle lock too. I also take a flight/rain-cover-in-one-bag with me in which I will put my backpack when traveling - this way it is more disguised (the flight bag is just black) and I can put an extra lock on that bag Man, I am so precautious sometimes


I guess, as always I will have to decide how safe it is to leave a laptop in the room and if not take it with me.

Thanks for the information on staying in Goa (roofs etc LOL) - I am not attracted to Goa (unlike many), but who knows I may end up there (since I am curious person)

[cyberhippie]

Graag gedaan!

[noflylist]

Scottish translation please!

[Luckywoman]

You're welcome. (translation of "graag gedaan" )

I'm a writer too, but an oldfashioned one. I take a notebook with me, whereever I go. I take digital photos, but put them on screen not before I'm home again. So I'm afraid I can't help you with your questions.

[Bumblebee]

Hi Luckywoman!
An oldfashioned notebook is surely convenient, only I have a huge problem with my hand writing i.e. afterwards I often can't read it myself
I am too impatient to write by hand.. I just can't form whole letters but make them much shorter

[Luckywoman]

Well I don't have the solution for your problem.
Maybe take shortscript lessons?
No seriously,
I like handwritings; it's oldfashioned, but also authentic.
Not everything I write down has to be published worldwide; much is private.
I love to keep a private diary, but I suppose that's everybody's cup of tea.

[Bumblebee]

hi,

I ve been asking around in electricity like shops in delhi for power surge protectors (for my laptop) and nobody knows it.  Moreover, people are moreover using them themselves for their computers and a man from a cybercafe in delhi told me it is no problem and not needed.

I mean; you can loose data, but I save a lot, but can your laptop be damaged? my battery is not working anymore so I only plan to work on it when I have electricity and when there s a power cut I should have saved a few minutes ago.

what about the voltage? is that the same as in europe? I didn t dare to plug in my laptop yet because of the power surge protector and my question about the voltage..

[YETI]

I use my laptop without a power surge protector and it's been fine, even with seriously intermittent power that you get in places like Leh.

One thing I would be careful about, however, is using your laptop in really humid weather. It's easy for moisture to get in and short out the electrics. When that happens, you need a new laptop - it totally wrecks it. This happened to me in Kerala last August - fortunately we salvaged the hard drive but the laptop was totally dead. I was very lucky with the hard drive - my entire music collection was on it. The thought of losing that fills me with horror. (I have it all backed up on disc now).

My advice is: if it's really humid, don't turn it on and wait until it's had time to dry out before you try again.

[dzibead]

What about laptops and extremely high altitudes?  I know that "thinner air" can wreck a hard drive (has something to do with the atmospheric pressure needed to keep the writing component from damaging the surface of the drive) but at what altitude does this start to be a problem?

[vistet]

I used a portable hard drive , stored it in a airtight box , and never turned it on above 4000 . That worked for me , but I met three shell shocked owners with jammed drives in Ladakh & Tibet. Lots of pictures..  


Warranty says 3000 , but drives seems to spin on relatively happily in Leh and Lhasa.

[YETI]

My laptop worked fine in Leh (3500m) but I made sure it was all safely turned off on the Manali-Leh road and on the road to Nubra where the passes are over 5000m.

[bookron]

Consider an AlphaSmart. It's nothing but a portable word processor. While not cheap, it is very reliable in all circumstances, and the fact that it doesn't look expensive would deter most thieves. It works on AAA batteries, and those last for a month or more of daily use. It's apparently almost crash-proof, and transferring the files to any computer is easy. I've used one for years and I write every day. The keyboard is stiff, but that's about the only complaint I could mention.

By the way, though, I've taken a laptop on 2 trips to India and had no problems at all. I've also used one at 10,000 feet in Ecuador and all went well.

[jyoti]

I haven't read everyone else's responses, so forgive if I overlap.

If you're going to travel a lot, I would get a small/light computer. It's amazing how heavy they get really quickly. I have a backpack with a padded cover to put my computer in and slide it into a special compartment.  I have traveled a lot around North India by myself. That works well... but I did get the backpack stolen once. Fortunately, I'd moved the computer to my duffel bag. I did get the backpack with camera back later, tho.  That's another story ...  (see blog!).  Anyway, as long as you don't flaunt it on the train, I haven't had problems other than the frustrations of having the right plug-ins, etc.  Do have a surge protector attached (there are light ones you can attach to the adaptor), if possible.  I don't, but it's risky!  And have it insured in case it's stolen. Then far less worries.

Also, you have less risk in 3-tier AC than sleeper--largely because the doors are closed while the train is moving so people don't come in and out as much, and you travel with a higher class of people. But I have a friend who works on his computer on the train and then sleeps with it under his pillow and has never had it stolen.

Art supplies:

Despite recommendations, I've had a hard time getting good art supplies. Oil pastels, colored pencils, and non-spiral bound sketch books are available. Nice pens are available, including the calligraphy style... but I've never actually been able to make them work, and haven't found proper drawing pens. Graphite pencils are, but not charcoal, at least not readily.  (Two of the art supply places I went to in Bangalore didn't even know what a charcoal pencil was!).  Spiral bound notebooks are not available much, and usually those only have about 10 pages. The thicker ones is the glue binding, and fall apart, so if you want the pictures to stay in the book... they are quite cheap, tho.  I don't paint, but oil paints seem to be available at the bigger places.  Water colors, too, but not the really nice ones.

Many of the stationary stores, surprisingly, have the same supplies as the big bookstores. There is one art supply store in Bangalore which had good paint stuff but not sketching... Other cities, I dunno.