India - looking back to the 2009 trip

One of the things which made the India trip a pleasant one was a cell phone.  I had bought an Indian cell phone back in July 2007 when I went there with my grandson, Mark.  And then I lent it to my Woodstock classmate Robert B and he used it when he took a group of college students to India in January 2008.  Then I again used it in October 2009, during this last trip to India.

The one thing I forgot was to carry extra passport photos with me, which is a good thing to do on any trip abroad, India or otherwise.  Of course, now, there are good and cheap photography shops in India, even in Landour, Mussoorie, which will take the photos and give you copies, often times within 4 or 5 hours, or less.

It also means having the name of an Indian resident who will vouch for you, and my hotel landlord was very willing to do that, and to send one of his assistants with me to the office where I could apply and register for my use of my cell phone.  The office was about a 20 minute walk away, in Landour.  It actually took 3 visits over 2 days to set every thing up, but it could have happened in just one visit.  The second visit was to give my passport photos, and the third was to sign the FRONT of the photos (I has signed the back which were pasted on the application).  But the cell phone was activated the first day, in spite of the further actions needed. I think the registration and one month fees totaled around Rs. 500-600 ($13?), but my memory could be far off. I'll try to check with Robert for around how much he had to pay.

It was easy to communicate with Woodstock School people, at the alumni office, from our Landour hotel, also with travel agents in Dehra Dun, Delhi, Jhansi, Datia, Orccha, etc, and persons and offices in Delhi

It's an old (2007) Nokia phone - no bells and whistles or picture taking, etc., which I'll be glad to lend to others.