Toking in India

[Sungazer]

Hi peeps...

After reading horror stories on IndiaMike forum i would like to hear someone who has been thru India...
Is it really so dangerous to buy,carry and toke in India?I doubt and think it is like everywhere...if you are a dumbo or unlucky you get in trouble..
But let's hear it from local or someone who has spent some time in India..
Also how it is in Nepal with cops...?
From some posts i got impression that they don't give a shit..Guess they care more to milk ya if they can..
Cheers and thanx!
Namaste!

 

[buddymate]

Spent a year in India,mainly in the north,never met anyone who had been hassled,but its all down to common sense,and your right,the average indian cop is more likely to try and shake you down for baksheesh than drag you off to the station
Enjoy your trip

 

[Dkgrower]

It all depends on the time off year and where in india

Goa in peak season is full off police looking fore some turist to bang, if ya are smoking on the beach night time fore a long time you chances off having a run in with police is high.


Himachal Pradesh in Charas season, September & October is full off police and thats the time most get caught.

Fore my slef i have in my plus 2 years in india, only had one time troubel with police searching my stuff, they missed tha Charas so I was fine and moved on an littel shocked.


Also cool mind when police harase you is important and some cash dollars on you all the time when you carry charas is most important, indian police should always be bribed before you get to the police station or els the price is getting higher.

A real life exsampel a freind of mine he was caught with alot charas in Dehli airport it took 1 year off jail time, he got 30 years we paied 6000 euro and he was as free man.

I say that india is very safe to smoke in and I do it all the time with no problem

BOM SHIVA, JAI INDIA.

 

[Sungazer]

..but its all down to common sense...
Enjoy your trip

That's what i think also...just don't do stupis things that you wouldn't do back home and you will be fine..And me being extra careful with this stuff...think that i shouldn't have any problems..
I just got that idea,going to India and than to Nepal in late Sep.-early Oct. so there is plenty of time to prepare...but once when i get there will enjoy hell out of it

It all depends on the time off year and where in india

Goa in peak season is full off police ....

Himachal Pradesh in Charas season, September & October is full off police and thats the time most get caught.

Also cool mind when police harase you is important and some cash dollars on you all the time when you carry charas ...

BOM SHIVA, JAI INDIA.

Time of year and where in India makes sense,DK,got ya on that one...
No interest in Goa may be i will just stay couple of days to see what's the fuzz about..Himachal...that is tempting..but as i am planing to stay in Nepal for about a month i believe that i can get similar stuff in Nepal or may be even better...
Good idea to have some bucks if,Shiva forbid ,cops find stuff on ya...

Thanx guys for stopping by and leaving your opinion!
Namaste!

 

[limey]

My advice: dont carry it with you unless it's really necessary. Have spent a long time in India over the years and have been searched many times (and on occasion been v lucky to get away with it). Helps if you don't look like a hippy kid, of course, but in some places (like passing through Mandi, for example, a famous entrepot and bottleneck in Himachal) you can be sure you'll be searched.

You may be able to bribe your way out of a problem when you are searched by a couple of local cops on the road: you wont be able to pull this off if you get stopped at an airport. Basically, the rule of thumb is: sort out your baksheesh before you get to the police station. the moment your crime is "recorded" i.e. you are charged or even put in a cell, you are in big trouble. Be prepared to empty your money belt of cash if you get caught and be grateful you wont be spending any time in an indian prison.

Dkgrower's advice is good. There are times and places to be more careful. And never try and take drugs on flights in India - security, even on internal flights, can be really tight.

The good news is: it's possible to get dope anywhere in India and in many places, it's pretty easy to get very good stuff (if in doubt, ask an auto/tuktuk driver). Alot of people (men) smoke and though you should never smoke on the street or on the beach, I have never had any trouble smoking on my hotel room or on the roof. In many tourist places you can find rooftop cafes where it is safe to smoke ; best to ask though.

The better news is: the better charas in himachal and kashmir and the better weed in kerala is some of the best "heritage" dope in the world. The Nepalese give the Indians a good run for their money in terms of quality, cheap gear (I slightly prefer Nepal but it's a matter of degree) but you shouldn't have any complaints in India: you're unlikely to find anything as good at home unless you are very well connected, especially as far as resin is concerned. Highlights are:
Himachal - High end of the Parvati Valley (Tosh etc) and the upper Banjar Valley.
Kashmir - Anantnag area
Kerala - Idukki
Hampi
Bhang shops in Varanasi (also in Jaisalmer and other places in Rajasthan but quality in Varanasi is usually better)

Watch yourself in all of these areas except Varanasi (where you wont have any problems): because of their reputation for good dope, westerners will be targeted by the police.

And have fun: it's an amazing place!

 

[Sungazer]

....Himachal Pradesh in Charas season, September & October....

Is harvesting time in Nepal at same time as in Himachal Pradesh??

 

[Sungazer]

Limey thanx for stopping by,excellent post bro.....
As i have said,it makes sense...in regions which are known as charas home..sure there will be police searching everybody,especially foreigners..But in other hand i guess that one will not be bothered by cops in middle of Delhi,out of tha blue,if doing nothing stupid and asking for trouble..
Basically if you stay away from main production and party(like Goa)areas chances of being searched and hasseled by cops decline rapidly....????

Highlights are:
Himachal - High end of the Parvati Valley (Tosh etc) and the upper Banjar Valley.
Kashmir - Anantnag area
Kerala - Idukki
Hampi
Bhang shops in Varanasi (also in Jaisalmer and other places in Rajasthan but quality in Varanasi is usually better)

Toking part of trip where i will be in hunt for best stuff i can get mine hands on will be Nepal...Looks like they are way more relaxed on the matter..So after staying in Nepal for month or so i won't have such great desire to go to Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir just because of charas...By not going there it will add up on mine safety...
And yes Kerala is final destination of trip where i plan to spend also month or so,not just because of weed...So basically it is like;extra caution in Kerala,standard caution in another parts where i will be passing by..
And i think i should be fine...

P.S.
Have seen some pictures of Varanasi...It's fucking amazing!Those ghats,pristine buildings and Ganges..really beautiful!
Sam goes for Nepal...have seen some pictures of Kathmandu...:jawdrop:
Best guys!
Namaste...

 

[limey]

Is harvesting time in Nepal at same time as in Himachal Pradesh??

Hi

yes, it is. Actually, technically, there are often two weed harvests in lowland Nepal as the climate usually means it's possible to grow year round. I guess this happens in similar areas in northern India but I don't have any experience/evidence of this. But as far as charas is concerned - rubbed resin - then, yes, the harvests are at the same time of year (October).

 

[limey]

Limey thanx for stopping by,excellent post bro.....
As i have said,it makes sense...in regions which are known as charas home..sure there will be police searching everybody,especially foreigners..But in other hand i guess that one will not be bothered by cops in middle of Delhi,out of tha blue,if doing nothing stupid and asking for trouble..
Basically if you stay away from main production and party(like Goa)areas chances of being searched and hasseled by cops decline rapidly....????

Yes, that's about the long and short of it. Though actually in Delhi you do need to watch yourself a bit in certain places and hotels but you are fine if, as you say, you don't do anything stupid and stay out of trouble generally. Delhi, though interesting and a good place to do some last minute shopping, isn't somewhere you should stay any longer than you need to (and you will need to stay there longer than you plan!). Interestingly, weed (NOT resin) is, I think, legal in Delhi but I wouldn't take that line with a policeman if you get caught. "Legal" can mean alot of grey areas in India...

Toking part of trip where i will be in hunt for best stuff i can get mine hands on will be Nepal...Looks like they are way more relaxed on the matter..So after staying in Nepal for month or so i won't have such great desire to go to Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir just because of charas...By not going there it will add up on mine safety...
And yes Kerala is final destination of trip where i plan to spend also month or so,not just because of weed...So basically it is like;extra caution in Kerala,standard caution in another parts where i will be passing by..
And i think i should be fine...

Cool. Don't dismiss going to himachal out of hand. Kashmir comes with it's own problems but himachal can be really worthwhile and,if you can find it, the best himachal charas is quite different in character to nepalese charas. I'm not saying it's "better", though I think it could be argued that the best indian charas can taste better/sweeter than the nepalese... of course, if its a matter of taste. You're certainly very unlikely to come across anything as good as high end Indian charas outside South Asia (I have never seen REALLY good indian charas in Amsterdam, for example, though I have seen good nepalese there)... So, if you are in Delhi and have a week in hand, do consider taking the bus up to Himachal.

Kerala you will love.

P.S.
Have seen some pictures of Varanasi...It's fucking amazing!Those ghats,pristine buildings and Ganges..really beautiful!
Sam goes for Nepal...have seen some pictures of Kathmandu...:jawdrop:
Best guys!
Namaste...

Yeah, you must go to Varanasi. Truly amazing place.

 

[BiG H3rB Tr3E]

I would love to go to nepal / india. I just dont know anyone over there. Dont know the language. One of yal should step up and become the ICMag Tour Guide. Id know me and my gurl would be down....

 

[Sungazer]

Have definitely decided to go there...
Delhi-Agra-Varanasi-Kathmandu...So looks for now first part of trip...Than thru Rajastan all tha way south to Kerala..
Thinking to stay there for about 3 months..Have to check how this things go with local Indian embassy..
Will anyone be in India or Nepal during October-January period??
Bets!
Namaste

 

[Sungazer]

I would love to go to nepal / india. I just dont know anyone over there. Dont know the language.

Hey man!I was in Netherlands and i also don't know anyone there and as going of dutch i know just few words
Who gives a damn for that stuff..you will most likely get known with someone and you will learn few Hindi or whatever words..
As far as i get lots of locals can speak at least some of English!
Also there are some billion and a few people in India..you will find someone to speak English with

 

[limey]

Have definitely decided to go there...
Delhi-Agra-Varanasi-Kathmandu...So looks for now first part of trip...Than thru Rajastan all tha way south to Kerala..
Thinking to stay there for about 3 months..Have to check how this things go with local Indian embassy..
Will anyone be in India or Nepal during October-January period??
Bets!
Namaste

Hi Sungazer

I am going to be in Nepal in October. PM me about dates etc

Your trip: good route. You can (and IMO should) do Agra in a day. Get a v early morning train from Delhi, do the UPTDC tour of Agra which basically is a minibus that takes you to Fatehpur Sikri, Red fort and the Taj Mahal. It's far cheaper than organising the transport yourself. You can see all that Agra has to offer inside a day then jump on a night train to Varanasi. You avoid staying in Agra which, I'm sorry to say, is a sh*thole.

Varanasi - you want to stay a while here. A week or more if you can.

Varanasi to Kathmandu is a bit of a bast*rd of a journey but a well trod route. You can do it in 24 hours. At least you're in Kathmandu at the end of it!

You should consider doing Rajasthan before you head off to Agra, Varanasi and Nepal because otherwise you'll be doing alot of going back on yourself. i.e. You fly in to Delhi ; "do" Rajasthan ; work your way round to Agra, then Varanasi, then Nepal... then a long trip (consider flying) to the south. To put it in perspective, a train from Delhi to Kerala weighs in at about 60hours for the journey (yes, 60)!

Alternatively (perhaps even better season wise) is to go quickly Agra then Varanasi so you can catch soon after the monsoon, when the river is in full flood (best time), then Nepal later Oct/November (harvest! and amazing (best) views of the Himalaya). Then go to Kerala for December (again, just after harvest and the weather is best in December time), then back to Rajasthan for January (will be a bit cold but it's a good time to go), do your souvenir shopping, see Delhi, then home.

I am envious!

 

[buddymate]

Yeah,you can do Agra in the same day,I caught the "Taj express" from Delhi train station,got a nice breakfast on board,wandered around the taj and was back in Delhi late that evening.If your going to Rajasthan I remember a legal Bhang shop in jaisalmer near the fort gates,dont know if it will still be there nowadays however,enjoy your trip

 

[CtHaddock]

Puri seemed to be a nice place. The locals even encouraged the tourists to smoke on the beach, the cops only come to the beach on festivals. The local weed is pretty good indica dominant. You can buy legal smokeable bhang too. Lots of sadhus and temples. Charas is available, didn't try it because the weed was good enough and the stay wasn't too long.

The tourists I talked to that had been bothered by a cop almost exclusively got that treatment in Goa.

In Nepal everybody smoked pretty much everywhere except on the streets in Kathmandu, but you will hear shivas praisings over the rooftops. Accoring to our local guide weed is pretty much treated as rice or wheat while personal amounts of charas of 20-30g is ok, more is considered commercial ammounts and prosecuted. Weed is more accepted then alcohol as a sin to live with, there is no sin in growing it.

 

[hanuman]

A little charras story that happened to me in Nepal more than 20 years ago. But then there are things that don't change in these countries, so I guess it'd be similar today.

I was doing the Annapurna trek with my GF at the time (wife now). At a village called Ghorepani, I spent the evening with some people from my country I'd just met, and we openly smoked many chillums until late, all prepared by me.

Next morning, we decided to depart for Tatopani, well known for its charras. On the footpath, we were being followed by a non-descript guy, pulling a goat after him. After a while, incredible but true, we met a baba (sadhu) we knew from the previous year in the Parvati valley, in India. Course we sat down with him, as he took out a small piece of charras from his belongings. "This is charras from the Mustang valley", he told us, while he started preparing the chillum mix.

At that point, the guy with the goat ties it to a tree and comes to us, taking his jacket off. Under the jacket, lo and behold: a uniform shirt. Ouch he was a local cop!!!
He then ordered us to follow him back to Ghorepani, waving his heavy stick at us. While walking back, I gave my shoulder bag to my GF and I asked her to throw away all the charras (I had maybe 200 grams?) discretely, which she did, really smartly.

On arrival at the police station (well... a small house really), I asked to go to the toilet and I managed to throw away whatever charras I had left on me in a bush.

Anyway, to make a long story short, we spent about two hours at the police station negociating. They never touched us, but they were brutalizing the poor baba (like pulling his beard or kicking him...) with the whole village with us in the room, watching. At one point, the cop told us we could go, but didn't understand when we told him we wouldn't go before he released the baba too. I was surprised of the way they treated him in a so-called Hindu country, but then a lot of saddhus are just smokers like you and me, looking for an easy life, not real holy men... and the people seem to be able to make the difference. Not that I care, as long as I find a smoking companion. And these guys are definitely exotic

Anyway, we ended up paying 1100 Nepali rupees, that is near to nothing, before the cop let us go again, after menaces to take us to the regional prison, three days walk from where we were, etc... Obviously, he had seen me the previous night or had being informed that I was smoking chillum after chillum... and he devised that great disguise of a goat keeper (then again, maybe all this was a coincidence, who knows...)

A fun experience after all... the only thing that I regret is that he never searched us or our bags, meaning we could have kept all the charras we threw away. And believe me, we weren't in the mood to stay longer to look for the pieces we'd thrown away.

Morality of the story : never smoke openly in a lodge in Nepal and most of all, don't do it the day before the biggest festival in the country (Dasain, in October), where each male member of a family must sacrifice an animal to the gods. Cos it's well know that live animals cost a lot of money and bribing poor smokers is a great way to get free money


h

 

[limey]

Nice one, Hanuman. Sorry to hear of your lost charas but props for your good advice: don't smoke in public, even in the mountains!

 

[Sungazer]

Hi Sungazer

I am going to be in Nepal in October. PM me about dates etc

.....do Agra in a day.

Varanasi - you want to stay a while here. A week or more if you can.

Varanasi to Kathmandu is a bit of a bast*rd of a journey but a well trod route. You can do it in 24 hours.

Great to hear that you will be there at same time as me!Hope we will meet and light up some shit
In regard PM...I have to collect "few" more posts in order to be able to PM...But as soon as i can i will PM ya!
Yeah-actually Taj is only thing that i wanna from Agra.So if i can get a night train to Varanasi that would be great..
Have saw some videos of Varanasi..i like it so i agree with you..when going to and from Nepal Varanasi is on tha way..

I got impression that most land routes in this part of world are kind of "a bast*rd of a journey"
But it is everything about how you take it!Even a very long journey can be fun especially so far away from home!
Just taaaaakkkkeeeee iiiiittttt eeeeeaaaaaaassssssyyyyy

Puri seemed to be a nice place.

The tourists I talked to that had been bothered by a cop almost exclusively got that treatment in Goa.

In Nepal everybody smoked pretty much everywhere except on the streets in Kathmandu, but you will hear shivas praisings over the rooftops.

Puri is out of my way...That stuff about Goa..that's totally expectable...Cops there,are seeing tourists as walking bills!Only thing you need to do is figure out how to milk some money out of it
..."shivas praisings"..Boom Shiva!!!???That stuff???

A little charras story that happened to me in Nepal more than 20 years ago.

Great story man!Why don't we have here undercover cops with goats!?I would love them!

don't smoke in public, even in the mountains!

I would just add-don't smoke in public if you arn't in Holland!

Although my trip is far away i have started to make preparations..Have figured out that i can stay in India for 6 months as a tourist so i will do like 4,5 months(India and Nepal)...
That is plenty of time to take it easy-which i like very much..Don't wanna have tight schedule,ending up in rushing there and here..Route that i am planing is more one to have a slight idea of directions and places to see as this will be mine first time in those two countries.Will book an airline ticket by end of a month just to seal this story

Guys,what are equivalents of Manali,Kullu...in Nepal?
Thanx for stopping by!

 

[CtHaddock]

..."shivas praisings"..Boom Shiva!!!???That stuff???

Yes that stuff.


Lets go boom boom dear baba.
I got called baba all the time and the explanation I got was that it is someone that smokes. Didn't have to be a sadhu.

I got an invitation also to go to Gorka and smoke with the chief of police, the chief of the military and sadhus side by side. But it was out of our way. Next time!

 

[stonedstoner]

if you're discrete you shouldn't have any problems.

i've gotten both really good weed and really shitty weed while i've been in india. i was mainly in the southern state of karantaka while i was there....which is where hampi is (i think someone mentioned hampi earlier as a place to get good weed). but anyways, i bought really bad weed in the city of bangalore. it was really dark...like brownish green...had hella seeds...tasted like shit. but i also got some bomb ass weed in a village near bangalore called mallur. they were calling it mango and it was very potent and seedless. probably about as potent as some good outdoor cali weed. taste and smell were pretty good but seemed like it could have been cured a bit better (probably my only complaint). it was definitely sativa dominant if it wasn't a pure sativa.

i've heard from many people that north india is more about hashish and south india is more about ganja. my friend that lives in karnataka said that when he travels up north to see friends he takes up ganja and brings back hash and vice versa when his friends come down to the south.
but he told me the best places to get good weed in the south are the br hills by mysore in karnataka. but he said the best place is kerala. makes sense that shantibaba found the father of white widow there!