Big Fat Lies!!!

Okay, I want to mention the two greatest lies (though they weren't meant to be that way) that I heard before coming to India:

1. "Don't worry about change or small bills; everyone uses bigger bills." Yeah, in which India? Small bills are highly coveted by all travelers here. Hell, I use 50 paise, 1, 2, and 5 rupee coins CONSTANTLY. In fact, when I don't have these coins, or a ten rupee bill, I'm lost. I can't pay for anything. 'Cause, nobody has change. I can't go to temples, which all ask for small donations. Basically, I'm stuck. Very few people can do a thing with 50 or 100 rupee bills, let alone 500 or 1000. Truthfully, this is a case where smaller is better.

2. "You won't have a language problem in the South; everyone speaks English." Okay, I heard this from so many people, and after about two months of traveling in the South, I still have yet to find any truth in this. Perhaps people are thinking about Kerala, which I just stepped into today. In Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, outside the bigger cities of Bangalore, Chennai, and perhaps Mysore, very few people actually speak English. Also, not very many places have English signs either, thus forcing me to blindly search for anything and everything. In Tiruvannamalai, perhaps only one store in about 100 had any English on the sign, and maybe had an employee who understood some of the language. Not surprisingly, only the really touristy spots of Mamallapuram and Kodaikanal had plenty of English. Truth be told, prepare yourself, no matter where in India you go, to be out of luck, language-wise.