All the best with this new adventure. I hope you have started to train your
sister or someone else how to care for your orchid collection here.
I have wished to import orchids in the past but have never fully understood
the details. I would hate to have plants die because I had failed to fill
out a form properly.
Keep cool
Don
Simcoe, On

"Ted Byers" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

I expect to be signing, in the very near future, a contract to teach
(several courses in programming and software engineering) in Chandigarh.
Classes start the first week of May and so I'd likely be there the last
week
of April. The only uncertainty at this time is whether this is a one
semester deal or a very long term arrangement.

When I get there, I intend to go to the Canadian High Commission in
Chandigarh to find out about Indian laws regulations regarding orchid
export
and Canadian laws and regulations in use at the time regarding import of
orchids from India (but I'll wait until I arrive to phone them because I
have heard from Canadian vendors dealing with orchid imports here that
they
face almost constant change in how these regulations are applied: and I'll
make sure I get everything in writing so I can demonstrate that when I
bring
orchids back, I have done everything according the the letter of what they
have told me).

But, while I have been in India before (in Madras and Bangalore), that was
a
decade ago, well before my interest in orchids, and I now need to know if
there are orchid societies I could connect with while I am there, and what
vendors, greenhouses, and even botanical gardens, would be worth visiting.

It would also be good if there are any orchid biologists working there on
conservation efforts, with whom I could connect.

Does anyone know what orchids would be most commonly available in the
orchid
market there, their cost, &c.? I would think that, being so close to the
natural distributions of dends and phals, it would be easier to find
species
specimen plants representing several generations of greenhouse grown
plants.
What time of year would most orchids be flowering in India? I am told I'm
in for a climate shock since the average temperature there is about 40
degrees Celcius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), and that when the monsoons start
within the next couple months they moderate to only 30 degrees Celcius (95
degrees Fahrenheit). It is a very good thing that the college and
provided
accomodation is air conditioned! Hey, if in the late summer or early fall
you hear apparently wild stories of a Canadian disappearing there, and
there
being found a large grease spot on the site where he was last seen, you'll
know that was me and that I just melted away. ;-) I'm sweating buckets
right now, and feeling very hot, just thinking about it. ;-)

IIRC, India is at, of near, the western edge of the natural distribution
of
Dendrobiums and Phalaenopsis. Is that right? What other genera would be
common there? Of the orchids I am aware of, the genera/alliances of most
appeal to me are the phals, dends and catts, although some ladies'
slippers
are starting to grow on me. I especially appreciate large showy flowers
with a nice scent.

Cheers,

Ted