The problem is not with the women travelers. The problem is with Indians. Many of them, including educated Indians, think that all western women travelling in India are "available" or are "looking for sex" and certainly would not mind a pass or two. It could be that their thinking is shaped by western movies. Indian newspapers and news channels certainly don't give the impression that western women travelling alone in India are so fired by sex that they are eager to jump into the first available bed of an Indian.

Nearly all women who have travelled alone in India or even those who have travelled in the company of their companions, boyfriends or husbands will tell you that India was fun but.... Just a few months ago an English teenager travelling with her mother was raped and killed in Goa, a favorite haunt of tourists in India. Goa has scores of unspoiled white-sand beaches. Music is loud and clear, nights are warm and breezy and the food is good and cheap. Goans are friendly and their wine is good and inexpensive. In that romantic and dangerous setting, the English teenager - given to drugs, according to newspapers - was already in treacherous territory. High on drugs, one night she was raped and killed.

Many years ago, I had an American colleague. She was young, friendly, chatty, charming and attractive. One summer she went alone to Simla, the onetime summer capital of the British Raj, and there she was raped at knifepoint in her hotel room. Apparently she had befriended a young man who pulled a knife when she refused to give in to his demand that they have sex. All the qualities that she was proud of - and so were we - got her into big trouble.

It is common to see Indians cat-calling or making a verbal pass at western women travelling alone on the streets of Delhi. There are few who aren't approached for sex or fondled when they find themselves alone in the company of men in crowded elevators or queues.

A British freelance journalist returned home recently after spending six months in India. No doubt, she found much to write about. She certainly had fun but one evening in the desert state of Rajasthan, famed for its palaces, forts and princes, she was raped. But she was defiant and determined and decided to pursue the only legal course open to her. She went to the police and she was sent for a medical check-up. There the doctors laughed at her and called her a whore because she was single and not a virgin.

It isn't that India is not fun. But some simple precautions will ensure western women travelling in India return home without the trauma of being harassed (Indian newspapers call it "eve teasing") and memories of a nice place well-visited.

Here are some tips:

• Don't travel alone, if you can. Travel in twosomes or threesomes. Men are less likely to bother you if you are not alone. If you are not alone, the men assume you are not "easily available". A better insurance is travelling in the company of men.
• Don't accept a drink or cigarette. When a guy offers you a drink or a cigarette that's his first uncertain and tentative invitation to his bed. Avoid it, if you can.
• Don't strike up a conversation with a stranger in a lonely place. If you do, you will probably be sending out invitation to harassment, if not sex.
• Never discuss subjects with sexual connotations. If you do, you are probably sending an unintended message that you are "available". Even if you are in a friendly crowd or at a party, it is more than likely some guy will slither up to you say he has a warm bed waiting for you.
• Dress properly. If you walk into a street, wearing a dress that's showing your cleavage, sex-starved Indians will see it as a smooth, clear, mountainous path to the peaks of joy. Avoid it.
• Don't use the f... word within the hearing of Indians. The word sounds like an invitation to them.
• In a cinema hall, train, aircraft or elevator, if your hand or any other part of your body touches the guy next to you, move it away immediately. The longer you allow the touch, the stronger the invitation to the guy next to you, even if it is not intended.
• If a guy is trying to strike up a conversation with you - and you don't want to be in that conversation - simply scowl or glower at him. Most of these guys are cowards and they fear nothing more than a woman glowering at him.
• Avoid guides at Agra and Jaipur who shove printed cards at you saying they can show you the Taj Mahal and in between slip in a card saying "I am an acrobat in bed". Don't smile at them. Don't encourage them unless you want to court danger. Hire a certified government guide.
• Don't wink at men when you are talking to them. That's the oldest form of invitation.

India is fun and you are better off keeping it that way. Good luck and happy travelling.