Need a sleeping bag?
 

I'm about to go to a wedding in New Delhi and then Rajastan/Golden Triangle for about 20 days. My friend who I'm traveling with is already there and tells me to bring a sleeping bag. (we will be taking a lot of trains). Do I really need to take up this much room in my suitcase or it is a necessity?

If you are going to be on a lot of overnight trains and are not booked into sleepers, than it would be a good idea. If you don't want to take up room, you might bring a sheet or a "sleeper sheet" (a sheet sewn up like a sleeping bag, you can buy them at travel stores.) You might want a blanket as you will be there in winter and nights could be cool even on trains. Conversely, a nylon sleeping bag shoudl be able to be folded into a very small square. Check travel stores or the lonelyplanet.com website.

Agree with Cicerone. It depends on what class carriage you will be travelling. Overnight, the temperatures can really drop and some kind of sheet/blanket is essential in the lower class carriages. If you can afford to travel in the air-con classes then adequate bedding is provided.

If you are boarding a train in the late evening/night, make sure you get you look around for the attendents as I found a couple of times that they slip off for a snooze if it's quiet!

Probably the best thing to do would be to go out there without and if you feel you need one, buy it out there - it would be a lot cheaper and you could give it away when you leave.

You can get really small down sleeping bags these days...they smoosh up into the size of a shoe box. The less expensive ones are not rated for freezing weather, but are more than adequate for trains.

In addition to warmth-- and privacy --while sleeping, you can use them as a pillow or even a big shawl!

if your friend says to bring one and is there now why are you questioning it???????????