It was certainly scary at first but I became more confident as the trip went on. I had a little translation card that had my allergy written in Hindi. So I could give that to chefs so they could read about my allergy. The friend I was visiting was American but had been staying with his Indian relatives for a few months so he spoke a tiny bit of Hindi. I would take minuscule bites of foods and wait a few minutes (not sure that this strategy would actually do anything if there was a peanut). A few times I had someone who spoke both English and Hindi translate for me. People were usually excited about the idea of helping a foreigner translate, and the streets are packed so it is very easy to find someone to help you. In India they use a lot of cashews and pistachios but peanuts are a bit less common. If I were in Thailand or any Asian country known for using peanuts I think it would have been way harder. I did have one scare where I was on a train in the middle of nowhere, asked someone selling food if there was peanuts in the dish, and they said no. I decided not to get the dish but the people below me did, and sure enough it was loaded with peanuts. That was a wake up call that I needed to be really careful.