Difficulties with Living in India. The work rhythm is so different

Darwish

I caught a real nasty flue and i feel sick as i never felt in my life. The constant changing temperatures. the bad isolation and the constant stress are starting to kill me slowly. Indeed one needs to have nerves of steel to be able to do business in India. The rhythm and the different views are the things which cost me the most energy.

Any expats around who also suffer from chaos and strangeness? What is a good remedy against it?

Any advice?

Epicure

India is a sub-continent and therefore the temperatures do change. It takes time to adjust to Indian conditions.

Bad isolation....? where are you located and what exactly you mean by that. There are many expats in India who mingle with their Indian colleagues and there are expat clubs in Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore etc where you can meet other expats.

The rhythm and the different views are the things which cost me the most energy......India is a vast country with different religions and cultures and there will be different views in different parts of the country. You cannot have a quick fix in business as you need to compile and analyse different views expressed by different people. In that sense, its a good experience as it avoids mediocrity.

Constant stress...... There are work pressures in every job and in every organisation. Even my job is stressful and thats the reason why i blog or respond to threads to kill the stress. You enjoy the job as long as you are at learning stage, once you are matured in your job, it becomes boring . One needs to engage in fun activites to beat the stress.

As far as chaos are concerned, i do admit the fact that there are chaos, be it traffic jams,pollution or power cuts. India needs to improve its infrastructure.

But despite the chaos, India offers lower cost of living, offers wide range of holiday options like beaches,hill stations, deserts, wild life and adventure sports, adds value to the resume ( i have americans and europeans in my office who have come just to experience and understand whats happening in the east and how Indian companies do business, what are their strategies) , better medical facilities, have better schools, colleges and universities and above all, people can interact in english.

machadinha

The ITHVC link in my signature does a good concise round-up on symptoms of culture shock; while the Indax link offers some handy sections on living there and related issues.

Hope this helps some; good luck with it. These India Cultural Tips (many of them from a business perspective) are also worth reading: http://www.stylusinc.com/business/in...tural_tips.htm

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navinkurian2002

Are you in mumbai? It looks like there is a flu wave hitting the city and i feel the cold seats,the fever .The mornings have this thick smog till about 10 am . The temperature is fluctuation. And yes in these conditions if you stress you are even more susceptible to the flu,,,,

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Nick-H

Make sure you have as much home comfort as you can.

Comfort blanket after comfort blanket after comfort blanket!

A wife is pretty good starter!

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brownboy66

Just prior to Xmas if I remember correctly, there was a lady on IM who was having a hard time coping. ahhh...here it is

I found head lice nits on my childrens hair

It originally started out as a thread about headlice in kids! Quickly turned into a post about how many things were going wrong. Turns outs it was a mixed marriage, they were far from home, all her kids had headlice and/or were sick with the flu, she wasn't feeling that great either, her husband was working long hours, and since english was her second language she was having a hard time getting people here to understand her, and there was no local family to fall back on.

Without knowing more about your specific situation, there may be a couple of common recommendations:

1) Get out of town and take a break if you can. Sometimes the big cities (with the constant noise, traffic, pollution, etc) can grind you down. Yes its a hard thing to do if your running a business - and its never the right time, but you just have to do it
2) Re the business - small victories - one step at a time. Battling on several fronts just wears you down (not to mention the scale you have to deal with here), and you don't get the chance to focus on any one thing. Sort out the priorites, focus, everything else will have to wait.
3) Health - improve your fitness. In stressful environment where illness is ever present the best thing you can have is a good level of fitness (its the first line of defence so to speak). Not to mention the fact that exercise releases the "happy" chemical (endorphins) - so it will just make you feel better (apparently chillies and chocolate do the same thing I think).
4) Make sure everything is good at home. I've always thought that if you have one anchor in your existence to hold you steady, then you can deal with the other difficulties. Hence if home is good, you can manage with the crappy business/ job/ work environment for a while. If home and work are crappy - time for a major rethink.

anyway - sorry for stating the obvious. Good luck.

Familyonthemove

Yes ..... India is a tough place to work for Indians and ex-pats.

When my wife, daughter and myself are fit - we enjoy it. When anyone of us ill, we all get a bit down. Well, a lot down when my daughter is ill, fairly down when my wife is ill (like now) and not too bothered at all when I'm ill, because it's my fault we're all here.

There's also the CLLS (constant low level stress) caused by the fact that some of the simplest things spiral into a crisis.

Some people have said to me 'Things Take Time' or TTT. I want to slap those people. If you are trying to set up a business, or drive a project forward, you don't have the luxury of time.

Keeping a sense of humour is also good advice that I've ignored whenever possible. A sense of humour is for people with the luxury of no deadlines. I prefer shouting at people.

But ..... I've found the medical services to be excellent here - if a little excentric.

Last week we managed to get my wife a blood test, ultrasound scan, X-Ray and examination in one morning. Then by 6:00 the same day I could access her results on the 'net and play doctor.

The real doctor then turned up the next day, reviewed the tests, gave us a prescription and arranged for home delivery of the medicine. In the UK that lot would have taken 3 weeks. She's still ill, but at least we avoided the NHS.

Try to learn how the locals have made life simpler - they've been at it longer than us.

But as I said at the start of my ramblings ...... it's tough - so get yourself shouting fit.

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Nick-H

I probably have the easiest life of anyone, on this thread, at least. I don't work, and can easily not even leave my house and garden for days.

However, the renovation of this house was the most single most stressful event of my life, and, had I been a muscular man given to violence I can say that, for certain, people would have been damaged! I've had heartbreaks, I've made major balls ups at work (a complete print run of Christmas cards with 'Happy Birthday' in them was one of the cheaper ones; that was way before I got into IT and spending lots of money on equipment, not all of which was compatible...) but nothing compares with this. The builders have buggered off now, and I do not want them back...

But we have stuff left to do. And no, it won't be easy.

For the negative aspects of living here, I'd use the word abrasion for the constant difficulty of things. It wears one down.

I do sometimes feel a touch of envy for tourists: they are free to enjoy the magic of India, without scratching beneath its surface. They can enjoy the smiles of a couple of kids without finding out the family histories and stuff going on. They probably don't read the newspapers and start discovering how unbelievably depressing is the state of politics here.

There's good stuff, too ...

Tapestry

To be honest, the one thing that I find helps take the blues away as an expat is sitting down with another expat and having an all-out, uncensored, no-holds-barred b*tch session! Really just get those complaints out with someone who really understands. These are essential! Usually it's helpful because we both know that we have lots of things that we love about India as well, but at some point you have to let those frustrations out. Who else but another expat is going to listen to things like this:

WHY is it that no one, not a single person in my office seems to be able to keep track of a pen? Every day every person needs a pen to do their work. Therefore, the company should give their personnel the pens they need and those people should keep track of their pens. But each day it seems like there is one pen for 15 people. 'Pen de do, yaar... Pen hai? Just give me that pen, yaar...". And who has a pen? Me! Of course I have a pen because I need a pen to work. I bring my favorite pens from the U.S. And I don't even work for this pen-less company, I just have a desk in the same office because their CEO and my managing director are married. So like 10 people a day ask me for my only pen because they are incapable or unwilling to keep track of their own. It's the same for scissors, tape, staples, printer paper, glue stick...... It's ridiculous!

Whew! That felt great! AND, I still love lots of things about India.

mapleleaf

While I never worked in India, I did spend 18 months on a contract in Malaysia--an eye-opening experience for sure.

I think your problem is that you're trying to adjust to another home, job and culture at the same time--it doesn't matter that it's India.

I had trouble adjusting--in a major way. Fortunately for me, I was one of several ex-pats on the project, many of whom had been there for more than a year already. That gave me people to complain to, but more importantly, to learn from.

Initially I had great problems with their laid-back approach to work. As a North American, I was accustomed to work coming first and got really frustrated by the lack of progress and appreciation for deadlines. Eventually, I came to realize that they had the right priorities--not me. I also had problems communicating that had nothing to do with language but everything to do with approach. I'd always been praised for my direct, cut to the chase approach. It didn't work at all in Malaysia--asking direct questions never resulted in an answer. Eventually, I learned.

Dealing with day-to-day issues was a struggle--everything took ten times as long as it did at home. The processes were cumbersome and it was always so damned hot!

With time I came to love the people (if not the workplace) and respect their approach. I also came to appreciate the advantages I had as a foreigner in their country--there were many. In fact, when the end of my contract approached, I tried everything in my power to stay there.

I'm not sure how long you've been there but I think you're going through a rough period of culture shock, made worse by all the bugs you'll get because you're in a new place and your body hasn't adjusted. I echo the advice you got earlier--get away for awhile and rest. Then, try to reassess your timelines and objectives in light of where you are now--you can't hold onto the same standards you had before because you're not in that place anymore. And give yourself a break--moving to another country, leaving loved ones behind, starting a new job--all heavy duty stress inducers. What you're going through is normal and you'll either adjust and enjoy or come to realize that it's not for you.

federica

I know, it sounds difficult, but the only remedy seems acception... it helped me to have the attitude of a kid that's discovering the world... just discovering, not judging... I think otherwise even nerves of steel will not do it in India... maybe they'll melt...

Get well soon!!

Darwish

Hmm. i'm not such a person needing alot of comfort, But at least an electric heater system for making hot baths is comfort number one.
My location is now Jalandhar Punjab. Guess there are no expats there.

Yes The advice of being aware of what happens without judging. That is a good one. I'm already training myself on it.

By surprise I was suddenly much better last evening and today I feel fine.

I'm working on getting a wife here. i already have a partner here, but first i need to have some succes in the business.

Nick-H

Good news on the partner front!

The comfort-blanket things can be just small things, but things that cheer you up or relax you. A hot shower system is very essential for me, as even (or especially, actually) in the hottest weather, I cannot stand cold showers.

machadinha

Methinks spilling your guts here may have helped some

Seriously, when all looks to be bleak, it will look like it's always been so; when all looks to be up, ditto. There's not much to do about it, but it helps to be aware of it.

I guess that's why they say take it one step at a time.

Shaktipalooza

Ah, builders. My wife never understood my dogged determination to remodel our entire house with my own hands. Time started running out and we absolutely needed some outside labor to finish a few projects.

A couple of months of extortionist rates for substandard work and my wife finally understood why I'd spent years plodding along on my own. We now have an understanding about these matters.

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