India Life....what is it like?

richie4india

Hi,

To all the expats living in India...what is your life like in India compared to your home?

State where you are from and where you are now and just a little about your new life!

Nick-H

I came here on two-week holidays for some years.

Then I tried staying in the same place for five weeks --- and it is nothing like being a tourist a fortnight.

Then I tried really living here, as in having my own place, for six months. Nothing like staying in a guest house for five weeks.

Now I've been here continuously for a couple of weeks short of a full year (it's been my base for over two years).

I could, maybe, have answered your question after the first three months. Now --- it's impossible.

I can only refer back to a moment in my first-ever week in India, ten years ago, staring at the shops, the people, the roads, from an auto. The Indian friend with me asked, "What's different to London?"

I just spluttered: "everything!"

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JamesW

First the easy answers:

State where you are from
I was living in Coventry, UK

and where you are now
I'm now in Pune, Maharashtra, and have been for about 18 months. I'm working for the same company as I did in the UK, just from the Indian office now.

and just a little about your new life!
'tis good!

Now for the harder one:

what is your life like in India compared to your home?

Different. I have more spare cash, but drive a battered Maruti 800. Eating out is affordable. There's so much to see: today I went for a drive to Matheran in the Western Ghats. I know some tourists go loopy for Shakespeare country, but honestly, the West Midlands can't compare. I like the warm winter weather, yet I still miss a sharp frosty morning.

How does it compare? Home life is more comfortable, but outside the apartment complex can be a bit crazy. I try to go along with it, but it can be frustrating when something you would have thought to be trivial mutates into a bit of a nightmare. However, the positives outweigh the negatives, which is probably why I'm still here!

richie4india

Well it sounds positive guys!

I say as I'm there for 6 months soon and I know it will be nothing like a 2 week holiday! I will probably really like and I wont want to come back.

dilbharatmain

I was living in India - Varanasi 2 years (1991-1993), Delhi 3 years ('94-'96), Chennai (then Madras) (97-98) and Mumbai 1999 - in the 9 years 1991 to 1999 I was total 8 years in India... and loved every minute of it. Went back last year for another stint (Bangalore), lasted 4 months - the India buzz may have gone, or maybe life is just so much better in NZ these days?

Nick-H

My point of view as of today (see timings in my post above)...

Six months is an absolutely ideal amount of time to spend living here. The quirks and oddities will still charm you, rather than becoming frustrations --- and you'll go home eager to come back for another six months

My finances only allow of one home... and I've chosen India.

But I stress that that is how I see things today (and it doesn't help that we are living in a house with no kitchen that should have been finished a month ago...).

Next week I'll feel different. And the week after maybe. Next year, who knows?!

All in all I'm certainly not regretting the decision.

eater

Quote:

Originally Posted by richie4india Hi,To all the expats living in India...

Richie... Rich,....can't resist to respond !!

State where you are from
I was living in Canada 30yrs in St John's Nfld and Ontario.
Prior to that Ipswich, Suffolk. Ancestors are from India.....

where you are now
I'm now on Mudh Island, Mumbai, Maharashtra, on and off last three years, doing the same things as I was doing in Canada....consulting in health.

just a little about your new life!

As JamesW says "'tis good!"

Here's the beauty....I am having B/F in bed and am looking out of the window at the Arabian Sea....., just over a bunch of coconut, palm trees and the beach (Erangal Beach). The waters are calm today, nice breeze flowing thru the apartment...taking the day off today.

After almost a week today I hope to get thru the Times of India cover to cover....normally can only glance thru the headlines and the front page of the Bombay Times!! See what Bollywood is up to today.....

what is your life like in India compared to your home?
Every day I get up its guaranteed sunny, clear blue sky, blue ocean. No fog, no rain, no cold winds, everything is just room temperature

Birds chirping, pigeons cooing, dogs barking in the distance, the rooster crows each morning to say ..wakey, wakey a new day has started.... No rushing to work...

I am able to eat healthy here, and eat sensible portions....not large, large everything!!!

I go to movies a fair bit.....and must say if you choose the right day and time of the week there is hardly anyone in the theatre!!

Took part in the Mumbai Marathon this year...just heavenly, running on the Marine Drive....no traffic, no noise, no cars only colorful people enjoying the City!! Lords of the Roads!

So far...I love it...

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Just happy to be here.........

nosianai

Where from:
Germany. Small town with 27,000. Most Indians are a bit puzzled as to how such a small place qualifies as town and declare, with a very naughty grin, that i must be a village girl then.

where you are now
Spent the first 4 years in Bangalore. Last one year in Delhi.

just a little about your new life!
The time in bangalore was amazing. Missing that place a lot. We moved to delhi because my husband got a job here. Big mistake. We are trying to get back to bangalore. i can't take the weather here, the people, the city.

But i think of bangalore as home. I have no plans of going back to germany. it's pretty much as Nick said it: the first 6 months (for me it was the first year) things are never quite real. Takes some time to peel off the touristy layers and dig through to the plain life which of course turns into routine just as much as anywhere else. but i like it here (read bangalore). i like the (south indian) ppl, the opportunities and the fact that there is always a way out of every messy situation.

Sure there are times i think 'bloody hell'. Time is always short. Getting the simpliest thing done can be a hassle. But overall things here just seem right.

what is your life like in India compared to your home?
In Germany you are conditioned to complain about everything. Everything's bad, nothing works and there is no way out. I love the attitude in India where ppl may actually be knee deep in shit but they'll not waste their and your time cripping about it. makes such a difference.

Also agree with eater: my eating has become a lot healthier. Thanks god the choice is still limited as far as ready-to-eat-products go.

richie4india

See,your post shows it so much...whilst I know many Asian people who would say they have had a good life here. They all still dearly miss India.

The colour, culture, beauty, slow pace of life (annoying for some westerners) takes getting used to!

bayareaabroad

From: California, USA (by way of New York City)
Now: Mumbai

I am just now nearing the end of 9 months in India. It's definitely been a very exciting time for both professional and personal reasons. As a journalist, this is a very good time to be in India, there is great interest abroad for news about India and there is a lot of action going on here to cover. Professionally, I think that this was definitely a good move, and I expect that in the future I will be working internationally (perhaps back here!) - in the meantime, I am going back to school.
Personally, life in Bombay has been interesting. Some good, some challenging, lots of fun. First of all, after being here for 9 months and traveling through other parts of the country, I've finally come to see just how different Mumbai can be from other parts of India, and how it is not at all a good model to judge the rest of the country by. Sometimes it might feel like a pinnacle, other times an aberration. One thing that I wish I had done more of was getting out of South Mumbai, where I live and work. There are many things to like about this area, but if Mumbai is a bad model of India, then South Bombay is a bad model of Mumbai, in a number of ways. I have gone out with friends and colleagues to the suburbs some, but I wish I had spent more time out there, instead of ensconced in my trifecta of Colaba, Cuffe Parade and Nariman Point.
Trying to wrap this up, I'll just echo what some others had said, especially about some seemingly simple things becoming complicated. The latest example of this was when I was told that the newspaper man wanted back all of the issues that I had from the past month, apparently for some kind of accountancy purpose. I was quite confused - I had bought the papers, I wasn't renting them!
Finally, I'm not sure that I agree entirely with the food portions comment - I find that if I am dining alone (which is not uncommon for me during the week) the portions are a bit big for me. Still, as a recent batch of comments from visiting family will attest, apparently I have benefited from the tasty wonders of Indian cooking.
Oh, and it is hot, and I'm not always able to romanticize that. I finally turned on the A\C in my room the other night after returning from the far more reasonable temperatures in Himachal Pradesh.

shashank.aggarwal

Well this is bit off topic..but this is a piece of advice that all expats would benefit from..

Not sure about the western culture, however in India you can sell old newspapers for about Rs.6 per Kg (may vary according to city and locality)..they are sold to scrap dealers called 'Raddi-Walah' and the amount you get from your months scrap is almost equal to half of your monthly newspaper bill...

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Nick-H

Shashank got in there first with that essential info.

I was going to say, you either misunderstood your paper man, or he is trying to con you!

I was very puzzled at first, by the old man wheeling an empty cart down the street crying out, "Paperrrr.... Paperrrrrr...."!

shashank.aggarwal

Yeah..that was your "Friendly Neighborhood Raddi-Man (raddi Walah)"..

richie4india

Well the gypsy Romanian women have trouble selling 'the big issue' let alone anyone selling old papers

Nick-H

I suppose so, although I don't know what he would be called in Tamil!