If you lived in a foreign country for a while and having a regular India trip, then this article is for you. The moment you land, you experience chaos at the airport. All the cars appear to you very small and the traffic extremely unruly. The roads narrow, dusty and people look very poor. You then immediately check if you have taken your shot on time not to get any infection etc. Then you grab the water bottle you purchased at the airport and guzzle some water through your mouth in dis-belief. India will never change. It is the same it used to be 20 years back. But is that right? Barely...
As you stay there for a few days you start getting used to the chaos and the dust. Then everything appears to you normal. If you land in Mumbai you will find your friends house is very clean. More clean than you have ever managed to keep your carpet laden home in USA. You don't feel houses are small because everything is arranged so neatly. Then the door bell rings, doodhwallh comes and delivers milk.After sometimes, kapdawallah comes and takes clothes for ironing. Then phone rings and somebody at the other end asks if you will need any vegetable. Then your friend's wife says "No not today". Then she goes downstairs and gets a bagful of vegetables from the road side vendors just outside the building. You scream in dis-belief "How come you get a bagful of veggies in just 50 rupees"!! Just a dollar for you. Now in your mind you are working on the equation what you get in India and what you loose abroad. You get so much done by people that you have whole lot of time to do the skilled jobs that you are trained for. You just start thinking what your typical working day is.. You get up at 7 A.M, make some tea/coffee then if you can go to the toilet get ready. Then you find the clothes are not ironed, then you press it. Then you quickly grab some ready made crap meant to be breakfast. If you could you try to pack lunch and the leave for work. Night you come back home to discover you have to buy veggies, then you take your car in cold and drive to nearby store that is few miles away and then come back home. You will find dirty dishes in the sink, then you quickly clean some and try to cook. Meanwhile, you can make some tea for yourself. If you have a significant other, then it eases work little bit. But then you end up doing 50% of the entire household work. If you have a kid, then a different story altogether. No breathing time for both of you. Weekends, you clean your house, clean clothes, arrange them, manage to do grocery, invite people over because you are lonely etc. Time passes just like that. On the contrary in India, you get most of your house hold jobs done by people who are efficient in it. You have lots of time to do other things. You can teach your kids, play with them do some reading etc. At what cost? Nothing more than dust and chaos. I can live with it..
In places like Mumbai, you get high speed internet(> 3 MBps - 1.5 Mbps is still considered highspeed in US), gas pipeline, "bai" for 1500 rupees a month and additional Rs 1000 for cloth ironing, gardener etc. So calculating cost of living, apart from your house rent you have all your basic needs including food can be taken care of in 10,000 rupees. The average salary has gone up for a lots of jobs in India. Many people earn atleast 50,000 rupees a month. So, tell me which life will you opt?
clean roads vs Dirty roads
Traffic discipline Vs No traffic discipline
No crowd Vs Lots of crowd
Do all work by yourself Vs Get things done by people
No time for yourself Vs Lots of time for everything else
Food is difficult Vs Food is yummy
Lonely Life Vs People all around you
No Family Vs Family
Nobody cares for you Vs You get lots of love and affection
Whatever you earn pay 45% tax Vs You get lot of tax exemption
Anytime, I will choose B over A. For me spending my precious time doing something that someone else can do and that to that generates job for someone is always welcome by me. The choice is yours after all the life is yours ..
Jai Hind
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