Moving to India- The thrill is gone

I wanted to write this post in September to coincide with the date I completed my six month anniversary in India. However, I was in an exceptionally dark mood at the time and deemed it unwise to put my vitriolic thoughts into the written word. My giddy romance with India ended like a deflating balloon as I began to encounter the 'hidden inertia' of daily life in India. In a previous post, I wrote that it's essential to create BUFUs (Back up for F***k up) while operating in India. Unfortunately, I did not choose to practice what I preached before I moved into my rental apartment, otherwise I would have gone over every aspect of the property in great detail before signing the lease.

In the last  month and a half, I have experienced a seemingly endless series of 'mishaps' with the infrastructure in my house (plumbing, electricals, appliances, water leaks). I feel like I have bought the proverbial used car that falls apart soon after you pull out of the used car lot! Things had gotten so bad at a point that I had taken to referring my apartment as 'Ground Zero' in a fit of dark humor. I have managed to fix most of the problems in my apartment over the last month but it's been a painful experience as the repairmen in India are typically under skilled and underpaid and can often mess up more than they can fix. This was the case with my plumber who is now AWOL with the hot water boiler!! Yes, it is funny now that I write about it. If I wasn't the affected party, I would be laughing too. 

Barring the mishaps, life in Mumbai hasn't been too exciting. I feel very much the outsider who really doesn't want to be an insider either. I find it hard to identify with the folks I bump into at parties here, with the exception of old college and high school friends. This is highly unusual for me since I usually befriend people quite easily no matter which part of the world I am. There have been obvious changes in society here, yet they are not so deep that I should feel so alienated. I am slowly realizing that I have changed much more so than my homeland and now I find it hard to fit back in.

I am now in the second stage of cultural adjustment in India. The first being a euphoric stage where I found everything to be exotic and heartwarming. Now, I tend to pay more attention to the aspects of life that don't live up to my pre-set expectations. The final stage will be mixed bag of adjusted expectations, depending on how empty or full I see my glass.

In my next post, I will be sharing the lessons I have learnt about moving to India and how I could have it planned it better.

Comments

[Amit Singh]

Hey Vikram

Your apartment problems may have been atypical. I was wondering if you still face these infrastructure issues. When I lived in Mumbai before coming to states, my shower, gas, electricity - all worked non-stop. Its possible that your landlord did a poor job of maintaining the apartment and mis-characterised its pros/cons. Ethics is something most Indians don't even understand; its still a while before they have the resolve to stand by it.

Amit

[Ashutosh]

Hi Vikram,

I returned to India (Delhi) 3 months back after spending 11 yrs in US. Even I am trying to figure out life in India which seems to be contrasting in so many ways.

Anyways, stay positive..get a canoe or something so you can get to work when Mumbai is flooded next time :)

keep writing..it's good stuff!

Ashutosh

[Van Sales]

I visited this blog first time and found it very interesting and informative.. Keep up the good work thanks..