About a year or so back, I remember replying to someone on an internet message board of sorts, saying that living in small-town America, especially in the Southeast would probably fall somewhere between ‘cruel and unusual torture’ and ‘fate worse than death’ to me. I recall getting a snippy reply along the lines of ‘oh and you live in India.’ I was going to write a long reply about the merits of living in a metro area in India as opposed to a place where you’re surrounded by people who’ve traveled to all of five states in all their lives and think Applebee’s is the height of fine dining, but I refrained. I didn’t want to be too much of an asshole on an online forum. I'd consider living in LA and NYC (maybe San Francisco in the US, and Vancouver and Toronto in Canada--that's it! I thought I could live in a picturesque small town in BC (like Nelson, BC), but I don't think I could actually do it. I'd go insane.
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| As frustrating as life in India can be sometimes, the restaurants here sure are amazing! |
Anyways, after the gruesome Delhi gang-rape/ brutal murder incident, I’ve gotten a few concerned emails from would be future expats to India. I thought I’d do a bit of debunking some of the stories you hear on the international news.
1. India is full of rapists! Every man is a potential rapist! Run for your life!
Is India full of rapists? Sure it is. It’s also full of doctors, lawyers, beauty salon owners, hair stylists, etc, etc, and so on. Point is: India is full of gazillions of people, some of whom are good and some of whom are bad. Every man is most definitely NOT a potential rapist.
However, there is a sense of lawlessness around the place—especially in Delhi, when compared to the other big cities in India. As long as you stay in a nice place, drive or get driven in your own car, and stay in nice hotels, you can avoid erm…certain sections of society that're potentially dangerous.
Someone sent me a link about a British tourist who had to jump out of her 3-star hotel balcony to avoid being raped. Err…that’s not a 3-star hotel, that’s a dump. It looks like someone’s old house which has been converted to a hotel. Don’t stay in places like that. If you want to do a ‘budget’ holiday then skip India altogether and head to Sri Lanka—it’s much safer.
So basically, if you can afford to live nicely in India, then you’ll be safe as anywhere else. Actually, perhaps safer because there aren’t serial killers and psycho axe murderers here. (Actually, a sociopathic killer wouldn’t choose you as a target when there are plenty of victims who wouldn’t draw the attention you would.)
2. You’ll get groped and felt up everywhere by perverted men! Dress in super conservative clothing everywhere! Run for your life!
Err…once again, depends on where you are travelling. Someone tried grabbing my ass in CP when I was wearing mom jeans and a blazer (pretty conservative and unattractive). So if you’re in certain areas, you’ll get harassed regardless of what you’re wearing. At the same time, you can wear a short dress at a place like the Blue Bar at Taj Mansingh and no one’s going to try grabbing your ass.
My solution (as I’ve already written before) is to travel in my car and avoid crowded places where there’s a…mix of people. We went to CP on Saturday to try out the Starbucks there, and we parked the car right outside, took our order, and went right back to the car. Apart from potential gropers, areas like CP are full of beggars and overflowing garbage cans.
3. Your soul will shrivel up and die due to exposure to extreme poverty.
Err…as an expat, you’ll have a pretty good salary to live in India (they won’t give you an employment visa unless you meet the minimum salary requirements). So you’re not the one who’s living in poverty.
As for the poverty around you, you get used to it in a year or so. When I first got here, I thought everyone else was a heartless jerk. I’ve gotten off of my moral high horse—somewhere around the one year mark, I pretty much turned into a heartless jerk as well.
In short, if you’re here long enough, you will get desensitized to poverty.
4. There are no modern conveniences in India! You may not even get running water! Oh the horror!
This is a big one. People ask me how have I ‘adjusted’ to life without Western conveniences.
Erm, we have five split level air conditioners in our flat. We have a UV water filter that’s pretty cool! Sure, you can’t just turn on the hot water to have a shower, but you do have these electrical water heaters in every bathroom and kitchen. And I also have a washing machine, coffee maker, microwave, electric kettle, an oven, and piped gas for cooking (no cylinders).
What I do miss is central air conditioning with temperature control. It’s annoying to keep turning the air conditioner on and off!
So in the end, it all boils down to where you live. As long as you live in a nice place, you’re good. Not great…but good enough.
As for electricity—we have 24 hours of backup. As long as you live in a place with guaranteed electrical backup, then you’re good.
5. India is full of corrupt politicians and businessmen! It’s a terrible place to live in!
This particular query perplexes me the most. As an expat, how is any of this your problem?
The way I see it, sure there’s a massive amount of corruption in India, but it’s up to the Indians (and not you and me) to fix it—if they want to. Let them debate/discuss/decide their issues. As someone who’s not an Indian citizen and therefore not allowed to vote, it sure as hell isn’t your head ache.
So unless you’re one of those people who make it their mission to ‘improve’ society everywhere they go, then you’re good. Now if you are one of those people, then perhaps India isn’t for you. You’re only going to get super frustrated while annoying the bejesus out of everyone else.
