I've been back in the USA for a week now. It's nice to be back home where everything is familiar but I miss India a lot. For better or worse, daily life in India is much more interesting than in the USA, but processes are so systematic and efficient here that make doing any kind of work a pleasure. But each place has its benefits and I enjoy both places for what they are. I've been away from the USA for nearly 2 years so I wanted to share my thoughts on what has changed, what I like and what I miss about India.

This is the list of obvious things that are my disposal in the USA that I didn't have in India: 24/7 (hot) water, electricity, fast broadband internet (without download caps yet!), motorized transportation, punctuality, various credible media sources (radio, TV, internet, magazines). Also, I've felt like Gulliver in Lilliput this week because bathroom toilets and sinks are much lower to the ground in the USA - presumably for handicapped access. Strange but true

And here's a thorough list of what I miss about India.

  • Never having to spell my name out or hear it mispronounced. This was a revelation to me as an Indian-American. Strangers could make an educated guess where my family is from as well as my religion just by knowing my name. Growing up, I hated my name because I would always hear it mispronounced. I remember telling my mom as a 7-year-old that I wanted to change my name to Mike to make it easier for me at school. When I was 13 I would ask my dad how to properly pronounce my last name because hearing people butcher my name so often meant forgetting the proper way of saying it. It's anIsh koTharI if you're interested.

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  • Affordable, easily available and delicious vegetarian food. From street food to restaurants to weddings and everywhere in between, I found good, cheap food everywhere I went. In Mumbai, I used to eat idli, vada pav, sandwiches, and chaat from street vendors. In Jaipur and Delhi, I would eat samosas, momos, chole bhature, and kachoris. In South India, I would eat everything on the menu! This was a big boon to me as I was able to sample so many different varieties of food all without fear of it being meat-contaminated. Through college in the US, I always had to scrounge for good vegetarian food outside of home and I ate to my stomach's desire while in India. Read this article for more on the diversity of Indian street food.
  • Train travel. On the first few trips I traveled in 1st or 2nd AC (2 sleeping berths), which was very comfortable, clean and spacious. Then I started traveling by 3rd AC, which is more crowded (3 sleeping berths) but also cheaper. Indeed, a found a trick to this too, booking side upper berths gave me a little more room and a lot more privacy. While traveling to Chennai with friends, I made a big leap and graduated to sleeper class: 3 sleeping berths, open windows/doors, and lots of people. Vendors travel on these compartments selling everything from fruit to chaat to luggage locks to necklaces and everything you can think of. Hijras and beggars roam these compartments and ask travelers for money. This is how middle-class India travels and I loved it. I would open the doors on the running train to take photos; I have some great shots of the countryside to show for it. Then on a trip from Ahmedabad, I traveled with friends in a general/unreserved train because our sleeper class reservations weren't confirmed. This is how working-class India travels: it's extremely congested and people sit/sleep anywhere they can find room: I sat next to one man sleeping underneath the seat! When we boarded the train, there was no room whatsoever so we stood as upright as possible. After a while, we got tired and made room to sit down using newspapers as a barrier between us and the floor. Slowly each of us got seats and we made our way back to Mumbai with a great story to tell. Here's an excellent piece on traveling by the Indian Railways.

 

  • Personal relationships. If you need to ask for a stranger's help in India, you don't yell out "Hey!" Instead, you call them out by their title. In North India you say "Bhaiya" or "Bhaisahib" (older brother) or "Chacha" (uncle) depending on the person's age. In South India, it's "Anna" (older brother)  or "Sir". Here's a write-up on the power of Bhaiya. Despite all the languages and cultural differences, there's a sense that you are you're brother's keeper. My experience in the USA has been that people are very private and independent so they generally only care for those whom they know well.

 

  • Inexpensive services. If the USA is XL, then India is custom-fit. Traditionally, Indian culture is geared towards personalization so people have clothes tailor-made, have food made the way they like it (spicy, salty, sweet, etc.) and because business culture is entreprenurial/service-oriented there are such a variety of services on offer. For example, a street can have food vendors, chaiwallahs, fruit/vegetable sellers, tailors, old newspaper merchants, cobblers, bicycle and motorcycle repairmen, people who iron clothes, etc. in addition to regular stores that offer services in a more formal setting. So I would never hesitate to get my hair cut because it would never cost more than $1 whereas it costs 10x or more in the USA. We arranged for a woman to come home and cook us dinner for about $2 each time; we ate well and she made some extra money. This allowed me to do a lot of experimenting: I had every pair of pants that I purchased in the USA tailored to fit my waist for about $1 each. When I purchased jeans, the store tailor would fix the length (at no extra cost) and have it ready for me that same day.

 

  • Experiencing analog life in a fast digitizing world. There's a sense of timelessness about India: sons are groomed to take over their father's businesses, small-town shopkeepers come home to eat lunch, relatives hand-deliver wedding cards and send sweets to friends to celebrate big occassions. That's in a country that has the highest mobile phone penetration (thanks to the lowest calling rates) in the world. So the old and new coexist and it was fascinating to experience it firsthand - while you can check railway reservations online or via SMS, the most reliable source is calling the automated number at the railway station via landline phone. This photo was taken behind a gas station (petrol pump) on the brand-new Jaipur-Agra highway, where we also saw cow patties drying by the side of the road. Life in India is rapidly changing but it was amazing to be able to witness the transition first-hand.
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  • Not having to drink alcohol in order to socialize. In college, I grew into the culture of drinking alchol to socialize. We would meet for drinks and talk or party. In India, people socialize over chai/coffee/food in addition to alcohol. It makes for more lucid and meaningful conversation. It might have something to do with just how talkative Indians are, but I appreciated not having to drink when you meet someone.

All that having being said, here are things that I don't miss about India.

  • inefficiencies that unnecesarily create workflow backlogs
  • Filth, pollution, open sewers/toilets, shoddy construction
  • the relative nature of time. If you want to get anything done, know that it will take longer than you expect it to
  • Indian media. There's a lot of shock journalism and because the general Indian public is not very educated, the media generates content for the lowest common denominator (e.g. TV serials/soap operas). On the plus side, I never watched TV in India!
  • Eating after drinking alcohol. This concept was lost on me; in the US, we eat, drink, dance, and eat again if required. In India, we drank, talked, and then ate. The talking was very occasionally replaced by dancing.

Cheers!