Good, bad and ugly

Things which are less of an issue than you think 

Hot weather

You ask anyone in the USA to name the biggest issue in India. 90% would answer “India is too hot”. I personally found it less of an issue. 

1. The super hot days exceeding 40 degree centigrade, that we hear in the news, are only 2 months - April and May. Other days are hot, but not unlivable hot. You can easily go out during the day. Except for April and May, the heat in India is almost as par as that in the 50% of the USA (southern part).

2. When I lived in the USA and would visit my village in India, some people would ask “How do you live in the snow? It must be so cold.”. I used to answer “I didn’t feel much as there was heater everywhere - in the house, car, stores and office.” 

   Same here. There is AC everywhere in India - in the house, car, mall, most stores and office. Except for the 10-15 mins when you are walking outside, you don’t feel the heat. 

I am not diminishing the importance of the heat. It’s definitely a big factor, probably in the top 5 for me as well. I just feel that it’s less of an issue compared to what people feel in the USA.

Things which are more of an issue than you think

Trash

Read the blog https://www.25yearsinusa.com/post/india-is-trash

Lack of parks and open space

It’s clean and green everywhere in the USA. Grass is green and thick. You can walk anywhere. Air feels fresh to breathe. There are a lot of free parks and playing grounds for kids. 

It feels sad to say that in the country where we refer the ‘land’ to be our mother, clean and open land is very rare to find. 

Lack of stores like Walmart

For people living in the USA, when their relatives visit them from India, taking them to Walmart, Costco and Target is a routine activity. It feels like taking them to sightseeing :). It’s not for shopping as you can find almost everything in India nowadays. The open space, centralized AC, super clean aisles just feel good. I miss that in India. When I visit the USA next week, the first thing I will do (apart from eating Chipotle) is to go to some stores, not to buy anything, just to visit. 

Most people think that street vendors (hawkers) are a big positive in India. You can walk 100 meters to buy anything. It’s wrong. Street vendors lead to the roads being more dirty, food is far more unhygienic. In USA, you often have to drive 10 kms to buy groceries and vegetables. But that makes the overall city far more clean and beautiful.   

Traffic 

In the USA, traffic is bad only in the top 10 major cities in the entire country - New York City, Boston etc.. In 90% other cities, there is no almost no traffic. You can drive at 50-60 kms/hour. In India, almost every town, tier-2 or tier-10, has a traffic problem. Average speed you can drive in the cities would be around 10 kms/hour, it's low single digits during office hours.

Parking is a huge problem. There is almost no parking available anywhere. I have chosen to use Ola/Uber over buying a car due to the problems of traffic and parking. 

Things which have improved a lot

Daily life/getting things done

UPI

We all know about it, hear about it. But 90% of us living in the USA haven’t used it themselves. You have to use it to realize how cool it is. 

A lot of our daily life is about making payments - paying for goods and services, to buy vegetables, to pay for utility bills. UPI makes it a breeze. It’s MUCH easier than anything in the USA. USA has Venmo, Apple Pay etc.. But most people and places don’t have it. In India, almost everyone has UPI, including large retail stores to a street vendor. 

Automations due to IT

• I remember when I was a kid in India, paying electricity bill was one of the chores. It would take 1-2 hours to go to the electricity office, stand in line to pay the bill. Now it takes 5 seconds to pay the bill via UPI.

• To buy a train ticket, we had to go to the train station and stand in line. Many times, we had to pay an agent to stand in line for us. I can now do that on an app (IRCTC, Railyatri etc..).

Above are just 2 examples. Software/IT has made many things super easy. India is the only country where you can get groceries delivered to your house within 10 mins by spending less than $1.

Customer service

You may remember this scene from Lage Raho Munnai Bhai.

This used to be the culture in India - people would treat daily wagers poorly, would call them like “Hey Chotu!”. Now, everyone calls everyone “Sir”! Most people treat everyone with respect. No more chotu and chawanni.

I bought a scooty in the 1st week when I moved to India. After 3 months or so, I received a message for maintenance service. I was a bit afraid to go, thought customer service would be very poor. There would be a long line, I would have to scream to get their attention etc.. This used to be our life in India.  

I was pleasantly surprised with the overall experience :)

1. I went in at 9:30am. They asked to log my name and scooty number.

2. There was a nice waiting room, nothing fancy, but good enough and most importantly, clean. I waited for 10-15 mins when a lady* called by name. She asked me what things needed to be serviced.

3. They took my scooty inside the service area in 10-15 mins after that. There is a glass window from the waiting room where I could see my scooty being serviced. This was cool.

4. In around 1 hour, it was all done. They brought out the scooty, washed it, I made the payment and left.  

It took around 90 minutes in total, no hassles whatsoever and many things automated (got SMS at every stage when scooty was being serviced). Most importantly, the staff were very polite and professional, unlike from my memories from a decade ago.  

* A very nice change in India is the participation of women in the workforce. In several places I went to (TVS service center, TVS sales store, Apple authorized service center, Airtel store), the majority of the workforce were women.

A few days later, I had to service my father’s car. It was even easier. They came to the house to pick up the car, serviced it and dropped it back, for an additional $2!

A couple months later, my uncle’s car broke down in the middle of the road. He called a mechanic. The mechanic came within 30 mins AND my uncle was about to track his GPS to see how far the mechanic had reached on his phone. 

I used to wonder “80% of the world's software engineers are from India. Then, why does our software suck so bad? Why don’t we automate things in India?”

This has greatly improved. Many things in customer service and automations are smoother than those in the USA. 

Products available 

A decade ago when I used to travel from the USA to India, I used to be proud to bring things like pistachio, cookies, chocolates and clothes. The quality used to be far superior and the range far more diverse as compared to what was available in India. Nowadays, you can find almost everything in India. I personally was surprised to find the following items in India - avocado, broccoli, strawberry, colored peppers, lettuce, kale. 

Amazon and Flipkart have made things far more accessible. 

Services available 

• I get a massage done every month. It costs only $15. That’s how much one has to tip for a massage in the USA.

• We have 2 maids in our house.

• We use Zomato and Swiggy regularly. It saves a lot of time.

• We get our house, bathrooms and sofa cleaned professionally every month.

These are impossible for a middle class family in the USA. 

Labor was always cheap in India. What’s better now are the apps which make them readily available. Apps like Urban Company, Yes Madam, Swiggy are a game changer, make a real difference in the lifestyle. 

Access to luxury, vacations, recreations 

There is a water park in Bhubaneswar, Wonderla, which is as good as that in the USA. There is glamping available (luxury camping) on the beach which is a great experience. There are several such experiences available which were not available before.

The level of restaurants, cafes and retail stores have increased a lot. Food was always good in India. But now the ambience is also great. 

So, should I move back?

If you are a NRI living in the USA, it may be a question you are thinking about. Some more, some less, but most NRIs have this at the back of their mind to some extent. 

Life in India is easier and better now than before, and will continue to get easier as India is growing rapidly. However, it’s not as good as the USA, not even close. But you know that already.

If you are debating to move back, you are doing so knowing that life in India won’t be as good as that in the USA, but there are other factors such as family and culture that make you think. So, should you move back?

I can’t answer this question for you. No one can as everyone’s situation is very unique. Whatever you decide, please make sure that -

1. Your facts about India are correct. Therefore, I wrote this blog, to shed some light on the common myths about India, good and bad.

2. You do it for the reasons that makes you happy, what you think is good for you and your family. Don’t do it out of any pressure or guilt.

3. Once you decide, go all in. Don't keep thinking every day "Should I go back?". Every country/place has something good/unique to offer. Enjoy those things. You can always change your mind, but think about it after 6 months to a year, not every day.