Cons for India (And Mitigations)

01 Nov 2022 - Tanmay Jha

Some of the positive aspects of US life are simply not practically available in India. If these are deal breakers for you, then you may want to rethink your move. I will discuss possible mitigations to ease the transistion.

Access to nature - If you live in the Pacific Northwest (eg Seattle), then you are always close to nature and hiking trails. You can realistically reach a good trailhead with a 20 min drive, and a stunning trailhead in less than an hour of driving. While India has some good hikes, they are in remote regions. Indian cities are massive, extremely dense and far away from nature. Add in traffic, and hiking or trekking are not going to be possible regularly.
Consumerism and consumer goods - India simply does not have the same amount of consumerism. In general, the quality and selection of consumer goods is somewhat inferior - a product of lax standards and cost cutting. In the US, you can think of anything and someone will be building and selling it. You can find all sorts of tools and gadgets on amazon that make your life easier. On top of that due to a combination of low import duties, stronger currency and strong consumer demand, these things are reasonably affordable and well reviewed. Want to purchase a sunlight lamp? Look at hundreds of offerings on amazon or read Wirecutter/Consumer Reports. Don’t like it? 30 day returns. These things are simply not available in India. While the consumer market is much bigger than in the past, most gadgets are still imported and face high custom duties. Consumers are also more price sensitive, and return policies are abysmal. This extends to even low value goods - I was trying to purchase a sleeve for my wireless keyboard. On amazon.com, there were like 30 options custom made for my keyboard model. On amazon.in, there was only one generic case. Even on amazon, the return policy is typically “replacement only” for 7 or 10 days (aka only if something is defective, and no refunds). For anything like ergonomic keyboards, height adjustable desks or monitor, the choices here are much more expensive than the US and of lower quality. Same goes for coffee beans, wines, whiskeys etc. In addition to that your income will inevitably be lower than the US, so these things will feel disproportionately expensive. Be prepared to face a reduction in choices and a reduction in consumption as a result of these. I had come to really love American consumerism and convenience, and I know a lot of people do.

The obvious mitigation measure here is to re-orient your lifestyle to take advantage of local options. Labor is cheap, you won’t be cooking or cleaning as much, so you don’t need Victorinox knives or a Roomba. I have found out that the lack of a height adjustable desk, or multiple 4k monitors suspended on monitor arms hasn’t really made that much meaningful difference to my life. If there are things that you absolutely want and are one time expenses, by all means go ahead and buy them here, or maybe purchase them in the US and have them shipped over. Consider the extra expense a part of the adjustment, and fund them as a discretionary expense out of your savings. All in, if the extra expense is say 4-5 thousand dollars then while it may be a significant chunk of money in local currency and overall, its really not enough money to prevent you from moving to India. The silver lining is reduction in consumerism is good for the planet and for your wallet!
Infrastructure - Infrastructure is really not up to speed in India, especially in metro cities like Bangalore where rapid unplanned growth leaves much to be desired. While electricity is no longer a big pain point, water quality is a concern. For women, safety can be a concern (although this seems to be better in Bangalore compared to say Delhi). Bangalore traffic and roads are simply atrocious. Air quality is worse than the US, but at least in Bangalore its much better than North India. Typically you can “solve” most of these problems by staying in the right areas. Stay in a nice gated society with a freshwater connection, and that gets rid of most of the noise and safety issue and provides you with water and electricity backup. The presence of a society plumber/electrician also simplifies day to day life. The result is almost a first world bubble where you are insulated against chaos, noise and power outages. You mitigate traffic and bad roads by staying close to work, taking an uber instead of driving or hiring a driver, and altering your schedule so you avoid rush hour traffic if possible. If you live in North India, purchase air purifiers for your home and office. You order groceries and most goods online to avoid traffic and crowds. These are patchwork solutions, and from time to time you will find yourself getting stuck for hours in traffic, or being without electricity but that’s more of an exception than the rule.
Pollution - This is much harder to avoid completely. Typically if you live in a gated society with a freshwater connection, they already treat your water so that its not excessively hard or harsh. On top of that, RO+UV filters are the norm here and they make your water pretty safe to drink. For air pollution, your best bet is to have screened doors and windows to reduce the amount of dust, and use air purifiers in North Indian winters. Corporate Offices typically have ventilation/air purification systems. Drive with the AC on or take an Uber Premium most of the time so that you can have the windows closed. These are again patchwork solutions, but once you get used to it things don’t bother you so much, especially since you are able to cut them out of your life to large extent. If you have severe allergies, you will probably have more trouble and it should definitely be a factor when evaluating the move.
Poverty/exploitation - I thought this would be more of a factor for me than it really was. While poverty is visible, it was much less jarring than I thought it would be. Maybe because things have gotten better, or maybe seeing the large amount of homelessness in Seattle/SF had desensitized me more than I had expected. Its also probably a result of living in a gated society and poverty being hidden away in farther away poorer areas. In any case, after the shock of first few days you really stop noticing most things unless they directly influence your life.

I also thought that after all these years of doing my own errands, I would be uncomfortable with having domestic help. Or that it would feel like I am exploiting people with low wages. That hasn’t really happened, and I am not sure why. I simply make it a point to treat my maid/cook well, and the rest of it is just routine.
Work life balance - While I still am on my break, I did talk to multiple people in the tech sector here who work as PMs and software engineers. Most of them seem to have worse work life balance than what I am used to, with 10 hour workdays being the norm. Now personally for me, I am prepared for a worse work life balance as long as I can work on a team/product I like. The bad work life balance is also blunted by having more manual labor available to save your time, like ubering instead of driving and taking a nap, having someone cook your meals and clean etc. This will still get annoying, especially if you end up in a place with a bad work culture. Its not exactly a secret that Indian work culture and management culture usually lean towards unhealthy/toxic. The best advice I have received in this area is work in a big US based tech company, or directly for a smaller US company that hires employees directly in India. Try to find coworkers/managers who have worked in western countries before, and use referrals when searching for jobs. There are definitely teams that have decent work life balance, but finding them will require effort/time. Just like the US, job hopping is quite popular here and if you don’t like what you have, don’t be shy about switching. There is a silver lining here - the camaraderie between colleagues here is much higher than the US, so hopefully the longer hours will bite a little less.
Dirtiness/aesthetics - This is something that caught me off guard for the first few days, especially since cleanliness levels were a lot better than I had expected. Even if you live in a nice gated society, everything feels grubby for the first few days. The buildings, corridors and common areas always look a little blackened. I am not sure if its the mold due to the heat and humidity, dust or just cost cutting and using inferior materials for common areas. It’s a bit jarring for the first few days, but you stop noticing it after a while.
Hygiene/food safety - This is a jarring transition. A lot of people don’t wash their hands with soap after peeing. I have definitely seen restrooms in good restaurants that were out of soap. You have to train your maid to wash their hands before working. This is really nothing new, and one of the reasons why you shouldn’t eat out at restaurants you aren’t familiar with. This is one of things that you adapt your lifestyle to - eat mostly home cooked food, avoid eating meat at restaurants unless they are well known and have a high turnover etc.