Tell us something really trivial about your life (Vol 26)
Discussion
Adenauer said:
Morning all.
Opulent Bob, please tell us about life in India? What's it like? Do you enjoy it? Isn't it all over crowded, smelly, and completely mental?
Please, I'm genuinely interested as it's one of the places on earth that I really would not want to visit based on what I've seen on the tellybox.
Ha ha Ok - you asked... Opulent Bob, please tell us about life in India? What's it like? Do you enjoy it? Isn't it all over crowded, smelly, and completely mental?
Please, I'm genuinely interested as it's one of the places on earth that I really would not want to visit based on what I've seen on the tellybox.
I wasn’t looking forward to it at all. I too had only ever seen the extremely bad side. I’d have never, ever come here if I was to spend my own money. And to be honest, it’s NOT a holiday destination unless you’re looking for something very different.
But.
It’s not all that bad, to be honest. It doesn't smell any more than Paris or Venice. Yes, there is amazing poverty. Drive through the City (Mumbai) at night, and you’ll see entire families (or groups of families) living on the side of the dual carriageway just sleeping on the pavement, or under flyovers, or anywhere there’s a bit of space. Kids tap on your windows when you stop at traffic lights, begging. (You can’t give to just one or you’d be swamped, so it’s genuinely best to just ignore them). Then there are the slums. Families of 4, 6, even 12 living in a 6 x 12 foot room. People will pee anywhere there is a brick wall or hedge. Drive to work and you see loads of heads in the bushes in the verge where the slum-dwellers are having their morning dump, all staring out at the passing traffic. It is VERY crowded. Every street, an hour of the day, will have a few dozen people walking down it. Go somewhere like the Taj Mahal and it feels like hell, compared to anything I’ve experienced in the UK.
That’s the side you expect to see – all TV shows go out of their way to show the harsh, different, non-European things that will shock or surprise.
But, it is also modern. Everyone has a smartphone. Everyone. From kids to the elderly. All the slum huts have big flat screen TVs and a satellite dish on the roof (really) and all the TV channels, including sports (sky sports international syndicate) is about a quid a month. Electricity about the same. The weather means they don’t need double glazing and lots of room, they can go and sit outside until 2am in 30degree heat. The slum dwellers are genuinely happy. My driver lives there and laughs and says it’s a very free life, very social, and very, VERY safe.
White faces (“Creamyface!”) are stared at a lot. Car horns are everywhere. I mean, EVERYWHERE. You won’t be able to go out and have more than 5 seconds without hearing a car horn nearby. I’ve tried. It makes me twitch now. The roads are insane, but safe. Far fewer accidents seen than in the UK. A surprising amount of modern VWs and Mercs. The first time you cross the road is… interesting. You appreciate your life. Go anywhere and you get asked for your photo by kids or youths, who grab your hand and smile like mad. (Male hand holding is normal here).
The food. Ohmygod. It’s stunning. Nothing like euro-indo food. Not hot, but full of flavor, fresh, good meat (not beef – tis banned), and I have put on an easy pound a week. Even with Delhi-belly. The thing I will miss most when I go home, for sure.
But, the people are generally absolutely lovely. Sincere, honest, humble, and ever so polite. And tiny! I’m not big by any means but I’m a fat, beefy f
ker compared to them. And the women in their bright saris with wiggling hips and Salwar Kameez… 
I could write SO much more about everything, the sights, sounds, smells, markets, infrastructure, strange corrupt rules everywhere, things that are the same, things that are different, I could fill pages and take over this thread. But I’ll leave it there – if people want to hear more, then by all means ask anything you like
TL;DR
It’s what you see on TV, but so much more besides – and a nice surprise for this sheltered, uncultured and untraveled home-counties lad.
It's a minimum 6 month contract, depending on how the job goes, the economy holds, and if my Mrs will let me stay for longer - the job won't support her out here, not to mention she has her own career she doesn't want to give up. I miss her massively though, so I'm not sure if I'll extend my stay. I could maybe do a year but that would be pushing it I think.
There's lots of expats you can't help but bump in to and go for drinks and food with, say hi to a European face and it normally ends up with a discussion about where you're from, where you're living and a swapping of emails or numbers. It's like starting school again, where you out yourself in the frame of mind of HAVING to make friends. It's very easy to do, much easier than you would think.
It's definitely an experience, and if I can do it then anyone can.
Oh and the decorated trucks (they all are painted up) are crazy. Just looking out of the car window now and thinking how different this rush hour is to Essex...
Sorry - waffling again!
There's lots of expats you can't help but bump in to and go for drinks and food with, say hi to a European face and it normally ends up with a discussion about where you're from, where you're living and a swapping of emails or numbers. It's like starting school again, where you out yourself in the frame of mind of HAVING to make friends. It's very easy to do, much easier than you would think.
It's definitely an experience, and if I can do it then anyone can.
Oh and the decorated trucks (they all are painted up) are crazy. Just looking out of the car window now and thinking how different this rush hour is to Essex...
Sorry - waffling again!
OpulentBob said:
Adenauer said:
Morning all.
Opulent Bob, please tell us about life in India? What's it like? Do you enjoy it? Isn't it all over crowded, smelly, and completely mental?
Please, I'm genuinely interested as it's one of the places on earth that I really would not want to visit based on what I've seen on the tellybox.
Ha ha Ok - you asked... Opulent Bob, please tell us about life in India? What's it like? Do you enjoy it? Isn't it all over crowded, smelly, and completely mental?
Please, I'm genuinely interested as it's one of the places on earth that I really would not want to visit based on what I've seen on the tellybox.
I wasn’t looking forward to it at all. I too had only ever seen the extremely bad side. I’d have never, ever come here if I was to spend my own money. And to be honest, it’s NOT a holiday destination unless you’re looking for something very different.
But.
It’s not all that bad, to be honest. It doesn't smell any more than Paris or Venice. Yes, there is amazing poverty. Drive through the City (Mumbai) at night, and you’ll see entire families (or groups of families) living on the side of the dual carriageway just sleeping on the pavement, or under flyovers, or anywhere there’s a bit of space. Kids tap on your windows when you stop at traffic lights, begging. (You can’t give to just one or you’d be swamped, so it’s genuinely best to just ignore them). Then there are the slums. Families of 4, 6, even 12 living in a 6 x 12 foot room. People will pee anywhere there is a brick wall or hedge. Drive to work and you see loads of heads in the bushes in the verge where the slum-dwellers are having their morning dump, all staring out at the passing traffic. It is VERY crowded. Every street, an hour of the day, will have a few dozen people walking down it. Go somewhere like the Taj Mahal and it feels like hell, compared to anything I’ve experienced in the UK.
That’s the side you expect to see – all TV shows go out of their way to show the harsh, different, non-European things that will shock or surprise.
But, it is also modern. Everyone has a smartphone. Everyone. From kids to the elderly. All the slum huts have big flat screen TVs and a satellite dish on the roof (really) and all the TV channels, including sports (sky sports international syndicate) is about a quid a month. Electricity about the same. The weather means they don’t need double glazing and lots of room, they can go and sit outside until 2am in 30degree heat. The slum dwellers are genuinely happy. My driver lives there and laughs and says it’s a very free life, very social, and very, VERY safe.
White faces (“Creamyface!”) are stared at a lot. Car horns are everywhere. I mean, EVERYWHERE. You won’t be able to go out and have more than 5 seconds without hearing a car horn nearby. I’ve tried. It makes me twitch now. The roads are insane, but safe. Far fewer accidents seen than in the UK. A surprising amount of modern VWs and Mercs. The first time you cross the road is… interesting. You appreciate your life. Go anywhere and you get asked for your photo by kids or youths, who grab your hand and smile like mad. (Male hand holding is normal here).
The food. Ohmygod. It’s stunning. Nothing like euro-indo food. Not hot, but full of flavor, fresh, good meat (not beef – tis banned), and I have put on an easy pound a week. Even with Delhi-belly. The thing I will miss most when I go home, for sure.
But, the people are generally absolutely lovely. Sincere, honest, humble, and ever so polite. And tiny! I’m not big by any means but I’m a fat, beefy f
ker compared to them. And the women in their bright saris with wiggling hips and Salwar Kameez… I could write SO much more about everything, the sights, sounds, smells, markets, infrastructure, strange corrupt rules everywhere, things that are the same, things that are different, I could fill pages and take over this thread. But I’ll leave it there – if people want to hear more, then by all means ask anything you like
TL;DR
It’s what you see on TV, but so much more besides – and a nice surprise for this sheltered, uncultured and untraveled home-counties lad.
Maybe start a 'What it's like living in another country' thread and ask JAYB to guard it and leave it in the lounge?
The bit about the slum huts sounds just like a lot of council estates in the UK.
OpulentBob said:
Glad you found it interesting. I'll knock up a longer more detailed post in its own thread a after dinner, fill it with waffle. It'll be as good a diary/document for me as it will be for you. I'll try and get some photos in there too.
Brilliant, thanks, you wrote that really well, I sort of drifted away and could smell the fresh spices and human faeces whilst I was reading it. Fishtigua said:
Justayellowbadge said:
We Vimtologists feel nothing but pity for the poor lost souls of the Tizer faction.
I had a Vimto just yesterday as they had run out of dandelion and burdock.
ali_kat said:
Why, I mean I know I'm female & blonde and so quite likely to have got this wrong BUT isn't it only Vintage jets that will not be allowed to perform "high-energy aerobatics" over land? It was just vintage jets "limited to flypasts"? So, in my understanding, Spitfires, Hurricanes, Lancasters and others can still perform, as can the Helicopters and Red Arrows?
AH - that puts a different perspective on things - the news reports I'd heard simply stated "for vintage aircraft" not specifically for jets. 
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