Sunday, May 04, 2008

India

One of my colleagues asked me how my move was working out. In a nutshell. And this is what I told him:

India, needless to say, has developed a lot. I see a lot more US factor (like US brands and shops and restaurants) here than I would like to, but that is OK. Things move much faster now. We had a smooth ride setting up our house, it wasn't as much pain as it would have been probably 8 years ago. You get a lot of household help and outside help (like someone washes/cleans our car everyday, you can get a chauffeur etc) so as long as you are above a certain income level, you can live a lot more comfortably than if you were making a quarter million bucks back there.

Which is my opinion. In a nutshell. We went to a store called "Hometown" which is like a home improvement/development store. And the sort of stuff you get there and the kind of things you see there are mindblowing. I haven't seen a variety like that even in IKEA/Home Depot. Modular kitchens, designer bedrooms and what not. Urban India has developed. Beyond imagination. You couldn't have imagined this even 5 years ago. Sometimes when I see the cities, I wish I had never left. I almost feel sad that I have missed witnessing all this explosion. But better late than later.

I also look at today's kids and exclaim in awe. They grow up with things that I never saw till I was well into my twenties. Whether its appliances or cell phones or XBOX consoles or whatever it is, they are well into technology I never knew about till I was a decade past my teens ;) But then I think it was probably the same thing with our parents and us. They would have been surprised as much as we are I suppose.

And life goes on..

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Divs,
Its true that more of US is seen in India. Which is kind of bothersome. Because even now, Indians think being westernized is hip, or the 'in thing'.

I was telling my friend the other day, India is developing yes, but mainly bcos of foreign influence.

What would be good is if we had 'more of' our own enterpreneurs and innovators and wholesome Indian companies, and people must be proud of what they are and who they are and not try to 'copy' if I may use that word, the West.

-Z

DivSu said...

Hi Z, couldn't agree better with you. I wish we developed our own brands taking an idea, rather than just importing everything. I wish :)

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