“I felt like a princess”: what did the Russian woman like India
Today, many Russians leave to live and work in other countries. The information age makes it possible to make good money even in those states that previously could not be considered attractive for emigration. So, more and more of our compatriots are moving to distant India - a warm climate, oriental exoticism, low prices for housing and food make life in this country especially attractive.
Usually, when they talk about moving to India, they primarily recall Goa. In this former Portuguese colony, the largest Russian colony on the Hindustan Peninsula is really concentrated. "Free artists", freelancers, small entrepreneurs, translators and guides for numerous tourists - whom you will not meet in Goa. But gradually, Russian people appear in other regions of India.
Marina left Yekaterinburg a few years ago. Having received a higher education in engineering, she did not expect that she would ever leave the country, and even moved to exotic India. Everything happened by itself - one fine day Marina received an invitation from an Indian trading company. So she ended up in Mumbai - the business capital of India.
Today, Indian programmers, as we know, travel to the USA and Great Britain in thousands. But there is a reverse process - European managers who are able to build the right line of interaction with foreign, especially Western clients, are going to India at the invitation of local companies. The heroine of our article also became one of such managers.
In India, Marina was most struck by the level of social polarization. They say that in Russia there is a huge difference between rich and poor, but in India it is even a hundred times more. There are Indians living in huts made of leaves or just outside, for whom a cup of rice per day is already happiness. And there are billionaires of such a level that our oligarchs are resting in comparison with them. Most Indians are just poor. Their standard of living is much lower than that of poor people in Russia, and there is no chance of getting out of their social environment.
The huge population, unemployment, and low skill level contribute to the fact that simple physical labor is very low in India. Therefore, almost every middle-class Indian family, not to mention wealthy people, has domestic workers. They pay her at times less than in Russia, and the servants often live in the houses of the owners and are glad of the opportunity to be full every day. By the way, their salary for our money is no more than 5 thousand a month, but there are also many who come from poor Indian villages and suburbs for such a salary. Marina was surprised at this for the first time, and then got used to it:
The hardest part in India is getting used to the local mentality. If our compatriots living in Europe complain about the excessive individualism of Europeans, their isolation from each other, then in India, Russians are frightened by the lack of personal space and private life. And most importantly, the Indians do not see anything reprehensible in this unceremonious interference in other people's secrets - for them the whole world is like one big family.
If we talk about everyday nuances, it is very difficult to come to terms with the lack of food familiar to Russian people. India is a paradise for vegetarians, but meat-eaters will not be very comfortable here. Of course, Goa is easier with this, but the resort, as Russians have long recognized in India, cannot be regarded as real India. If you move away from the tourist centers, you immediately plunge into the indescribable atmosphere of the traditional way of life.
However, as our interlocutor says, India has its own charm. Salaries are about the same as in Russia, but prices are lower for almost everything except decent housing and medical services. It is sad to part with this country, and Marina, whose contract is coming to an end, hopes that she will still be able to live and work in India.
Usually, when they talk about moving to India, they primarily recall Goa. In this former Portuguese colony, the largest Russian colony on the Hindustan Peninsula is really concentrated. "Free artists", freelancers, small entrepreneurs, translators and guides for numerous tourists - whom you will not meet in Goa. But gradually, Russian people appear in other regions of India.
Marina left Yekaterinburg a few years ago. Having received a higher education in engineering, she did not expect that she would ever leave the country, and even moved to exotic India. Everything happened by itself - one fine day Marina received an invitation from an Indian trading company. So she ended up in Mumbai - the business capital of India.
Today, Indian programmers, as we know, travel to the USA and Great Britain in thousands. But there is a reverse process - European managers who are able to build the right line of interaction with foreign, especially Western clients, are going to India at the invitation of local companies. The heroine of our article also became one of such managers.
In India, Marina was most struck by the level of social polarization. They say that in Russia there is a huge difference between rich and poor, but in India it is even a hundred times more. There are Indians living in huts made of leaves or just outside, for whom a cup of rice per day is already happiness. And there are billionaires of such a level that our oligarchs are resting in comparison with them. Most Indians are just poor. Their standard of living is much lower than that of poor people in Russia, and there is no chance of getting out of their social environment.
The huge population, unemployment, and low skill level contribute to the fact that simple physical labor is very low in India. Therefore, almost every middle-class Indian family, not to mention wealthy people, has domestic workers. They pay her at times less than in Russia, and the servants often live in the houses of the owners and are glad of the opportunity to be full every day. By the way, their salary for our money is no more than 5 thousand a month, but there are also many who come from poor Indian villages and suburbs for such a salary. Marina was surprised at this for the first time, and then got used to it:
In Russia, only an oligarch can afford such a number of domestic staff. Therefore, here I felt like a real princess - a cleaning lady, a cook, and a driver ...
.The hardest part in India is getting used to the local mentality. If our compatriots living in Europe complain about the excessive individualism of Europeans, their isolation from each other, then in India, Russians are frightened by the lack of personal space and private life. And most importantly, the Indians do not see anything reprehensible in this unceremonious interference in other people's secrets - for them the whole world is like one big family.
If we talk about everyday nuances, it is very difficult to come to terms with the lack of food familiar to Russian people. India is a paradise for vegetarians, but meat-eaters will not be very comfortable here. Of course, Goa is easier with this, but the resort, as Russians have long recognized in India, cannot be regarded as real India. If you move away from the tourist centers, you immediately plunge into the indescribable atmosphere of the traditional way of life.
However, as our interlocutor says, India has its own charm. Salaries are about the same as in Russia, but prices are lower for almost everything except decent housing and medical services. It is sad to part with this country, and Marina, whose contract is coming to an end, hopes that she will still be able to live and work in India.
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