From the USA to India

Who are you and where are you from? 
Helen Borland from Atlanta, GA, USA

Where do you live now?
Bangalore, India.

Do you live with your family? 
Just my husband and me; our 20-something children are still in Atlanta.

How old are you? 
56 

Share your reason for leaving your country. 
Before we were even married (Oct. 2004), my husband asked me if I would be interested in living in India. He wanted an adventure and could have one through an assignment at work. We were married 11 months when we moved to India a year and a half ago.

Were the adjustments difficult?
I felt extremely fortunate that the social director at the hotel where we stayed while we were looking for an apartment told me about the Overseas Women's Club. They have a weekly meeting at that hotel. As it turned out, there is a weekly coffee at the Leela Palace and I went after we had been here only a couple of weeks. There are over 600 members and about 75-100 come each week to the coffee. I get to see old friends and make new ones every week. 

I live in an upscale apartment complex, but there are very few Westerners here. The Indian women here will smile and say hello, but only two have invited me to their apartments (once each), and one of those is an expat from Vietnam! I find Indian people don't want to socialize with me or my husband. All our friends and social activities are through the OWC. 

Many things happen here that we didn't expect. For one thing, the power is out frequently, and we don't know if it will be seconds, minutes, or hours. There is UPS in our building, but it's only for the lights. Heavy-duty appliances (like the washing machine and microwave and my hair dryer) as well as our VoIP phone are inoperable during those times.

Everything here takes two to three times longer to do than it did at home, and running a household is a full time job. My daughter asked me: "Mom, what do you do all day?" When she came to visit for a month last summer she found out. We have a very small refrigerator so I have to go food shopping about three times a week. I bring it home and soak all the fruits and vegetables in potassium permanganate for 20 minutes to kill the bacteria and then rinse it and dry it before putting it away. Fortunately I can buy pasteurized milk so I don't have to boil that myself. 

Luckily, I have a fully automatic washing machine in this apartment. Yeay! I don't have a clothes dryer, but hardly anybody does. I don't have a vacuum cleaner, either, so wherever a broom can't reach, the dust and dirt remain, like in the tracks of the windows. 

India is a terribly dirty country in many respects. People keep their personal space clean, but there is no pride or concern for public space. Everywhere you look is building debris and rubble (they don't bother cleaning up when they are done) and garbage (literally) strewn on the streets. There are no laws about noise so mosques play their songs and call to prayer starting at 5:15 every morning. 

The 80,000 auto rickshaws in the city are noisy and pollute the air with their exhaust. Feral dogs are allowed to run in the streets. Actually, most of them sleep all day and bark and fight all night. Over 13,500 dog bites were reported in the city last year. Cows still roam the streets and on the sidewalks, so you have to watch where you walk, not just for the cow poop, but there are cracks and holes in the sidewalks everywhere. 

The traffic here in the city is horrendous. It can take 45 minutes to an hour for my husband to go three kilometers to work (we have a driver as most expats do for legal reasons). That's one of the few things I really like; we have an excellent driver that speaks English and knows the city. There is no lane discipline and bicycles, motorbikes, bullock carts, rickshaws, cars and trucks all share the roads. 

We are leaving at the end of May, for which I will be glad. I'm glad I had the experience, but I've had enough. My husband and I have traveled to many places in the world, and India is the dirtiest by far.

What was the immigration process like (visas, work permits, residency, etc.)? 
I started with a tourist visa then changed to an X class visa (dependent). I could not work for pay with my visa, so I do volunteer work at a children's center. I was able to get my visa through my husband's business contacts.

Are you working?
I work full time at home! I also do a lot of volunteer work with the OWC.

What are the pros and cons of living in your new country?
This is where my husband's current job is so I'm glad I can be here with him. We've had the opportunity to see a lot of interesting places in India (we are both interested in history), and it's a good jumping off point for other places in Asia. We have been to Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka and plan to go to Tibet before we leave.

Do you miss 'home'? How often do you visit?
Yes, but not terribly so. I've been home for between one and three weeks four times in the past 17 months.

Any advice to share?
You only get one shot at life, so give it all you've got! I've found wonderful friends through the Overseas Women's  Club, and feel a sense of pride and responsibility for my volunteer work at a center for slum children and raising funds through the OWC to support our charities. Don't sit at home and read or watch TV all day. Get involved with something! Most schools and non-profits welcome volunteers with open arms and open hearts.

Any web resources to share? 
Overseas Women's Club of Bangalore.

Global Adjustments.