Life In A Developed Country (Part 1)
A random compilation of the everyday differences between UK and India.
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Hi there, It's been a while.
I took a break because I was switching companies while also switching countries. I moved to London around 6 months back and have finally been able to find time for writing. So, this is me hitting unpause on this newsletter.
There are a few changes, however:
bitsoveratoms will not be a weekly newsletter. There are still some things that I need to work on (building social life from scratch turns out to be much harder than I expected it to be; especially true if you are an indoors-ey, nerdy teetotaler). Instead, I will publish whenever I have something to publish.
My writing quality is likely to be poorer than it used to be due to a lack of practice. Kindly bear with me.
On an unrelated note, I am trying my hand at mobile photography. If interested, check out my Instagram.
It is common knowledge that life in the developed west is better than that in India. How exactly is it better? After spending 6 months in London, I think I can begin to answer that question. Often, broad, reductive statements like “quality of life is better” are thrown around. In this post, I will try to keep things as palpable as possible and abstain from abstractions. For example, if you have wondered "How are western countries so fucking clean, and why is there so much dust in India?" then read on.
The nature of this topic is such that making broad generalizations is inevitable. So, please keep the following in mind:
The differences I am outlining are not to be treated as objective truths about the 2 countries. Rather, they are differences that **I** have observed. Subjective. Here is a non-exhaustive list of factors that constitute my subjective lens:
Socio-economic background in India: I come from a middle-middle-class (as in, not upper-middle or lower-middle) family in the southern part of India. This factor most significantly contributes to my subjectivity as it dictates the lifestyle I lead and thus, affects how I see the world. If you are not from a similar background, you might not agree with some of the things I point out.
Socio-economic background in London: I consider myself to be borderline upper-middle-class.
London is my first trip to a developed country (discounting the one trip to Singapore and Malaysia that every middle-class Indian family takes their teenage offspring(s) to)
I am not an investment banker. So, my job is not highly stressful (and thus, not highly paying)
I will try to back the explanations with data whenever possible but most explanations are based on intuition.
The differences I am pointing out are based on the behavior of the majority. There are always minorities and exceptions.
There are reasons why India is better than London and there are downsides to living in London as well. But this article is not about those things.
With that long-ass prelude out of the way, let's jump in shall we?
#1 Self-checkout in your everyday grocery retail stores.
You scan the barcodes yourself at a kiosk, make the payment, and exit. Who is going to notice if you skip scanning a bar of chocolate and put it into your bag? No one. Well, probably the surveillance system in the kiosk but you can easily cheat it. But, people don't do it. This is only an example but the takeaway is that this is a high-trust society.
#2 Self-testing and self-reporting of COVID tests. If you have symptoms, you test yourself and self-report on the government’s website whether you tested positive or negative. The government trusts the citizens enough to use these self-reported numbers in their COVID-19 tracking data. If you had a system reliant on self-testing and self-reporting, India would have long declared that they were COVID-free.
#3. To aid the self-testing, the government distributes free COVID test kits. You can just login into their website, enter your physical address and email address, and voila - your free test kit will be delivered to your doorstep the next day. If they were to do that in India -
#4 The number of CCTV cameras is way lesser than in India. London has 40% lesser cameras per square meter than Chennai1. CCTV cameras are so common in India that I have been conditioned to feel safe only under surveillance and unsafe when they are absent. This took some getting used to.
#5 There is a noticeable difference in the air quality. India is 9x more polluted than the UK and I suspect it is because of better regulations, better enforcement of those regulations, and lesser people.
#6 The sky. Oh, the sky. Not a single day has gone by when I was not awestruck by the sky. It is always so clear and blue.
#7 Near zero dust pollution. Even though London is extremely windy, there is phenomenally less dust here. You do not have to sweep the floor or mop every day. Once in two weeks is more than enough. Now, why exactly is there less dust here? I did not find any definitive answer but I did find this Reddit thread where people put forward the following reasons:
Every piece of land here is lined with concrete or tar, or plants/grass. There is very less loose dust to go around.
There is lesser digging of roads or the ground (for water, internet, cable, etc).
Construction sites are sufficiently barricaded to ensure the site is isolated.
No corruption in construction work which means that all the budget goes into following regulations, getting quality materials, and working with a good work ethic
The above are reasonably accurate conjectures. They are certainly in line with what I have observed. For example, take a look at these pics of constructions sites in London (notice how the barricades create a clear separation and there is no debris outside the barricades)
#8 You miss seeing stars at night because it is very rare to see a star in the sky at night in London. This was mildly surprising given how clear the skies are during the day but turns out this is a consequence of severe light pollution. Apparently, when the light pollution is too much, you see skyglow instead of stars.
#9 People start work at 9 and stop working at 5. No one bothers you outside of it. This is something we Indians already know but only when you live that kind of life do you understand how huge an effect it has. You have lower stress levels and a lot of time on your hands.
#10 Nearly every single person here has, what I like to call, a “hardcore hobby” here. Now, people back in India have hobbies too. But I think Indians see hobbies as a stress buster more than people in the west do. Since people here have more time on their hands, hobbies are not merely an escape. They try and get seriously good at it. Hence the term “hardcore hobbies”. Westerners become so good at their hobbies that they can (and some do) make money out of them. This is why you find that people here who have a full-time IT jobs are also almost as good at rock climbing as a professional rock climber.
#11 People here have a strong personal brand. This is a direct consequence of having hardcore hobbies. People have something outside of work that is core to their identity. In India, your career is your identity. Sure, you will have interests outside of it but they are scattered and fleeting.
#12 Another consequence of having a lot of time in hand? Dogs. You would be surprised if a household didn't have a pet here. The numbers explain this phenomenon - 1 in 3 people have a pet dog in the UK2 (compared to just 2% of people in India3 with a pet dog). There are just so many dogs here it is glorious. Sadly, it isn’t as exciting as it sounds. Yes, you do see many dogs when you step out of the house but you get used to it quickly. They aren’t as adorable as they are on Instagram (just like how hoomans look way happier and more successful on insta than in real life).
#13 A shocking story from a friend who works in Amazon: Apparently, there was this overachieving, ambitious woman who works over time. However, her colleagues did not take this well. So, they complained to the manager that “she is setting an unreasonable standard for others and imagine what will happen if you promote her; you will be raising the bar for others so high and we do not want that to happen”. Following this, the manager requested her to strictly not work beyond official hours. If this happened in India……wait, never mind. I cannot even imagine this happening in India.
#14 See those benches in the picture below? They give you some of the best views of the London Bridge from across the Thames River. And that seat is yours for as long as you would like. You can enjoy a book for hours while taking in the beautiful view and cool breeze.
When I saw it the first time, my instinct screamed “Quick! Grab the seat before someone does!!”. It took me a few seconds to realize that no one was fighting for it. I realized that overpopulation has set me in quick!-before-its-gone mode by default and it felt good to be notified that I have no use for that mode anymore.
#15 People are cordial. Unlike India where everyone is running the rat race and is in a hurry with zero mental space left for being friendly to strangers, anyone you run into here greets you and wishes you a good day. I also suspect that since people are fewer in number here, they value human connection more. Everyone is a "human” here as opposed to a “worker”.
#16 I once got into a call with a customer service rep of a company (probably Amazon) and she went on to enquire about my day, and how my house shifting was going (I was switching houses at that time). It was very heartwarming. This is why you hear crazy customer care call stories come out from the west like that one time when a Zappos employee chatted with a customer for 10 straight hours. In India neither would the customer rep take the time to enquire and even if he/she did, the customer will not have time to engage in such a conversation. Everyone is busy running the race.
#17 The streets are for pedestrians and cyclists. The urban planners have made sure that this message is loud and clear. If you take a look at most streets, you will see huge pedestrian walkways that are wider than the roads if not equally wide.
This is an outcome of thoughtful policies and intentional design choices by the government to make streets more pedestrian and walking friendly. The government’s Planning for Walking Toolkit “Aim and Objectives” reads:
Note the spectrum of “walkers” at the bottom of the page. Whether you are a disabled in a wheelchair, an 80-year-old in a buggy, or a parent to a 6-month-old baby in a perambulator, you can step out without a worry in the world. The public spaces are all wheel-friendly.
#18 You don’t feel judged. No matter how revealing your clothes are or how crappy your fashion sense is or how hard you make out with your partner, people don’t care. They go about their job and you can go about yours. That is why you can do things like this in public:
You can do whatever you want on the street and people will either act as if you don’t exist or they will walk up to you to have a conversation. This once again is proof of how people are respected here. I once saw a painter standing on the walking path in front of this building with a canvas and a brush, painting away for hours.
It is virtually impossible to see something like that in India because there is no space or people are going to push your painting down (sometimes, intentionally).
#19 Many streets, even in central London, are sparsely populated4. You can really feel that you are not living in an overpopulated country.
#20 You can dress however you want - revealing, gothic, casual, street, punk, biker. No matter what your style is, people are either appreciative, open and accepting or they simply don't care. In India, if you were to walk down the street looking like a punk, you would be made a joke out of. If you showed some skin, you will be judged. As a result, people experiment more here and find their style.
#21 You need to have a lot of self-confidence and a good fashion sense. While people will not judge much if you have poor fashion sense, you cannot escape your own judgment. I say this because of the sheer number of objectively good-looking people here. Every other person is looking like a model. You better be ready to up your fashion game and self-confidence because otherwise, you will feel like a beggar.
#22 You understand why the west came up with the M**F genre in adult content. You walk down London and you can see moms with infants in their hands in excellent shape. Their hair is well done, they are dressed to slay and they are fit. It is inspiring to see them take care of themselves despite being overloaded with motherly duties. This was especially shocking because it is the polar opposite in India where moms (and dads) end up getting out of shape after giving birth and sadly, they rarely recover.
#23 Even the lowest paying job in the UK pays you enough to lead a good middle-class life. The minimum wage is £8.91 per hour and that is equivalent to INR 50k per month in India which was my salary right out of university in a “dream job”. Whether you are working at a bubble tea parlor or as a janitor, you are guaranteed that pay.
#24 If you are unemployed, you are eligible for a basic income (called Universal Credit). The exact amount is based on a host of factors but if we take the simplistic case of a homeless person, he is eligible for a monthly payout of £3345 which is equivalent to getting INR 11k per month. On top of this, you get free healthcare no matter how severe your illness is and how costly your treatment is going to be.
#25 If you step out at 5 PM, you will see restaurants and pubs inundated with people in formal attire. After work, people grab a drink, have dinner outside with colleagues, and go partying. No, it is not a fortnightly or a monthly "plan" they make. It is a daily or at least weekly (more than once a week) routine.
You are probably tired by now. So, let us save the rest of the points for next week. Oh, one more point before I let you go.
What is it about India that makes us not as good as the developed countries? Why do Indians have the “Indian mentality”? It is easy to call Indians cheap and blame them for their mindset but we should recognize that they are a product of the society. So, how is Indian society different from the west? That is a very broad question but there are a few reasons that stand out:
India’s population density is 50% higher6 than that of the UK. This means more competition and pollution among other things.
More competition means overworking and taking shortcuts. Hence, the corruption and the rule violating.
We are a poor country. Our GDP per capita is $8.3k as opposed to that of $55k in the UK or $21k in China7.
Our colonial as well as our pre-colonial history.
Read part 2 here.
Thanks to Smriti for reading drafts of this.
All views expressed by the author are personal.
Any feedback and criticism are more than welcome. Find me on Twitter or LinkedIn or Instagram.
Source: https://www.caldersecurity.co.uk/countries-cities-by-number-of-cctv-cameras/#:~:text=The%20list%20goes%20on%20with,of%20CCTV%20cameras%20per%20person.
Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1061130/india-population-of-pet-dogs/
Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1061130/india-population-of-pet-dogs/
Of course, this depends on the time of the day. If you are going during peak office hours, then you are bound to see the crowd.
You can check the calculation here: https://benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/result/1d151e5e-847d-4996-a48d-a90fc3185b99
Source: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-by-density
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita