Life In A Developed Country (Part 2)
A random compilation of the everyday differences between UK and India.
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Let us continue where we left off last week. In case you missed it, see part 1 here.
#26 Medical care is free (technically, your taxes pay for it) irrespective of how expensive your treatment is. Heart transplant? Free. Chemotherapy? Free. Dialysis? Free. Got into an accident and require emergency surgery? Free. The quality of these medical procedures is not any less than the quality you get from the best private hospitals in India. It is state-sponsored and thanks to a lack of corruption, you do not have to bribe your way to get these treatments either. If you really needed it, it will be administered to you. Hassle-free.
#27 They have a strong culture of spending and a weak or even non-existent culture of saving. They use the money to travel, get drunk, and become better at their hobbies. Say Person A lives in the UK and is interested in photography. Person B is also interested in photography but lives in India. Person A, upon identifying his interest to pursue photography, will go purchase a DSLR and a good photography course online. In contrast, Person B, will put off purchasing a camera and will even convince himself that “phone cameras have become good these days so let me try to do it with just my phone”. B will also look for hours on the internet for “best free photography courses” because he does not want to spend money on an online course. Who has a better learning rate among the two? A. Who is more likely to give up on the hobby? B.
#28 There is no MRP on any items. Retailers are free to sell at any price they want.
#29 London has a mix of Victorian style and modern architecture. Though I am a fan of modern architecture, I have realized that skyscrapers are lifeless compared to something like St Paul's Cathedral. When you stand in front of the Cathedral, you feel tiny. It has character, elegance, and royal magnificence which makes you want to kneel and surrender.
You don’t feel shit when you stand in front of the Shard. It is basically a big slab of glass.
#30 So many parks. London has 2.7x more parks per 1000 people than Chennai has. It might not seem like a big deal when you just look at the number. But you see how drastic the difference is when you juxtapose the terrain of the two places in google maps:
The majority of green patches you see in Chennai are either forests or national parks. There are very few open parks.
#31 You can see many adorable dogs on the train because public transport is dog-friendly. In India, if you are going out with your pet it is either in your scooter or in your car, or with you on a walk. Public transport is simply not an option.
#32 61% of Londoners prefer walking or public transport in London over just 36% who prefer cars or cabs1. The public transport is fast, reliable and has good geographic coverage. Not to mention that it is cheaper than a cab or a private vehicle. University College of London conducted a survey in 2018 where 67% of the participants believed that there is no need to own a car in London, regardless of their age or the zone they live in.
#69 People think a lot about sex. Well, people in India do too. Everybody thinks about sex. After all, we are humans with an evolutionary drive to reproduce and lust is a basic human emotion. So, let me rephrase. People here are more open about sex. Exhibit A: this adorable reel of a girl telling her parents about getting hit on. Apart from people being open about their sexual interests, you have physical stores that sell sex toys, strip clubs, swinger clubs, nuru massage parlors, and escort services that are easily discoverable and accessible. Since people are open and straightforward, you can (or decline to) have a respectful transaction here without getting creeped out.
#34 You do not share your food here. It is considered a big deal if you ask for a bite or if you let the other person take a bite from your plate. In India, it is the opposite - you will be tagged as bitchy if you are unwilling to share your food.
#35 Movies are celebrated differently. There is no concept of FDFS or whistling or screaming when there is an epic scene on the screen (this is arguably THE thing I miss the most about India (after my parents)). People here are not as religious as they are in India. Instead, they are nerdy. They have comic cons and fan fiction. They have Disneyland and LEGO merch. They have meetup groups where movie lovers discuss a film over drinks and food.
They have movie chains like Prince Charles that are dedicated to movie buffs where hits from way back in time are screened. They screen Tarantino and Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray and Paul Thomas Anderson. They have HP and LOTR marathon nights. And they screen 70mm!
#36 Drinking is a prerequisite for socialization. Want to hang out with colleagues? Be ready to drink. Want to hang out with friends? Drinks. Date? Drinks. There is a strong drinking culture here. If you like socializing, be prepared to drink so much that “social drinker” essentially means “regular drinker”.
#37 They are big on ready-to-eat foods. Everything from biriyani to pizza is available ready-made. You just have to toss them in the oven and your dinner is ready.
They are either not healthy enough or cheap enough (or both) to include in your regular diet. But for those days when you are sloshed with work or are sick and have no one to cook for you or you simply aren't in the mood to cook, then you can grab a variety of sandwiches, pasta, soups, or wraps at any store in your neighborhood.
#38 Bonding over hobbies is much more common here. Since everyone is hardcore about their hobby, they like to geek out with other nerds. In India, you find friends during your college years or in the office. Beyond that, it is rare to make new friends.
#39 India has cooks, the UK has convenience cooking. If you are short on time and money, you can buy pasta and pasta sauce and put together something delicious in under 10 mins. No mixie to make tomato gravy? No worries. You can get chopped tomatoes in a can. You get canned soup, tuna, boiled beans, boiled corn, smoothie mix, salads, cut fruits, washed greens and so much more.
#40 You don’t have much use for your speakers that you purchased for the sake of listening to music. I had a set of speakers as a part of my work setup in India and I would always have some song on whether I was reading or working or writing. I bought a set of speakers after coming to London too. After several weeks of my purchase, I had this feeling of regret. “Jeez, I am not playing music on those speakers at all. Why did I even buy it?” I realized that I simply did not feel like playing music that much. But why? Turns out, it is because ambient noise is zero here. It is so silent that you don’t feel like ruining the silence by playing music. Which then made me wonder “Why the hell is it so silent goddamnit?” A few reasons:
There are fewer people and vehicles on the streets
Zero honking
Double glazed windows
Double glazed what? They are windows made out of two layers of glass with an air gap between them.
Thanks to the air gap, you have solid soundproofing as well heat retention and insulation during cold weather.
#41 India has grills, and the west has double-glazed windows. Apparently, these windows are hard to break.
#42 India has blankets and sweaters, and west has those plus heaters built into the house. You pass boiling hot water through these heating pads and they radiate heat into your room. You pay a separate “heating” bill.
#43 No need to request your flatmate/partner/family to “turn on the heater for me” for bathing. As I said, the heating system runs on hot water. So, your house has a 24/7 supply of hot water.
#44 No thunderstorms. Whenever it rains (which is frequent), it only rains; it does not pour as it does back in India. I kinda miss the feel of lightning and thunder.
#45 Long summer days and long winter nights. The sun sets only at 9 PM during summers so you have daylight for around 16.5 hours. During winters it sets at 4 PM and the day lasts for just 8 hours.
Why does this happen? Because the earth is not perfectly straight. No, I am not talking about sexual orientation. I am talking about this:
So when the earth goes around the sun, the places away from the equator see longer days during summer and longer nights during winter.
#44 Indian food is easily available here. Neer dosa? Check. Kerala parotta with beef curry? Check. Mangalore style masala dosa? Check. Biriyani, gravies, curries - whatever you’re craving, you can find it.
#45 You cannot avoid the delivery fee. Whether it is food delivery or grocery delivery, you gotta pay a fee for delivery and people are willing to pay for it too.
#46 There is no label on the food packaging to indicate whether something is veg or non-veg. So be sure to double-check the ingredients before purchasing something. Just because there is no red label does not mean there is no meat. There is, however, a label indicating if it is vegan.
#47 Similarly, do not order “Cheeseburgers” and expect a veg burger. I learned this the hard way. Turns out, beef is the default here like how vegetable patty is the default in India. If you order a cheeseburger, you are going to get a beef patty cheeseburger.
#48 People in the west love the fridge, while Indians love pseudo-science (I'm looking at you Ayurveda, Siddha, and Homeopathy). People here take full advantage of the refrigerator. They stock their fridge with groceries for the entire week. They meal prep. And as a result, they are able to meet their dietary goals consistently. In India, we have demonized the fridge so much with things like “Use the fridge as less as possible because it makes the food lose its nutritional content”, “freshly cooked food is the healthiest” etc. Well, if you are so concerned about health, why are you always on a protein deficit diet? More than 70% of Indians are protein deficient. Indians miss the big, obvious guidelines for better health and instead focus on inconsequential things like “eat fruits first thing in the morning”.
#49 Your white sneakers remain white even after repeated use.
#50 No mosquito problem.
#51 No "wash your feet once you get home".
#52 Be prepared to feel like a loser in the gym. Even if you were in the top 10 in your gym back in India, you are most likely to be in the bottom 5 here. Even most women lift at least 2x more than you. Also, the gyms are huge here.
#53 You can have an easy-to-maintain white aesthetic. This is my mostly-white WFH setup here and I think it will be incredibly high maintenance if I tried it in India:
#55 There are thoughtful markings on the road to caution walkers using their phones.
#56 You do not feel like an outsider here because 37% of the population comprises of immigrants. That is 1 in 3 people. No one is an outsider in London.2
#57 It is harder to be fit in India.
I will keep adding to this list as I continue to discover more things.
Have a nice weekend!
Here is Part 1 in case you missed it.
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://content.tfl.gov.uk/travel-in-london-report-9.pdf
Source: https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/where-do-migrants-live-in-the-uk/#:~:text=Migrants%20born%20in%20non%2DEU,population%20than%20the%20North%20East.