Ah yes, Indian Standard Time, Indian stretchable time, whatever you choose to call it.
a few minutes means about 15, 10 minutes means about 30, 15 means about an hour, and a half our or hour will end up being tomorrow.
As for QOL, well you can live cheaply in a village or small town but you will have no life. But If you want to live nicely in Mumbai, it will not be cheap.
its not like you can live somewhere in India, have western conveniences and live cheaply really. Hotels in Mumbai and Bangalore and often more expensive than in US. If you want to live like you do now, or anywhere close, it will not really be a bargain, you probably dont want to live like a backpacker if you are there working.
However you can hire someone to cook and clean for you for a couple dollars a day if you want.
Pune had a lot of Europeans and Israeli women visiting, so there were always some to chase after if just trying to get some.