So what is the QOL like out there?
No disrespect to the Indians on this board, but India is a $hithole. Yes, there are some very nice parts to the country, but if you are asking about living and working in one of the major cities I wouldn't recommend it. Let's just take a look at today's weather forecast for Mumbai :
2005/04/25 21:00VABB 252100Z 260024 00000KT 4000 FU FEW020 BECMG 0507 26008KT 5000 FU BECMG 0911 27010G20KT 6000 BECMG 1315 30010KT 5000 FU BECMG 2022 31004KT 4000 FU.
That is actually a good day in Mumbai, most days it is 2000 to 3000 meters in smoke. Delhi is much the same and Calcutta is worse. Now that is just the air you breathe. If you want to get into dealing with Indians on a daily basis, be prepared for major culture shock. " Yes " can mean no and " No " can mean yes. " Soon " means probably never and then only if you stay after me every day for a week. I still haven't figured out the whole head bobbing thing, it seems to be a combination of "yes", "no", and "i'm confused".
Once I travelled from Delhi to Ramnagar, a distance of less than 300 kilometers. The Atlas showed the road as a " major highway " as far as Moradabad, about two thirds of the way and then a highway for the last third into Ramnagar. Ramnagar being in the Himalayan foothills outside of Corbett National Park. I did have an idea to take the bus for about $2.00 but after two hours at the bus station trying to find the right bus I gave up and hired a taxi. It was a bit comical really, I would walk up to one of the many ticket booths and ask where the bus to Ramnagar was, the attendant would then say, " Rishikesh ? " which is another city in the foothills. I would say, " no, Ramnagar ", he would then point to a bus. I go to the bus and ask if this is the bus to Ramnagar, the driver would inevitably say, "no this is the bus to Rishikesh".
Anyway, I get in the taxi ( old 50s style Indian taxis are cool ) and our turban top Sikh driver with the handlebar mustache heads off for the " Super Highway " to Moradabad. We get onto this road and, me with visions of a quick three hour drive on a super highway quickly comes to the realization that the Indian idea of a super highway isn't the same as the American idea. Our " Super Highway " in India is little more than an undivided two lane country road with dirt shoulders. On this highway are the usual assortment of cars and buses, as well as people on bicylces, people walking, horse drawn carts, ox drawn carts, and these huge orange trucks that look like life size versions of a Tonka truck ( oddly, they all have eyes painted on the front and the loudest horn you have ever heard, we'll find out why later ). So we're cruising down this road and are having to make passes of the various slower vehicles as we go. Passing the horse drawn carts and ox drawn carts is generally not a problem, but when you come up to a horse drawn cart that itself is trying to pass an ox drawn cart ( oxes being slower than horses ) and you end up way out on the opposite shoulder making the double pass with a huge orange Tonka truck baring down on you from the opposite direction, it gets a little interesting. I began to notice that there was a frightening number of burned out hulks of mangled vehicles on the side of the road. After three hours of shear terror in the back of this taxi as we pass carts, people, busses, etc while our turban topped Sikh driver deftly manages to avoid getting creamed by orange Tonka trucks we take a break at a roadside cafe. Here I come to find out that we are only halfway there. To make a long story short we managed to get to Ramnagar in one piece and had a nice trip into the Park before heading over to Rishikesh via a nice back road without any Tonka trucks on it.
I think everyone should go to India once in their travels. It is a fascinating country and culture, but I wouldn't want to live there.
Typhoonpilot