Moving to the other side of the world means trying to find a place to call "home". Now that I've been here about three weeks, I've mastered most of the nuances of my home away from home.
I live with my roommate Amit in a large 3 bed/3 bath apartment in C-Scheme in Jaipur. C-Scheme is one of the "wealthy" areas in Jaipur, and is considerably cleaner and quieter in comparison to other parts of the city. My apartment is on the 5th (top) floor, and has a lift (read: elevator) operator and watchman at the gate.
According to a survey published by the Times of India, 1/3 of urban homes have 258 sq ft of living space or less. Given that the average household size in urban homes is 4.3, this translates to approximately 60 sq ft of living space per person, which is the minimum requirements for a US prison cell. That being said, my apartment is of luxurious proportions.
My apartment is across the street from the the Indian version of the FBI. Although it is within walking distance to the market, spa, bookstore, and my workplace, I have a driver that brings me to and from work everyday, as well as any errands that I need to run.
I have yet to see a traditional "house" in India. Metro areas have flats/apartments for housing. Only the very elite own a house, and these still often resemble a multi-story apartment due to the joint-family living situation in India. Most families live with grandparents, parents, siblings, and children all within one home. It's rare to see a "nuclear" family in a home independent from their extended family. Married women leave their families and live with their in-laws.
My apartment is considered very nice, although I had to do some adjusting.
First of all, let's talk switches.
You want to turn on a light? Flip a switch. Turn on the fan? Flip a switch. Use the microwave? Flip a switch. Blow-dry your hair? Flip the outlet switch. Need hot water? Flip the geyser (read: hot water heater) switch. I literally spent a week taking cold showers because I didn't know to flip on the geyser switch! On one hand, this is very green. On the other hand, I waste a lot of time flipping switches until I find the one I need.
I finally used the stovetop in my kitchen for the first time this evening. I have been nervous to use it since it hooked up to a giant propane tank.
Most Indians believe that storing food is unhealthy, therefore meals are made fresh from scratch daily. I have access to a chef at my workplace, where I am stuffed to my eyeballs everyday with delicious Indian food. However, sometimes it's nice to come back to my apartment and whip up some macaroni and cheese.
I have a nice large bedroom with the US equivalent of a king size bed. I have a window AC unit in my bedroom (thank goodness!), although it's in celsius. My bedroom has large wardrobes for my clothing and vanity for all my bathroom accessories. The only adjustments have been getting used to a very firm mattress (commonplace here) and the lack of bed sheets. When you buy bed sheets in India, you will get one flat sheet and two pillowcases. The flat sheet will be used to cover the mattress and a blanket will be kept at the foot of the bed.
My largest adjustment has been to the bathroom. I set two alarms every morning. One alarm to turn on the geyser, and a second alarm thirty minutes later to jump in the shower.
Where we are used to a sectioned off shower in the US, in India my shower is next to the toilet in one large tile space. It is common to find large buckets in showers to use to fill with water in case water pressure is lacking. My bathroom has a giant squeegee in it to push all residual water on the floor to one of the two drains.
Bathrooms in India make use of bidets. Toilet paper is sometimes found in restaurants or hotels. You know what they say--"when in Rome...", however this ended in disaster for me. I highly recommend bringing toilet paper with you when traveling in India. Luckily, it is easily found in the grocery store.
Outside of the bathroom, the only other odd thing for me has been the number of servants. I have a driver, chef, maid, separate maid for the bathroom and dishes, and someone who does my laundry. I overheard a humorous conversation amongst some Indians discussing how terrible it must be to live in America and not have servants! It's all in the eye of the beholder, I suppose.
Needless to say, I'm starting to enjoy my new space in India, plus my roommate bakes regularly to satisfy his major sweet tooth. Chocolate chip maple syrup blueberry cookies, anyone?
sunset view from my terrace
I live with my roommate Amit in a large 3 bed/3 bath apartment in C-Scheme in Jaipur. C-Scheme is one of the "wealthy" areas in Jaipur, and is considerably cleaner and quieter in comparison to other parts of the city. My apartment is on the 5th (top) floor, and has a lift (read: elevator) operator and watchman at the gate.
According to a survey published by the Times of India, 1/3 of urban homes have 258 sq ft of living space or less. Given that the average household size in urban homes is 4.3, this translates to approximately 60 sq ft of living space per person, which is the minimum requirements for a US prison cell. That being said, my apartment is of luxurious proportions.
My apartment is across the street from the the Indian version of the FBI. Although it is within walking distance to the market, spa, bookstore, and my workplace, I have a driver that brings me to and from work everyday, as well as any errands that I need to run.
I have yet to see a traditional "house" in India. Metro areas have flats/apartments for housing. Only the very elite own a house, and these still often resemble a multi-story apartment due to the joint-family living situation in India. Most families live with grandparents, parents, siblings, and children all within one home. It's rare to see a "nuclear" family in a home independent from their extended family. Married women leave their families and live with their in-laws.
My apartment is considered very nice, although I had to do some adjusting.
First of all, let's talk switches.
You want to turn on a light? Flip a switch. Turn on the fan? Flip a switch. Use the microwave? Flip a switch. Blow-dry your hair? Flip the outlet switch. Need hot water? Flip the geyser (read: hot water heater) switch. I literally spent a week taking cold showers because I didn't know to flip on the geyser switch! On one hand, this is very green. On the other hand, I waste a lot of time flipping switches until I find the one I need.
I finally used the stovetop in my kitchen for the first time this evening. I have been nervous to use it since it hooked up to a giant propane tank.
Most Indians believe that storing food is unhealthy, therefore meals are made fresh from scratch daily. I have access to a chef at my workplace, where I am stuffed to my eyeballs everyday with delicious Indian food. However, sometimes it's nice to come back to my apartment and whip up some macaroni and cheese.
I have a nice large bedroom with the US equivalent of a king size bed. I have a window AC unit in my bedroom (thank goodness!), although it's in celsius. My bedroom has large wardrobes for my clothing and vanity for all my bathroom accessories. The only adjustments have been getting used to a very firm mattress (commonplace here) and the lack of bed sheets. When you buy bed sheets in India, you will get one flat sheet and two pillowcases. The flat sheet will be used to cover the mattress and a blanket will be kept at the foot of the bed.
My largest adjustment has been to the bathroom. I set two alarms every morning. One alarm to turn on the geyser, and a second alarm thirty minutes later to jump in the shower.
Where we are used to a sectioned off shower in the US, in India my shower is next to the toilet in one large tile space. It is common to find large buckets in showers to use to fill with water in case water pressure is lacking. My bathroom has a giant squeegee in it to push all residual water on the floor to one of the two drains.
Bathrooms in India make use of bidets. Toilet paper is sometimes found in restaurants or hotels. You know what they say--"when in Rome...", however this ended in disaster for me. I highly recommend bringing toilet paper with you when traveling in India. Luckily, it is easily found in the grocery store.
Outside of the bathroom, the only other odd thing for me has been the number of servants. I have a driver, chef, maid, separate maid for the bathroom and dishes, and someone who does my laundry. I overheard a humorous conversation amongst some Indians discussing how terrible it must be to live in America and not have servants! It's all in the eye of the beholder, I suppose.
Needless to say, I'm starting to enjoy my new space in India, plus my roommate bakes regularly to satisfy his major sweet tooth. Chocolate chip maple syrup blueberry cookies, anyone?
That's it....I'm moving to India
ReplyDeleteHi Lee, thanks for posting pictures of your new place! It's fascinating to see how people live on the opposite side of the world :-)
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