What's life in modern India REALLY like as a Netherlands foreigner? | TRAVEL VLOG IV
what's daily life in India really like can you live here easily as a foreigner how's the traffic is it difficult to build a career what do you wear eat do for fun and is it safe something else that I definitely did not anticipate struggling with was how to dress for daily life in India all these are questions I get on a daily basis living in India as a Dutch Foreigner hi my name is Ivana and exactly on the 14th of January 2018 I landed at Bangalore to try and live in India on the 14th of January 2023 so last week I actually completed five full Years of Living in India hence I thought in this video it would be fun to give you an overview of what life in India is really like I am originally Dutch so that is my background and in this video I'm going to take you through some topics of life in India over here we're going to be discussing the basics of life in India in a second after that I'm going to take you to carbon Park to discuss Leisure and fun then we're going to to meet my friend Vinnie and we're going to discuss friendships and relationships and dating then I'm going to get into career and work after that of course we have to get into Indian food and Indian Cuisine so if you want to see everything make sure to keep on watching Until the End while driving to our first location to discuss the basics of life in India I think it's already important to discuss one huge myth that I did not anticipate and as a true duchy of course that's about the weather the myth that I'm talking about is that India is a hot country yes it gets hot during the summer and some places have a tropical climate however India has many different climate zones and this morning in Bengaluru it was only 13 degrees that's cold in my world starting off with the basics of real life in India of course first we have to have chai cheers my friends no champagne for me because real life in India dictates that you celebrate things with chai or filter coffee okay now we can talk I've brought you here to vedanta the most important legislative building in the Indian state of Karnataka of which Bengaluru or Bangalore is the capital because we need to discuss the basics of what's life in India really like the reality is that you need to sort out all your legal stuff first especially if you're an immigrant you need to sort out your Visa you need to make sure that obviously you have an income whether that is from employment or your own business you need to have a bank account and you need to pay taxes in India now going through this whole immigration process obviously you're going to submit some very very sensitive documents and I have to say because all the procedures are new and the amount of documents that you have to submit it is a very overwhelming process for me particularly the opening of an Indian bank account was nothing less than traumatic the process is extremely tedious and you have to submit endless documents because India has a history of foreign funding of illegal activities while going through a high pressure situation like that for me personally surf shark is an extreme comfort in case you have never heard of a VPN or a virtual private Network it essentially covers up all virtual sensitive situations and sensitive documents that you may be submitting by encrypting all the information because a VPN keeps your location private and all your download history it is safe to use on any kind of network yes even a public Wi-Fi so when you're submitting super sensitive and private documents you can feel completely safe and secure for me it's also super important that surfshark is easy to use because when things get really complex I need to sort out everything that I need to sort and keep my sanity in the process as well if you're an immigrant this is also very important because surfshark also allows me to switch the location of streaming services so I can watch Dutch shows or Dutch movies whenever I feel homesick especially if you are in immigrant you really get homesick and if you're an Indian living abroad you will also understand this feeling so it really hits you in the fields when you can just watch your own shows and movies from your own home country and decrease that feeling of homesickness even for a little bit then I think it's important to mention that surfshark allows unlimited devices on one account so if you're with a family you can also keep your children and Elders safe on the internet from being spied on if you would like to try it out yourself I now have a code that will get you 83 percent off and three months for free the link for that is down in the description below getting some more try to discuss some more basics of life in India cheers by the way did you notice how empty the street behind me is in front of one of the most important buildings in Bengaluru yeah I'm gonna discuss the traffic myth a little bit later the next thing that you need to sort when you have sorted all of the immigration processes obviously a place to live now the two main ways that I know of to find an apartment or a home in Bengaluru are one Facebook groups there are these Facebook groups called flats and flatmates and that's also how I found my first flatmate nishta and my first apartment obviously be mindful who you do business with online the second way that I know of and that I initially actually was wary of myself is working with a broker now a broker obviously will charge you a fee for finding you an apartment or a home and it will usually be one month's rent however having worked with a broker for the past three apartments that I have lived in I can tent and recommend it they are worth all their money because they always know the best deals one thing that I didn't anticipate struggling with is that the local people who take care of the gas connection or the internet connection they sometimes really struggle with speaking English and hence in my first year it was absolutely brilliant that I had Nisha there who could speak to them in Hindi or if it was a person who only spoke Canada the local language in Bengaluru or in Karnataka then we could call a Canada friend and they would speak to them that is something that I really really wouldn't have been able to figure out myself something else that I definitely did not anticipate struggling with was how to dress for daily life in India obviously I knew that India is a conservative country and I would have to cover up more than I would cover up in Amsterdam but then traveling here and living here are two completely different things and I'm actually going to talk more about this topic when I take you to Cobham Park but first we gotta go there it is such a beautiful morning in Bengaluru and while the city is waking up and warming up we are heading towards Cobham Park one of my favorite places in the city here I'll tell you a little bit more of about Leisure and fun activities in India [Music] well well time for some more try while I tell you some stories about what we do for fun in real India I did not know what to expect in terms of what to do for fun like obviously I knew that travel would be phenomenal but at the same time I also knew that India on the one hand is quite a conservative country what I did not know is that a real life in India means that per City actually the things that you do vary so for instance in Mumbai you would mostly go to for instance Marine drives and then in Delhi I think you would go more to Lodi Garden Khan Market in Bangalore I really did not know what to expect it was quite a pleasant surprise I have to say wait let me take a sip fun fact before I ever came to Bengaluru it was the only big Indian city that I was constantly advised against visiting because apparently there is not that much to see in Bengaluru and on First Sight it is not untrue however having lived here for a longer period of time you really get to know the Charming character of Bengaluru and I think that goes for a lot of places in India if you give each place a fair chance you might end up being pleasantly surprised Bangalore or Bengaluru is the Garden City of India and when I came here I did not see it instantly it really took some time for Bengaluru to grow on me and even the first time when I came to Cobham Park I was not that impressed what I did not know is that Bengaluru has its own time and place and you really have to dig into the city get to know people and only then you will discover the best places so for instance right now Kabob Park is one of my favorite places in Bengaluru but only very early in the morning from 7 to 10 a.m with my friend Romy preferably she is traveling currently but I also made a video with her which is linked down in the description below Romy is a sculptor and she actually has a huge artwork here in Cobham Park as well you made this yeah can you tell us something about the artwork yeah so this work is called metamorphosis it was inaugurated four years ago on August 15th so it's a commemorative culture for India's 70th year of Independence hashtag amazing amazing friend so what does leisure and free time in India look like well it varies for City and obviously if you're going into nature into the mountains into the villages you will also be doing very very different things like if you're going into the villages you might be going for more long hikes or you know just chilling out with animals one very important thing to note is that when you're considering diversity in India the language is very per Indian state so for instance in Karnataka the local language that is spoken is Canada but then when you go to Tamil Nadu the local language spoken is Tamil when you go to Kerala the local language spoken is Malayalam it's also one of my favorite things about real life in India it's never ever are boring the more places you discover in India but even just in a place like Bengaluru the more your world will broaden the more you will change as a person the more open-minded you become I think it's almost impossible to live in India if you are not open-minded yeah oh by the way I don't just have a chai I also have cheers a little bit on the other end of Leisure Time one of the things I really love about India and Indians is the capacity to work really hard but also make time for the things that are really important in life so for instance spending time with family having a really good lunch every day and obviously taking the time to enjoy your chai in peace now this also has a business component but I'll get back to that when we are going to discuss work and career one of the biggest struggles that I had in my first year in which nishta really really helped me a lot is how to dress for various places around the city Bengaluru is a very very modern city but there are also a lot of conservative areas in my first year I was so insecure about what to wear because every Foreigner already you get quite a lot of stairs you do stand out because they're just not that many foreigners in India so addressing Western actually makes you stand out even more and I used to dress a lot in a kurta in my first year as time progressed I have definitely gotten more of a sense of what to where where so for instance now I feel comfortable wearing this tight dress and a little bit of bare legs in common Park it's really not an issue but because I was so insecure about it I would have looked very very weird in my first year whereas now I'm just confident about it so it doesn't draw that much attention I would never wear a super short shorts to Cabo park because that that's really really pushing it first of all it's cool by the way it's 15 degrees this morning in Bangalore see I'm wearing long sleeves and most of my legs are covered they're still a little bit of bare leg that's not a big issue but if I would be wearing here with short short shorts I would definitely be getting stairs not that necessarily anybody would bother me maybe for selfies but in general it would make me feel very very uncomfortable and if you are a foreigner coming to India for the first time I tend and would not recommend it I would recommend to say more on the conservative side maybe where cortas with leggings or just you know jeans loose trousers with a t-shirt covering your shoulders those kind of things I think that will make you feel more comfortable and that's also what I did in my first year you really need to develop that sense of like what to wear where even in a big modern city like Bengaluru because it is not always that obvious that was my biggest struggle in terms of like Leisure how to dress for different occasions [Music] hi guys my name is Dave and I just ran into Ivana at cabin park my wife is a fan of her blog and she's been following her since more than one year now we've thoroughly enjoyed all of her suggestions you know going around the city visiting cafes and restaurants recently she suggested the Conrad brunch which is something we are looking forward to doing now it's been terrific and I I can't believe that I just ran into her just walking around at Carbon Park do you want to say hi to your wife yeah hi my wife's name is I hope you see this on YouTube foreign [Music] [Music] come down here [Music] welcome to Smokehouse Deli this is actually the first place where my friend brought me when I came to Bengaluru literally less than 24 hours and I have very fond memories here because I remember walking into this restaurant and thinking wow I think Bengaluru is a very social place and how hard can it be to make friends in India or actually even date because that friend is now my boyfriend I'm not gonna go too much into that story but I do want to talk about how difficult or how easy it is to make friends in India living here as a foreigner or maybe even coming from a different Indian city to Bengaluru I think it's actually easier because Indians are very social they're very outgoing they love to include other people in their activities even if it's a family you usually very easily get invited for dinner for a meal come home it's a very very lovely Indian say so in terms of like just meeting people getting invited I think it's actually easier than nedlist what made it really really hard for me and what makes it hard for other people not just you know as a foreigner but also as an Indian for instance coming to Bengaluru for work is that making friends over 30 30 plus is very difficult because people have their own lives probably a lot of them are already married maybe even have families there I learned that you really really have to be proactive you have to go places you have to reach out to people yourself you have to schedule your own coffees and be very very patient as well because obviously if you are starting from scratch in relationships in friendships deep relationships are not going to happen overnight for instance I met my friend Romy who is one of my best friends in Bengaluru at an art Exposition where she was one of the artists that was being showcased and her art was absolutely my favorite so I went up to her we had a chat we exchanged numbers and then Romy actually invited me to a friend's party and that's how we kept in touch and we kept reaching out to each other foreign [Music] then for instance my other friend Tina who was also part of an expat group she also reached out to me we had a coffee and we are still really really good friends until this day that's how most of my friendships happened in Bengaluru and in India you just meet people and you really have to be active and go out there and have coffees and have lunches and invest in people because that's the only way to build real relationships now when it comes down to dating in India well my life is really not that much more difficult than the life of a average Indian woman that is 30 plus my friends who are married they did get married through the whole arranged marriage scene but if you are not going through that and you're just going through the regular dating route and you're 30 plus oh what is difficult not gonna lie what really helps for me is to go in it with a mindset of just meeting new people making friends and like I mentioned the friend who brought me here that became my nowadays boyfriend but before that honestly we were just chatting hanging out and again you have to invest a lot of time and effort in getting to know a person I would recommend that before you commit to somebody especially also if you are a foreigner because there are certain prejudices about foreigners thank you Bollywood for that and people have to get to know you as well to understand that you are not that kind of person what really helped me in that process was to be very very direct every single guy that I met on a dating app and I was on Tinder was to be just very very direct like listen I just want to hang out I just want to see if we can be friends and if anything else grows from that then it will be organic but I'm not gonna Force anything and if you are just looking for something spontaneous and easy and no strings attached then bless you but I am the wrong person I I don't want to waste your time that actually resulted in a lot of those guys becoming my friends I have to give India men a lot of Kudos in that department they were very open-minded as long as you're respectful as long as you're a client you can be very direct this doesn't apply in business though but let's discuss that at the next spot first let me tell you something about Indian traffic India's traffic is just like any other big city in the world there are peak hours which are between 8 and 10 a.m in the morning and between 6 and 8 PM in the evening and if you avoid those peak hours and take an auto which I usually do it's actually very very manageable and if you're discussing Computing let's discuss work and career experiences as well I've brought you to Tata Chao because I really really love to work at this place and I've brought you here because I wanted to talk about career and working in India the first thing that you have to know about that topic and it is super important I completely underestimated it is how important relationships are overall across all Industries in India I would say relationships are pretty much 50 percent of getting a job but also doing business in some traditional Industries like for instance real estate relationships would be like almost 70 percent of the work and in startups it will be a little bit less but nevertheless oh my gosh I completely underestimated the importance of relationships and also how much time it takes to build really really relevant relationships where people trust you enough to do business with you or to give you work it is really really not easy for an outsider to find a job in India I would say well first of all because it's not really stimulated to bring foreigners into a country of 1.3
billion people where those people also need jobs but at the same time also because I feel Indians trust Indians more because that natural understanding of relationships is there more than before nurse I made a whole video about this it is linked down in the description below completely dedicated to doing business in India but yeah if I would say there's one thing that you have to know about real life in India working here having a career it would 100 be relationships and to not underestimate the importance of it also how much you have to respect the hierarchy hierarchy is still very very important in the Indian work context whether you are an employee or have your own business you really have to respect your elders people with more experience you have to show them respect because if you're rude to them relationships you're not going to get any work or you're not going to get that job that you want so definitely respect the hierarchy and also what you have to take into account is that you have to be more patient things usually in my experience take 20 to 30 percent longer because the relationships are so important what do I mean by that in the Netherlands we are very direct we are very results oriented hence sometimes we will say things that are considered very very rude in India in India you definitely would not do that because the relationship comes first hence why you usually take a little bit longer to you know cushion things and communicate them in a little bit more elaborate padded ways yeah you need to respect the relationships you need to respect the hierarchy and you need to accept the fact and have patience that things just take 20 to 30 percent longer because the relationships are more important than just getting things done here's to the Chart this is the true career fuel a lot of chai not just drinking the child for productivity but also for building relationships with people a lot of chai and filter coffee let's not forget about that it's finally time to get into the best part about life in India what do you think it is look what I got here celebratory meal but your job point is absolutely amazing and I hold such dear memories here because I had panipati here with nishta and with Vivek and after that I had Chola bature here in case you don't know Pani Puri are Hollow crunchy golf balls which are filled with a chickpea mash and then you add a little bit of Tangy water and a little bit of Sweet Water dunk it in your mouth and it is just absolutely Perfection it is my favorite Indian food and always brings me so much joy Chola batura is a huge fluffy fried bread and then it is served with chole it is actually best eaten when it is just freshly made like now because then it is crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside [Music] foreign Ty definitely underestimated of living in India is that you never run out of food options veg non-veg doesn't matter in Bengaluru I could definitely eat another dish every single day and still just not see the end of it there is just so so so much diversity in food it is insane wait let me take another bite I love it because I'm a very curious person so I need that diversity to keep life interesting for me I just can't get bored here and it's a whole diversity of living in India the diversity and the food that makes life so interesting here I absolutely love it cheers my friends while we're heading to the final destination of our journey today I would briefly like to touch upon the subject of safety in India because I think it is widely exaggerated in the world how unsafe India is honestly if you just use your common sense follow what the locals do dress appropriately India is not any more unsafe than any other big city in the world I am so grateful to be living in this country for five years and I'm wondering how did you find me actually on the internet how did we meet guys let me know down in the comments below did you find a video of mine did you hear about my channel from someone else and of course if you feel that more people should learn about my channel and should learn about what's life in India really like make sure to share this video with as many people as possible if you enjoyed it make sure to put a thumbs up and if you're not yet subscribed you can join 280 000 subscribers it's free and you'll get a notification the next time I upload a new video for now thank you so much for watching and I will see you next time bye cheers
2023-01-31 17:58
