Quality of Life is Better in India or France..........Decide

[srgudd]

I think an open mind is particularly useful to making the most of your time here in France. French worldview (and clearly there is an entire spectrum of views here based on gender, age, socio-economic background, education levels, etc.,) is very different to the Indian worldview.

Being able to absorb the best of their worldview (for example extended conversations over meals) whilst holding on the best of our own (for example family and community life) would be the way to make the most of your experience and grow as a person I think.

But then I have been here a mere 5 months and my views on what it takes to adapt may well change.

sr

[vinayak]

Well, let's put is like this...

When it comes to infrastructure - roads, electricity, general living - life is quite easy in France.
In India, it is quite "messy".

France is very expensive.
You can see lot of things which you can enjoy - but you don't have the money to enjoy - applicable to many french people as well.
No wonder they keep on saying "it is very expensive" for each and every thing.

To summarize, if you are earning good money in India - better to stay there

[LeFrenchy]

That's an interesting point that you are raising, Vinayak.

Quite often, european salaries seem very attractive when converted in other currencies... but you have to relate all that to the price of food, of logding, of transportation, of basic leisure, etc... And when you have paid everything, sometimes there's not so much left on your bank account... Without being able to afford the cheap service than you can get in India...

More generally, i've been feeling over the last 10 or 15 years that France, and probably Europe in a more general way, is living with a false notion of its wealth and quality of life.

What i mean is :

- We french / european pride ourselves with supermarkets full of food. But what you can get at an affordable price is industrial food, not of the best quality... As soon as you want to get fresh fish, organic fruit and vegetable, farm-raised poultry or lamb, it becomes very expensive, and only a few will be able to eat that at every meal

- You can find all kinds of electric / electronic equipment at a rather cheap price: TV, washing machine, microwave ovens, mp3 readers, dish washers, ... But count yourself lucky if your TV is still working after 5 years of use... And if something breaks, better buy a new one than try to get it repaired, it will be cheaper...

- We were always proud of our health and retirement systems. But it becomes increasingly difficult to finance them, considering the economic and demographic evolutions...

So we are probably less wealthy than we think we are...

However, it must also be said that quality of life is not limited to material wealth. All that you can get in terms of culture, leisure and entertainment, particularly in a city such as Paris, must be taken into consideration.

[Fift]

Hi !

I tend to agree to Sourav thoughts : there is no need to compare French and Indian cultures (as it would not make sense either to compare Chinese with Indian, or American to Chinese, or ...).
If we take into account materials wealth, well, as Le Frenchy says, it can somehow give a flase idea.

But clearly, ways of living, family life (and believe me, family life in France is MUCH CLOSER to the Indian one that the American, English of German one), leisure, culture and so on are totally different. Not better or worse, just different.

Expats have this incredible chance to be able to live and "feel" the two cultures. So my advice would be : do not try to compare, just live and enjoy the difference !