Mary in India

This is something you must learn to live with if you move here. Which, in it's own way can be looked at as a blessing or annoyance. Typically, it's is annoyance (I'll explain the blessing part later). For example when I need to go grocery shopping and the driver hasn't arrived. Not only has he not arrived on time but he actually won't arrive at all. On top of that I won't get any warning or notification. So I sit at home twiddling my thumbs waiting for a car that never comes. *sigh*

Yes, it's frustrating. There is not much you can really depend on here and as an American this is a difficult thing to adjust too. You may not think it's much now, but when you're here you realize how much you take that reliability in the western world for granted.

So you may be wondering about the previously mentioned "blessing" in all this. Well, if you learn anything while you're here in India, it's patience. As Americans we have zero patience, and that is a fact. We want everything done yesterday and expect 24 hour service and live by the "the customers always right" mentality. There is a certain amount of general trust and guarantees that come along with business transactions. But seriously, leave all those expectations behind. Nothing happens the way it's supposed to here. We couldn't even get our bank account open for the first three months because the Indian governmental department in charge of foreigners in India (FRO) was never open to stamp our official paperwork, and you can't open a bank account without these stamps! Even just getting our apartment set-up took months. Simple things like getting the dishwasher installed, TV hooked up, furniture delivered. Everything will take longer than it should. Promises get made and they're just as easily broken. Even if the guy promises you to your face with a nod of the head and a "Yes Ma'am, delivery on Friday" it means nothing and if it does come on Friday, than lucky you! But if it doesn't, just take a deep breath and remember these words, "c'est la vie"

That is my mantra here, and it's helped me a lot. ;)