Life’s Lessons Always Remain ~ A Czech’s take on Mumbai

A Guest Blog Post by Jan Stoklasa. Click on the image below to view the author’s page.

I got my Bombay job after graduating the computer science faculty and working for a couple of years in Czech Republic. I worked in London for 2 years and I was kind of looking to move on. At the same time, I split with my Czech girlfriend. The only solution I could think to overcome my grief was to drink some amount of alcohol and go east, I needed some change. The company just opened a new office in Bombay. I planned to stay for 3 months, but I really liked Bombay so I stayed for another four months more after that.

Expensive Kingfisher
Living costs in Bombay and India are a bit lower than in Czech, not even talking about England. I had a very nice flat in Malad, three rooms and kitchen, it would cost around 16000 Koruna (32000 Rupees) in Prague, in Bombay, it cost me 11000 Rupees. It was a very good address with added value, great swimming pool and gym, something you don’t get in Prague for that kind of money.

The only price that was considerably higher than in Czech was the price of beer. Kingfisher, a very tasty brand, cost me 70 Koruna (140 Rupees), but a good restaurant meal costs only 40 Koruna (80 Rupees). And if you want, you can have a tasty street food, like the Vada Pav for 2 Koruna (4 Rupees) only. It’s also called “Indian hamburger”, it’s potato in spicy batter and I loved it.
First class train ticket costs 30 Koruna, second class is only 4 Koruna, but there is much more passengers than seats there and you will have serious troubles squeezing inside the carriage.

Comparing the programmer salaries, a freshman earns around 8 to 10 thousand Koruna per month, a good and experienced programmer can get up to 40 thousand Koruna per month. In Czech, it can be 30-40% more and in England, even three times more. Healthcare costs are similar, and because of that, there is a fair amount of people needing an operation coming to India. An English guy would have to wait 2 years for an operation or pay thirty thousand pounds in England, so he flies over to India and has the operation there. There are agencies in London that take care of everything - airline ticket, appointment at hospital and operation.

Dancing with the cars
Bombay consisted of seven islands, now joined to one, thirty kilometers long and eight kilometers wide. There is a north-south train, but other than that, there is a lot of traffic jam in Bombay, the traffic is overwhelmed. Taking the summer heat (up to 40 degrees) and humidity in account, it is quite important how far you live from your office. I lived around 7 kilometers from office and it took me anything from 40 minutes up to 2 hours to get to office, depending on time and rush hour. When the traffic got really stuck, it would be probably faster just to walk, but only in theory.

Bombay drivers spare no one and crossing five lanes of fast traffic was an adrenaline experience I didn’t want to enjoy too often. My colleagues were laughing, for them it was just natural to dance their way through the cars to the other side. Officially, there is 12 million of citizens in Bombay. An unofficial guess puts this number up to 20 million people living in Bombay. There is a lot of poor village people coming to work in Bombay, trying to survive in any way, they are not part of official statistics.

Religion and Fair bribes
Talking religion, there is about four fifths of Hindus in India, ten percent Muslim, also Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Christians, Buddhists. There is around 1% catholic people in India. I was also surprised that Buddhism originates from India, yet there is around 1% Buddhists in India now, majority of people being Hindus.

The Cast system was officially abandoned, but it is still a strong tradition today. Majority of marriages happens between members of the same traditional cast, mixed marriages being possible but not very common.

You will enjoy getting around and communicating in Bombay. Middle class people speak native English and are always willing to help. Rickshaw drivers know survival English or at least important words, numbers, left, right and so on. There is a lot of forms you have to fill in India, and these forms are not always simple. Government officials have a lot of power, and maybe that’s why you will have to go through a bit of bureaucracy. Related to bureaucracy, corruption is part of Indian life. There is even a special bribe called “fair bribe”, meaning you don’t have any other option than bribe to sort out your problem.

My bureaucracy experience made me cry and laugh at the same time. Enjoying Bombay staying longer than planned, I needed a Visa extension. After 8 or more visits to Bombay Visa office, nothing was sorted out. Then the clerk sent me all the way to Delhi, 2000 kilometers. I spent 2 days in queues in Delhi and at the end, I got a sealed envelope to carry back to Bombay. Looked good, so I took the envelope back to Bombay Visa office, thinking I got my Visa extension. The clerk opened the envelope and just one sentence was there: “Let this foreigner provides more information”.

Good training
Big companies do a pay hike for managers working in cities that are not easy. According to some UK statistics, Bombay has the second biggest pay hike in the world, but the company I worked for didn’t do this pay hike. Anyway, I had a good deal, especially compared to London which is so expensive, and it was such a great experience. I was able to save something, and maybe think of working on my own now, we will see.

Bombay learned me to love spicy food and beedies - eucalypti cigarettes. Interestingly enough, they can be bought in tea rooms in Czech Republic, and Czech students and intellectuals love them. In India, it is a working class smoke, something like Czech “Start” cigarettes without a filter.

Working in Bombay was a very nice experience. I also learned that patience is important in dealing with government paperwork, something that will be of great use talking to Czech government clerks and officials.

Working in Bombay, I understood how people of Europe take lot of things for granted, so they are not able to appreciate them and just swear when public transport comes 10 minutes late. It was a big eye opener, people smiling, happy and nice even if traffic jam just closes around, something you will never experience in Prague.

For the people of Bombay, the final result is not the only thing important, personal relations and people’s feelings are important too.

I hope I will keep Bombay life lessons with me for a long time.

Tags: Beer, Bombay, Bribes, Cars, Cast, Class, Czech-Republic, Government, India, Indian-Hamburger, Kingfisher, Lessons, Mumbai, People, Prague, Religion, Traffic, Vada-Pav