JC in India

I will be leaving India at the beginning of June. The time has finally come to move on from this place, and venture onwards to the next chapter. In the end I will have spent almost two and a half years here, something I am proud of, surprised by, and relieved about all in equal measure. It has been a journey, but new horizons beckon.

For some time now the potential for my next role has been gaining momentum in the background, and while it has taken longer than I original expected (and to those who have been in my confidence have come to know me as ‘mister next week’!), it has now finally come good and I am very excited about where I am heading and the extended remit I shall have. It is a great move personally and professionally, and certainly something I am jumping at. 

The price though is departing India half a year or so sooner than I originally intended. But my company has been great and while technically I am supposed to work six months’ notice, they have consented to much reducing this so that I can seize the opportunity in front of me, as I would need to start there in sooner than six months.

And so now the time to put the exit process into action has arrived. I have four weeks to navigate those waters, and while it will be tight and will take some focus and persistence, I am confident I shall be able to make it happen. Tax certificates, no objection certificates, bank account matters, and general bureaucracy is going to dominate my next few weeks. What fun…

It is heating up now in Delhi, with the temperature today now at 40 degrees. The pollution is not great either, being 333 on the AQI scale as I write this (“very poor”). Sitting in my air-conditioned apartment I tend to forget, but popping out to the shop earlier reminded me for sure. It is quite a dry heat currently as the monsoon season is still a few months away, but that does not make it any easier to manage. I spent two weeks mostly away from Delhi over the last month and when I returned, I found that Hugh (one of my biggest plants) had paid the price, as without the aircon blasting away the apartment temperature also matches the outdoors.

Hugh wasn’t happy about it apparently and will have to see if he recovers. The other plants, Pew, Barley McGrew, Cuthbert and Dribble are all faring better but for some reason Hugh has found it harder to cope.

The heat is also making the animals more placid, with my street dog pack taking to lying my under parked cars (a touch of jeopardy there…), and only really coming active in the evenings.

Aside from the animals, I sympathise with those people who live in this environment without the benefit of air conditioning. Which is quite the multitude. I found Vikas the day guard lying across two chairs in front of a fan earlier. And in the evening the mosquitoes come out in force also. When I went down to talk to Pushpender the night guard a couple evenings back to tell him about my imminent departure, I was surprised by how many mosquitoes were buzzing around him, which he has seemingly learnt to coexist with. His reaction to the news of my leaving was sad (as was Vikas’s who was verging on upset), although was quickly followed with a message of ‘Sir, you can give us whatever useless items you have’. In truth it was mostly lost in translation as he means items that are useless to me and that I shall not be taking, but the literal reading implies otherwise. I will be dividing up a lot of ‘stuff’ that I will not be taking back home and sharing it between them; clothes, household items and other general tat for want of a better word. I am not sure what either of them will do with some notepads and passport covers that I have picked up from various conferences over the years while here, but you can be sure they will find a way to sell them or be creative with them. Better them be valued in that fashion than be ferried back to the UK to continue sitting in a cupboard.

It will be an interesting few weeks ahead, and in reality other than the exit admin will be quite boring as the three potential trips to the Middle East that were due to occur are now out of the diary given I am soon to leave (funny how your calendar quickly clears when you resign!). I expect I shall be staying in Delhi for this period and with a rapidly reducing workload. A six month notice period is nice in theory, but I have never known anyone to ever work that length, as the minute you commit to leaving it is often best to just get on with it and go. I am not one for lots of hype about it either. Everyone else here is staying and focusing on their work and life ahead, so it is best to slip away quietly – something I hope and intend to do.

It is also quite good timing in one way as my passport is pretty much full and beginning to deteriorate. I was genuinely a little concerned about how I would manage 3 more international trips this month as I am not sure there is enough room for six more stamps in the passport, plus the final departure stamp when I leave. But now I just need room for that one final stamp, and I am sure the border force guy (I would say person, but the statistical chance of it being a woman is very low…), can find a space. Then I will file that passport away and switch to my second one. You can technically hold two passports from the UK at once if there is a valid reason, and I fall into that bracket. But I must travel on the filled up one to and from India as my visa is linked to that. That passport is now only a month or so away from a well-earned retirement! The second one, soon to be main one, is going to get a fair battering though in the next role, and probably more so than this one in fact. But more on that another day.

So, a few more weeks left for Gertie (the Gecko) and I to spend in this apartment. She surprised me in the bedroom the other day, although had not made any noise overnight so did not disturb me.

Although she made an appearance while a prospective replacement tenant for my apartment was viewing it this morning. I could see her on the far wall out the corner of my eye and hoped she would disappear back above the ceiling tiles to her home before he saw her. I do not want her to scare off anyone, even though she is harmless. You never know other people’s reactions to sharing an apartment with a Gecko…

A few more weeks to enjoy the sunsets from the bedroom window, to spend the evenings watching TV or working out in my makeshift gym.

A few more weeks of continuing the subconscious food and water cautionary approach. Of Veg Thali’s at lunch in the office canteen, or an omelette on alternate days (because there is only so many Veg Thali’s a man can have in a week). Well, this man anyway, as that rule does not seem to apply to my Indian friends and colleagues who seem perfectly happy to endlessly consume food with rice, other food with rice, a different dish with rice, or even a biryani.

A few more weeks of Ubers and BluSmart journeys and hoping for cars with working seatbelts to show up. Of traffic jams, and crazy drivers, and passing some innovatively named street-stalls.

Only in India! It may be that good, but I personally will give it a miss.

I expect there will be a few visits to The Pint Room over the next month too. My local. I went last night for a quick catch up with a colleague (work meetings on a Friday are so much more palatable with beer in hand!). If nostalgia takes me, I suspect I may just have to go there for my favourite Penne Arrabiata pasta dish on my last evening in the apartment. I will actually spend my last night in Delhi at the hotel I first stayed in when I originally arrived here, simply because I do not want to be checking out of my apartment for the last time early in the morning of the day I am catching a flight. Still, that will be a nice way to complete my time here, coming full circle in the end.

I will only write a few more of these journals now. I want to capture the final few weeks, and the ups and downs of such that are no doubt coming. If other expat friend’s experiences are to be repeated there will doubtless be some swearing too…! I will also use the time to reflect on the highs and lows of this experience, so relief is coming for those of you who have stuck with me and gotten through all my ramblings! But I wonder if the domain name for my next location exists… jcin… hmmm will have to see!

I previously have described a phrase I once heard; “You cry when you arrive in India, and you cry when you leave”. I can see much truth in this. India is a hard country in which to live, and at times can throw lots of challenges at you. But once under the skin, and when fully embraced – as I have tried to do – India becomes a part of your life in ways I never foresaw. I am surprised at how much I have adapted to life here and to how much I actually enjoy this place. The vibrancy is infectious and as much as it is easy to see the negatives, by focusing on the positives and openly accepting the country for what it is, life here becomes fascinating and a real experience. You make India what you want it to be. For some it will always be the hot, polluted, dirty, chaotic place. And yes, it is, but that is not changing any time soon. Learning to accept and adjust to this and live within the environment with an open mind and positive attitude makes for a much better perspective and experience. When I first came here over twenty years ago, I can even now remember being on the flight out and breathing a sigh of relief. Had I known then I would move here for almost two and half years I would have been aghast I expect.

But now having done it I am the opposite. I am proud of my time here, and I have relished the experience. I will feel relief when the wheels go up on the BA256 on my departure day, but it will not be relief at escaping, it will be relief for the conclusion of what I view as a successful and exciting period of my life. And I know I will look back fondly on my time here.

I have broken the news to the people here of my departure, but I have yet to tell Gertie. I just hope she is not reading this over my shoulder. I will have a word with her this evening if she makes an appearance.