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Where in India are you thinking? The country is really huge and there's a huge diversity/disparity between the various regions/cities, so you should get an idea of what you're looking for.
I am not exaggerating either, on my morning jogs I literally jumped over babies sleeping on the sidewalks, and this was in "South Mumbai" the good part.
So, I guess the important thing is to probably not spend too much time in Mumbai if you don't like poverty and filth, yea?
I remember seeing Human Development Indices and other things for various states/entities within India and it looked like there was a huge amount of variation. Given that India consists of such diverse cultures, peoples, socioeconomic spreads, and urban developments, it probably makes less sense to draw generalizations for an entire country from a few places. Especially since this is a question about relocation where the person is really just going to experience one area of India for the vast majority of their time.
So, what are some good cities and their neighborhoods that are a bit less jolting than Mumbai?
Anybody saying that India is not thatbad is out of their flippin' mind! It's by far one of the most disgusting and depressing countries I've ever visited. I'll add though, that it was also an incredibly interesting place to visit and I thoroughly appreciate that I had the chance to experience it....
However, it's a completely disgusting place. Yes, it is possible to live in a nice place if you have a lot of money, but you're always literally just steps away from extreme poverty. If you do have money, you pretty much have to keep it a secret because those around you will try to find ways to steal it. I have an immigrant co-worker from India who comes from a very wealthy family. Her family had a massive home that they had custom-built on the outskirts of a smaller Indian city and they actually had to flee in the middle of the night and leave everything behind due to a gang of criminals that forced them out and pretty much stole everything they had. She ended up moving to an apartment in the middle of another city and her family had to keep their wealth completely secret to avoid being victims again.
I spent a few days in Mumbai and despite being the financial center of India, it's an unbelievably congested, poverty-stricken, completely chaotic and dirty metropolis. Within a few minutes of leaving the airport and taking a rickshaw to our hotel (I was on the trip with my brother), I was completely blown away by how disgustingly dirty and chaotic the place was.
Just to give an example of how "backward" things are in India... my brother and I were going to head out from Mumbai to the city of Pune (my brother lived in India for six months in Pune and had friends there we were going to visit). We got on our bus in Mumbai to head to Pune and everybody on the bus was informed by the bus driver that we were going to be heading to Pune on the new bypass road that had just been built to allow a faster route to Pune. Well, surprise surprise, about two hours into our journey, and halfway through our first Bollywood movie that was playing on the overhead TV screens in the bus, we had to stop...because the damn road wasn't finished! Seriously?! We came to the end of the new road and there were construction crews laying pavement in front of us...the road just freakin' ended! We had to turn around, head back the way we came and get to the old road to Pune. What should have been a three hour trip took almost seven hours! The crazy thing too is that nobody really complained. It's like Indian people are so completely used to living in such a backward disorganized chaotic environment that they just go with the flow.
I can't emphasize enough to the OP how eye-opening my trip to India was. A lot of people try to sensationalize it and make it seem like this beautiful, mystical place that's full of wonder. Don't get me wrong, because it does have some beautiful locations and I was able to visit some. In general though, it's a disgustingly dirty chaotic unorganized and just all around f****d up place to live.
I highly recommend that the OP visit before making any rash decision to move there. Be prepared to see unbelievable poverty, people pooping on sidewalks and in public waterways in the middle of the city as other people are bathing and washing laundry in the same waterways, groups of ten or more kids following you through town trying to get money from you, cows wandering in the streets, absolutely no enforcement of traffic rules, nasty mystery odors all over the place and the very high risk of getting a nasty stomach bug (I did)...I seriously could go on and on. I'm glad I had the opportunity to visit India, but don't feel the need to go back- ever.
On a funny note, when you arrive to India on an international flight, the airline flight attendants walk through the aisles spraying pesticides on the passengers...no joke, it's federal Indian law. My brother and I looked at each other like WTF??!! What could we possibly be bringing to India that it doesn't already have??!!
Anways, OP, visit and enjoy...I don't recommend living there though.
This.
It always makes me laugh when wide eyed Westerners think that India is some paradise full of elephants, temples and buddhists. Thanks, Hollywood.
If you like oppressive heat, a high probability of dieing everytime get into a car, being stared at and harrassed every minute you are outside, extreme poverty and roadside bombs(thanks to Maoists and their laughably pathetic security force) then have it.
So, what are some good cities and their neighborhoods that are a bit less jolting than Mumbai?
Again depends on too many things. Don't we all have preferences and priorities?
I've never been to Mumbai besides layovers in the airport, so I don't know how life is in Mumbai. But I can imagine how chaotic it might be, given that it's India and Mumbai is the 4th most populated city in the world.
My choice would be anywhere in the foothills of the Himalayas: Darjeeling, Dharamsala, etc. Because it's cooler. I don't know about the OP, but I wouldn't be able to take the heat elsewhere. Why did you two pick India? Because it's English-speaking?
India has changed a lot. Now, India is better place to live-in. Cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Bangalore etc are having name in the world, these cities also offer lots of opportunities to any one to establish here. Many foreigner are coming to India for investment purpose.
Do not go to India unless you 1) visit on holiday first to adjust to the HUGE culture shock, and 2) have like at least $200,000 in the bank.
My first visit to India was for a friend's wedding in Mumbai, and it was a huge shock. Slumdog Millionaire is waay more accurate than those Bollywood movies, but even then you're not prepared for it. It's very, very dirty, even in the really rich areas. The traffic is chaos. The roads are horrible.
The problem with India is its infrastructure and government. As a culture and a people, I feel it is pretty sophisticated. But their government is VERY corrupt and inefficient. And their police are scary as hell. That is really what makes living in India such a risk - you are never going to be protected when you need it. Robbed? Beaten up? Molested? Yeah, good luck on getting the police to help you, especially if you don't pay them a huge bribe first.
Laws are not enforced in India, despite the country having pretty enlightened laws.
This brings me to the second point: You need boatloads of money to live in India. Why? Because the public infrastructure sucks. You're going to want to pay lots of bribes to smooth your way in everything, you'll want to stay in an apartment building with private security (expect to pay nothing less than $2,000 per month for a safe one-bedroom in a major metropolis), you'll need to buy a car because the public transportation system should never be used. And because driving in India is impossible for anyone who didn't grow up in it, you'll want to hire a chauffeur. And you'll need to pay out of your pocket for the best private medical care (if you don't have a job that covers it), because government hospitals are scary.
And if you have kids, you need to send them to a private school, preferably an international one, and don't expect to pay less than $15,000 per year. Even middle-class Indians send their kids to private school, because the government schools are terrible and are really only used by the blue-collar population.
So yeah. Moving to India would be expensive, difficult and probably not at all what you would expect.
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