What is the wheelchair access situation like in India? Are there any mass transit options? This is something that anyone considering growing old in India would want to consider.
Not many VA hosptials in India either, I suspect.
So when it rains all monsoony, hubby goes out for the shopping. Sheesh, think of a power chair like one of those subcompacy microcars they make there. I did mention I was handicapped and had health issues. Heck, a bounder has one model that goes 11 miles per hour.
Some of those Fresno temps seemed a little high, so I looked 'em up. According to http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/93710, the average high temp in Fresno during July is 98 F, 97 F in August. Highest temp ever recorded is 115. (In 1905.) Four months of the year have avg high temps of 90 or above; average low temp in Fresno is 68 in the height of the summer.
Chesapeake, VA, highest average monthly high is 88 F, highest temp ever recorded is 105.
Both strike me as really hot, but I’ve never lived in those regions or similar.
I’m curious: how do those figures compare to different regions of India?
Sidewalks are commonly cracked and broken in India or non-existent, there are no ramps to get on and off trains or other public transport or to get in and out of shops. Maybe they are now building some special areas to cater to western retirees with allowances for wheelchairs but in ordinary India your ability to get around is going to be nowhere close to what you are used to even in the dry season.
Moving from being a householder to a forest dweller (vanaprastha), a shift from the second to the third station in life? There’s a great book, A River Sutra by Gita Mehta, about this theme of taking up forest life (as manager of a forest retreat house in the Narmada valley), which forms a frame story for the book.
As this is GQ, it’s not a good place for me to deliver a lengthy opinion on Americans retiring to developing countries. To keep it as fact-based as possible, let me point out that I have lived the more than 2/3 of my adult life as an expatriate in the developing world, I know a number of retired expats in Indonesia, and my parents retired to Mexico a little over a decade ago.
Based on my experience and that of my parents, it is generally speaking a terrible idea except when an older, wealthier foreigner marries a much younger local woman.
This is not to say that no American anywhere should ever retire abroad. But think and research VERY carefully about what you are getting into. In particular - what happens when one spouse dies and the other lives alone in a very different culture? Does the expat community you are considering include very, very old expats and is there a tradition of “successful dying” there? Or do most people retire for 5-10 years, then return to the US when their energy levels decrease and they become tired of leaks, power outages, cultural differences, lack of familiar consumer goods, a dearth of friends their own age, questionable medical care, no Medicare coverage, living thousands of (expensive) miles from family, and so on?
My husband and I love living abroad and raising our son in the developing world. But now that we are in our 50s, we’ve mapped out a pretty clear end-of-life strategy that involves going back to the US the moment we stop working. My dad died an unnecessarily agonizing death I wouldn’t wish on anyone - and the root reason was my parents’ fantasy that living out their days in a sunny, enchanting Mexican town with all the other carefree non-conformist expats would be a wonderful and problem-free existence. It was not.
Disclaimer: Although it may not seem like it from my replies, my opinion is that you shouldn’t move. In particular, I think being away from everything and everyone that you find familiar will be a problem. While I don’t know you, India can take getting used to and oftentimes it requires that you…adjust, and not everyone finds it easy. Some people love it, some people, like some posters in this thread, hate it. If you’re actually serious about this, I’d suggest you try it for a six month period or so, as a sort of live here holiday.
That said, here are my answers to your queries.
2000 USD a month would make for a comfortable life. I’m not sure how taxation would work though, so you may want to consider that. I’d actually suggest Pune (near Mumbai), or some small city in Kerala rather than Jaipur. The weather tends to be far more clement, and both places have something of a reputation as a good destination for retirees. The power situation will also be far better. Also, you wouldn’t need to import inverters/solar panels etc. I’m reasonably sure India has a bigger market for both than the US, and thus more supply. It really isn’t a place stuck in 1970 you know. Many Indians may be, and that is unfortunate, but not all of India.
Delhi is reasonably disabled friendly(although IAND, and this is secondhand knowledge) after the commonwealth games. The Delhi metro and buses both are accessible for folks on wheelchairs. Apart from that, no the rest of the country will give you trouble.
I’m not sure what those are, but the hospitals in India are generally good and cheap.
Heh. This is made slightly difficult for me by because I think in celsius, but with a little help from google converter - Delhi often goes up to 115. The hottest temperature I remember(and I’m not yet 30) from a Delhi summer was 119. Most places in India(apart from hilly, or otherwise different climates) average around 100-115 for a couple of months in the summer. In Rajasthan, which is partly desert, it goes even higher. In South India, which is closer to the tropics, the highs (and lows) are somewhat less extreme although not by much. Really, pretty much the only places cooler than 90 F in the summer are the hilly areas.
I agree. Except for Delhi(and even there accessibility is probably not 100%) most of India will prove difficult to navigate in the same ways you’re used to.
Have you ever even been to India? Traveled in any 3rd world country?
If not, both of those things, should be on your list, before moving forward with this plan, in my opinion.
Is it possible to retire in India with a lower income than in the US? Sure. That is, if you don’t mind filthy, pot-hole covered roads, filthier still, open, garbage dumps located adjacent to posh “housing societies”, poor to non-existent law enforcement, corruption at every point, the lack of health insurance for retirement-age individuals, the lack of social security, the lack of government & judicial accountability… the list goes on and on. If you are willing to overlook all that, then come on over. Indians love themselves a dollar or two (or more), and, unless you look (and talk) like a native, they will immediately mark you as an easy/soft touch (if you are a woman, then in more than one sense of that phase, unfortunately).
Honestly, life in India is tough. For example, if you have any mobility problems, expect them to multiplied several times here, because the roads, pavements and apartment complexes are simply not set up for wheelchairs. Indians drive in the middle of the road, with one finger perpetually on the horn, and one foot hovering above the brake, pouncing on the much hammered pedal every half minute or so – in fact, that is why you need to employ the chauffeur, in the first place. And these are just random examples. If things go smoothly, India can be nice experience. But all too often, one tiny glitch, on little encounter will Indian bureaucracy can turn your retirement haven into pandemonium.
Hyperbole apart, the fact remains that movies like Outsourced and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel tend to severely gloss over the realities of living in a 3rd world country like India. Sorry to have to be so negative, but having lived in both India and in the US (as well as in western Europe), I suspect that the culture shock will be too severe to make retirement in India a pleasant option to anyone who has lived 60+ years in the western world.Perhaps too harsh, but certainly not very wide off the mark.
As **bldysabba **mentions, first get an experience of India for sometime before deciding to settle.
I would suggest Chandigarh, only 250 Km from Delhi, one of the cleaner, best organized cities of India. Lots of open spaces, no high rise building for avoiding over-crowding, civic amenities, lots of sports facilities, good traffic situation, great people, beautiful girls, superb food, discs, culture, music, very affordable living, decent weather(Bangalore has the best weather of all cities in India btw) .
I suspect you would love to settle there once you experience it. so, don’t listen to anybody, just come over.
The best weather in India can be found in the southern Hill Stations.
Being close to the equator, southern India is quite warm year round, but these places are in the hills above the hot plains. Instead of having year round summer, these places have year round spring.
Some of the hill stations on the list are in the northern mountains which is fine during the summer months, but freezing in the winter.
Ooty in Tamil Nadu is my favorite. And its not exactly a small town either. Almost 100,000 people live in the area. Plenty to see and do.
Obligatory Cracked link:
India is on our travel bucket list, and I have traveled to a number of areas in the world other than Europe. Most recently we did post disaster Haiti with me in a wheelchair.
Looks lovely. Those ‘native huts’ [how denigrating that sounds] are fascinating. What is Tamil food like?? Most of the indian places I have eaten at locally to me are southern.
You might check out Shillong, a hill station in Meghalaya in India’s North East. Agreeable climate though it has heavy rains during the monsoon, beautiful scenery, a somewhat westernised culture. not too expensive compared to cities like Bombay(Mumbai). It’s a good base for traveling to a lot of wildlife and naturalist spots in the rest of the North East. Also one of the places in India where you might get beef easily, if that’s important to you.
US servicemen were stationed here during WW II in CBI theatre, supplying material across “the Hump” to China, or aiding operations in Burma.
The power chair thing is a really big deal. Most Indian buildings are about as accessible as a Chuck-e-Cheese ball pit.
This. I’ve never seen much of Kerala, but I’ve seen most of India in a staying-with-relatives-but-mostly-touristy fashion. Pune is lovely and a relatively short train journey from Mumbai. My grandmother also happens to have retired there herself, and she likes it a lot (she’s actually Indian though).
Came across a flash mob video from Chandigarh. It should give a nice idea about the city and the people.
I could deal with a bollywood flash mob … =) Oddly enough I happen to like bollywood =)
great, bollywood is looking forward to welcoming you!! =)