The Teacher’s Village

Allen A D Rodrigues: 3 months
Krishna R Sundaresan: 6 months
Sangeet Paul Choudhry: 5 months
Vamshi Krishna R: 6 months
Karthik S: 10 months
Sriwatsan K: 3 years

Ok so this is a list of South Indian boys who got lured by the thought that “Gurgaon is a metro” or “Gurgaon is cosmopolitan” or as one of my grandaunts once put it “Gurgaon is like America”, and made their way North, only to realize that Gurgaon is actually a Gaon and not really fit for living in, and opted out. You will notice an outlier in the above data – Sriwatsan K  – and that is a result of him being married to a Punjoo.

By all absolute standards it is a horrible place – no public transport (save for the metro that’s just come up), hell, no autorickshaws, no proper water supply, no proper shops, unsafe roads and all that. Face it, it’s not a city. The only “advantage” that it has, if you could call it that, is that it is less than an overnight train journey away from most of the cow belt, and is hence attractive for educated boys and girls from the said area who don’t want to venture out too far.

Another major thing for these people is that Gurgaon represents a major “level up” for compared to the quality of life in their home towns (not talking about Delhi here; and Delhi, I think, is a wonderful city). Large houses, tap water, air conditioning, 100% power backup and the works.

And if you were to notice, there is no other city or town within some twenty hours of Gurgaon where there is substantial modern “industry” – the kind of industries where college educated people of nowadays will want to work in (IT/BPO/whatever). So, most people who do come to stay in Gurgaon, do so because it is close to “home”. So that they don’t need to live like “the_amit”s in Bangalore or Chennai. And that they can live in a land that celebrates Holi (need to write sometime about how uncivilised a festival that is, or I might already have) and Rakshabandhan.

So, most people who live in Gurgaon think it is a privilege to be living there, and wouldn’t really think of moving out. Hence, employers tend to consider them to be sticky and hence don’t make an effort to retain them and stuff.

Now, for South Indian boys from urban centres (like the ones named in the beginning of the post), Gurgaon represents a major level down in terms of standard of living. And hence, when they go there, they expect the job to compensate for it. And in most cases, given that employers are tailored to thinking that the employees WANT to live in Gurgaon, this ends up not being the case. And that leads to disappointment and hence the short shelf life of South Indians in Gurgaon.

4 thoughts on “The Teacher’s Village”

  1. Maybe I’m an outlier, but even as an ‘amit’, I never liked living in GGN. I lived and worked in DEL for 3 years but, despite most friends living there, never ever felt like moving to that forsaken suburb. Most of my reasons were the same – no public transport, no public amenities, no public spaces, no proper shops and unsafe even compared to Delhi and Noida! On the other hand, I loved Delhi and wouldn’t have left it for almost any other reason than the one that made me.

    But, then I hated BLR & MAA for just the same reasons as GGN. If you don’t know the local language, there’s absolutely no difference between the three.

    BOM, that’s another world though. And I still miss it.

    1. whatnaansense. you’re just an antisocial amit in bangalore then if you find it similar to gurgaon.
      most amits i know here have the effing time of their lives, being in such a safe, fun place, with all sorts of good eatouts, awesome public transport, and most of all, a place where you can have a social life. i’ve heard of bangalore being spoken of in reverential tones by most amits…. the sort of town people use to describe barcelona or new york.
      for that matter, most amits i know used to have the time of their lives in mangalore itself, even given that mangalore uses the local language much much more than bangalore does, and doesn’t have as many public spaces to hang out in.

  2. It is not all that bad except for the.. weather, dust, transport (or lack of it), unruly BPO cab drivers on the road, pigs.. that’s about it for now.
    But I (a South Indian) am entering my eighth month in this town and looks like I might even complete a year or two. But, Watsa’s three years is sure hard to compete with!

  3. Simple superb realistic post on Gur’goan’ (ask me, I am staying here for more than an year now)..I don’t find anything to eat except Naivedyam which I go week after week. Lack of public transport, dust, safety has made me buy a car oflate (I am not sure of the car’s safety now, which is still OK to hedge considering my safety)

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