A few more Tips for Indians preparing to live in the West

After three weeks of writing about relationships of western women and Indian men, I believe this will be my last blog entry in this series. I had no idea when I started, that I would have so much to write about but I had a notion already that it is something that many people would like to read about. I know many people in the situations I have described and I am writing of course partly from my personal experience as well. Today I will finish this topic with my remaining thoughts that didn’t fit in anywhere until now.

One subject that can be an issue sometimes is vegetarianism. If you are a vegetarian, it can be difficult in some countries to go to a restaurant. The situation has massively improved for vegetarians in the past years but depending on the country and also the size of the town that you are in, you may only find that a tomato soup or a green salad are the only vegetarian options on the menu! A request for just some vegetables with rice can be met with incredulous and intolerant responses or offers to pick out the meat for you before.

And while there are Indian restaurants, you will not find one which really gives you the taste of India, the taste of your home! It is not necessarily their fault – it’s a restaurant after all and not your mum’s kitchen. They use imported ingredients which cannot taste as fresh as in India or local ones which will obviously taste different. On top of that, they are definitely too expensive to go there regularly. So my suggestion would be to learn cooking from your mum and then take some spices from India along to your new country – you will get as close as you can!

You will however also get to taste some local food and probably develop a taste for that as well. In some countries, it may surprise you how much bread people eat – daily and for example nothing else for breakfast! I have seen Indians watching with shock how a German breakfast could consist of different kinds of bread with jam, cheese or bread spread! If you get to eat German bread however, you will realize that it is definitely very tasty and might consider including it instead of making your roti yourself!

I hope I could give you a few thoughts and ideas. I wish everybody in an intercultural relationship all the best for whatever way you choose, whichever country you choose and whichever issues you face!

Oh, and one last thing for my Indian fellows in the west: if you are driving your car and get stopped by police, don’t try to bribe them… that will most certainly lead to the biggest trouble of your life!