Living your life with limited budget after 50...

...With air travel and net communication bringing the world together, living in South/central America or India is not at all an impossible option - even with kids/grand kids in US.

Yeah. I am thinking of going back (if and when I stop working :-)) to the main Gult-land -coastal Andhra!

Vakavaka Pakapaka wrote:Yeah. I am thinking of going back (if and when I stop working :-)) to the main Gult-land -coastal Andhra!

the older you are the more likely you are to get sick. air travel will be physically and emotionally challenging. you will have muscle wasting and arthritis and you will have trouble walking around the airport and dealing with flight delays and carrying you luggage.

you will end up with no health insurance in india and medical care in the elite hospitals that cater only to other elites will get expensive and because you are just an nri and not a local businessman you will not get the preferential treatment you imagine you will get. and when you run short of cash - this could happen if you have a stroke that leaves you paralyzed on one side, people will throw you in a corner to rot in your own shit.

it's not like here where you get placed in a rehab, have a physiatrist lookin after you giving you dysphagia therapy and teaching you ways in which to improve your gait stability and stuff. .if from old age you get compression fractures of the spine, god help you cuz I've not come across any indian doctors who know how to manage pain. you won't even have personnel that are educated enough to get you fitted for a spinal brace. of sure maybe in these so called elite hospitals there are people who are ware of such things but none of this stuff is actually underway in a manner that is timely and affordable.

I am sure of this shyt, I just sense it, you just have to take one whiff of india to know these ground realities. and say you get lucky and everything is there, you will be a pauper at the end of it. P-A-U-P-E-R. in a country like india you will be completely treated like a mosquito if you don't have cash.


and then you have mosquitoes, cockroaches, lizards, big ants, centipedes, some creatures that chirp continually through the night, people who're always looking to take a little something away from you, you've got to keep an eye out for your utensils, there are locks on the fridges, kids are committing suicide cuz they didn't get into the school they wanted, other kids are misusing their iphone, women are getting raped, children are getting raped by schoolteachers, there are a lot of mentally ill people roaming about freely in india cuz the government has no idea what to do with them.

actually the indian government probably doesn't realize the mental health crisis they have on their hands. with the growing economic divide, the enormous stress that poverty and deprivement can cause on the human mind and often times the illicit drug use and etoh dependence rampant in those groups of people, india has an enormous challenge on it hands. you can ignore people when they're poor, but when they're poor and angry or if they're poor and mentally ill, they will come get your ass. you know that.


I know you think you're a big man and you're expecting you will live a comfortable life in india. sure you can do that for a few weeks when you're on vacation in that country but to live big every single day in india, you got to be enormously wealthy like tingu. in india if people like tingu are tipping 1000 rupees and in the next table you're tipping 50 rupees, do you really think you will get proper service the next time you show up? anyhow I am not a person who can afford to live like that.

pravalika nanda wrote:

Vakavaka Pakapaka wrote:Yeah. I am thinking of going back (if and when I stop working :-)) to the main Gult-land -coastal Andhra!

the older you are the more likely you are to get sick. air travel will be physically and emotionally challenging. you will have muscle wasting and arthritis and you will have trouble walking around the airport and dealing with flight delays and carrying you luggage.

you will end up with no health insurance in india and medical care in the elite hospitals that cater only to other elites will get expensive and because you are just an nri and not a local businessman you will not get the preferential treatment you imagine you will get. and when you run short of cash - this could happen if you have a stroke that leaves you paralyzed on one side, people will throw you in a corner to rot in your own shit.

Or you can get shot at the hospital you work....right here in the Big old US of A....

If one keeps the expectations low and live a comfortable-enough life (not luxurious or for others impression), a house to live, friends and relatives to communicate and a reasonable health it is quite easy. One can simply spend more for necessities like flying flat-bed business class to US a couple of times a year. I noticed oldies are healthy easily even in their 70s. I have an 83 yr old relative with parking who lives alone and drives his honda around An Indian with a GC holder he does not want to come to US. When you are in the 80s and you get into health issues you are better off with Indian docs killing you than the US docs prolonging your agony.

The small town traffic this trip gave me nightmares actually. Made the mistake of going out 6:00 pm on New Year's Eve. In general evening rush is mad rush. Frikking two-wheelers erupting from all directions possible. If road is full they will go over side walk or unpaved road and then try to merge again. Even in the 0.5 second in between two signals, people want to cut across from many directions - be it a car or scooter or cycle or auto or pedestrian. Whoever said Indians are patient people didn't check out our roads. No wonder there are road accident death news on a daily basis.

do you realize what you have on your hands yet?

Beatrix Kiddo wrote:The small town traffic this trip gave me nightmares actually. Made the mistake of going out 6:00 pm on New Year's Eve. In general evening rush is mad rush. Frikking two-wheelers erupting from all directions possible. If road is full they will go over side walk or unpaved road and then try to merge again. Even in the 0.5 second in between two signals, people want to cut across from many directions - be it a car or scooter or cycle or auto or pedestrian. Whoever said Indians are patient people didn't check out our roads. No wonder there are road accident death news on a daily basis.

I dont have that problem. I walk everywhere and if not use call-taxi. With on-line taxi companies, the taxis are by far cheaper than even autos.

Of course, those who think their status - in the eyes of others - will diminish if they walked or went by bus/call taxi can hire a Chauffeur to "drive" them around in a BMW or a Mercedes.

I lost 4 pounds BTW...

Let me ask you... Isn't the frikking cold weather get to you ? If you can put up with this cold, snow, and NJ parking lots, whats so difficult to deal with the traffic in India? Besides, the only time people have to go by car is to go to work. Shops are close by no matter where you live, and you visit friends/relatives usually on holidays. Besides, I am talking about those - who are not so rich like P711 or Tingku or MD, who are planning to live a comfortable retired life with minimal requirements.

Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:

Beatrix Kiddo wrote:The small town traffic this trip gave me nightmares actually. Made the mistake of going out 6:00 pm on New Year's Eve. In general evening rush is mad rush. Frikking two-wheelers erupting from all directions possible. If road is full they will go over side walk or unpaved road and then try to merge again. Even in the 0.5 second in between two signals, people want to cut across from many directions - be it a car or scooter or cycle or auto or pedestrian. Whoever said Indians are patient people didn't check out our roads. No wonder there are road accident death news on a daily basis.

I dont have that problem. I walk everywhere and if not use call-taxi. With on-line taxi companies, the taxis are by far cheaper than even autos.

Of course, those who think their status - in the eyes of others - will diminish if they walked or went by bus/call taxi can hire a Chauffeur to  "drive" them around in a BMW or a Mercedes.

I lost 4 pounds BTW...

Let me ask you... Isn't the frikking cold weather get to you ? If you can put up with this cold, snow, and NJ parking lots, whats so difficult to deal with the traffic in India?  Besides, the only time people have to go by car is to go to work. Shops are close by no matter where you live, and you visit friends/relatives usually on holidays.  Besides, I am talking about those - who are not so rich like P711 or Tingku or MD,  who are planning to live a comfortable retired life with minimal requirements.

I am the kind of person who resists moving from a place, and if moved, acclimatize to the new one quickly enough. So, if whatever happens and we move back (fully or partially), I will adjust. 

Thinking of retirement, I guess I don't have a comfortable nest being built yet, no matter where I live. Kinda scary topic that I mostly avoid thinking.