FAA conversion to India (DGCA) Question

Pépé le Pilot said:
njdem are you an Indian citizen ? If not I was curious about your choice of India for a career...
Click to expand...

Hey Pepe,
Though I was born in New Jersey , I am of Indian Ancestry 3rd generation. As I was growing up I would go there once every two years or so which acclimatized me to the things that would otherwise shock me if I just went there as an adult. As a child there was always a feeling of adventure in the air and that remains as an adult

I spent the last three years there (before flight school) working with a steel company but after I quit I spent a great deal of time in the Himalayas and fell in love with the mountains. Ran into many great people, surreal situations and just a general feeling of complete freedom.

Believe it or not the transportation system is great so even if you have just 3 days of free time you can travel , very cheaply , to so many places and one can spend a lifetime just attempting to explore and begin to understand the many layers of India.

People who are not from India but visit the country often have unfortunate experiences as they are seen as targets and it turns them off. If not that then the lack of infrastructure, devastating povert and crowded polluted cities will do so. So people either have a very deep connection to the country or are repulsed by it , I understand both points of view though, ofcourse , I hold the former of those dispositions.

Somedays, over there, 100 things that are easy to deal with here become hassles and there are problems on top of those but just one small , usually indescribable thing happens and it reminds me why I love India as I do America. Both for different reasons and I always miss one when I am living in the other.

An ideal situation , which is one thing that attracts me to this profession, would be to eventually be able to move freely between the two countries and have lives in both (friends , family , familiar places etc)

Hope that answered your question, wish I could give you a more straight forward answer , but thats really the best I can do :)
 
swisspilot said:
India may be a culture shock for most westerns, but for a 3rd world country things work pretty well, a lot faster then in South America, something I like about India is that you can be in the worst place of the city and not feel like you are about to get killed. Try that in any big city of South America or Africa.
Click to expand...

This is also very true. One can walk down the poorest streets in India , and westerners and Indians alike may be pestered by beggars , but they don't really get mugged at gunpoint (certainly if you don't watch your stuff it can be stolen) but there is a surprising lack of violence for such a crowded and poverty stricken country. I know that terrible , unthinkable crimes do happen there but I have never felt unsafe or that I would not get quarter from people if things got bad (this has happened and is true for my western friends as well)

Basically I feel much more fear for my life walking through Jersey or Daytona Beach late at night than I ever have in India , believe it or not
 
njdem82 said:
This is also very true. One can walk down the poorest streets in India , and westerners and Indians alike may be pestered by beggars , but they don't really get mugged at gunpoint (certainly if you don't watch your stuff it can be stolen) but there is a surprising lack of violence for such a crowded and poverty stricken country. I know that terrible , unthinkable crimes do happen there but I have never felt unsafe or that I would not get quarter from people if things got bad (this has happened and is true for my western friends as well)

Basically I feel much more fear for my life walking through Jersey or Daytona Beach late at night than I ever have in India , believe it or not
Click to expand...

I think the number 1 danger in India is trying to hit on a girl of the wrong Caste...then you are fk
 
I had the most wonderful time in India, going from Mumbai to Dehli then a 14 hour train ride to Utar Pradesh, the flew back to Rajhastan. I have met incredible people, of an unthinkable generosity despite their absolute poverty.
The lights, sights, sounds and smells are unforgettable.
However there is a wide culture gap, and one should think very carefully about moving to such country, unless he wants to spend his free time with expats, usually not a great bunch to hang around with.
Oh and I have seen some of the most beautiful girls in India. :drool:
 
Pépé le Pilot said:
I had the most wonderful time in India, going from Mumbai to Dehli then a 14 hour train ride to Utar Pradesh, the flew back to Rajhastan. I have met incredible people, of an unthinkable generosity despite their absolute poverty.
The lights, sights, sounds and smells are unforgettable.
However there is a wide culture gap, and one should think very carefully about moving to such country, unless he wants to spend his free time with expats, usually not a great bunch to hang around with.
Oh and I have seen some of the most beautiful girls in India. :drool:
Click to expand...

Hey Pepe,
Glad you had a good experience there , especially since you were mainly in the cities. But I do see your point about how striking the diversity is. Shocking at first and then awe inspiring. And yes I agree on the girls , I lived in a village in the lower Himalayas for three months and forced myself to leave since I was seriously considering getting married and living off of terrace farms. Probably would have had a happy life too :) These people were very self sufficient with consistant surplus, always cheerful and they had the purest eyes that I have ever seen , no deception behind them no need for it.

Also Pepe I will be staying in Daytona Beach to get my instructor ratings and perhaps work here. So I will almost certainly be here in October. Definitely get in touch when you make your way here. If I may ask , since I am possibly looking for a roomate, are you planning to stay for a while and rent a room in an apt? Or will you just get temporary housing (hotel or school provided). If nothing else the extended stay deluxe is the most reasonably priced hotel (there may be cheaper but certainly seedier motels on the coast) its like a mini apartment kitchen ,fridge microwave , toaster , utensils.

Hope to see you when you get here !!
 
swisspilot said:
I think the number 1 danger in India is trying to hit on a girl of the wrong Caste...then you are fk
Click to expand...

Some of that is changing as democracy has made the lowest caste the largest voting block. It is shaking things up but as with everything in India the change will be slow so unfortunately these antiquated systems still lead to inequity and bias.

But as for your reply that is certainly sound advice in rural areas or certain states unless you intend to marry her :) In that case if you happen to be white or dress well etc most Indian families that I have spoken to would actually find it to be a great opportunity for their daughter to live in and care for a stable household (Some Indians think that white people are all rich especially since they spend so much money while they are there which is great for local economies) and the woman , ofcourse , has the final say in most situations and fortunately that idea exists and has existed in even some of the most conservative parts of India. Yet this tradition is abused (child or forced marriages but these are the exceptions which get alot of coverage , not the rule from what I saw, heard and read).

Actually I find it hard to think of India even as a country , subcontinent makes more sense with approximately 26 completely different languages (different grammar , vocabulary etymology etc) and thousands of dialects you can drive twenty miles and people will dress, cook and live completely differently with different cultural norms and all of it bound together by a central government and the idea of Hinduism or Islam (India has the second largest muslim population in the world ). The common language is English and Hindi and I believe that more people (especially in the south) speak english rather than Hindi. So someone from New Delhi (Northish India) willl feel almost just as out of place in Kerala (south India ) as a western tourist would .

Well Im not quite sure why I went on that rant (I hope that it does not annoy anyone that I got way off topic --if so pls delete and I will not do so again) , boredom I guess and a real desire to ask people to think of India differently than just "slumdog millionaire" (but most people on these boards are well travelled so Im preaching to the choir anyway) though some parts of that movie , especially the beginning is a very real and hideous, awful , inhuman reality for some created by the scum of the earth , Mumbai is filled with these monsters . But it is far from the whole story. I hope that a movie makes it here which showcases the good qualities of the country , maybe "Gandhi" did that.
 
just to re-confirm that the duchess is fine. The indian students at my school use a duchess or a seneca. good luck with your conversion.
 
Happy new years to everyone,,,2012


Just curious as to how did everything turn out with NJDEM82. Finish converting your licenses? Any difficulty, easiness, future suggestions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top