Traveling Around: Gurgaon, India

Can you relate?

• Flying on Etihad Coral Economy class, more comfortable than most of European first classes.
• Changing planes at Abu Dhabi, one of the busiest, but one of the most beautiful airports ever.
• Arriving at Indira Ghandi International airport at New Delhi at 5 AM feeling that outside temperature is already 36°C
• Being picked up by a smiling, chatty driver although he had to wait for you for 2 more hours due to the delay of your arrival.
• Noticing that people are sleeping on their market booths and mattresses randomly placed along the road.
• Going through the metal detector on the entrance of your hotel in Gurgaon.
• Being waken up 3-4 times while trying to catch some sleep after your 10h long flight by hotel staff just to check if everything’s ok.
• Getting a massage at a hotel spa and being treated like a king for a more than reasonable price.
• Driving around Gurgaon during an evening rush hour, seeing many programmers and other workers going home from work.
• Seeing buildings with world’s most prominent IT and financials companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, KPMG, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, etc.
• Noticing that roads do not have any strict lanes, no street lights, forcing traffic to a way of self-organization.
• Going to a restaurant and seeing a family cooking dinner next to the parking, feeling ashamed.
• Feeling 45°C and the dry air in the middle of June.
• Feeling a strange smell of organic decomposing in the air.
• Learning about the civic system of India from local businessmen.
• FACT 1: There is no social security number or any other unique number for an Indian.
• FACT 2: There is no institutionalized healthcare institution -> all the medical services are paid in cash (or with credit cards).
• Learning that everyone here has a smart phone, although he/she might not even have a house. WhatsApp and Facebook communication is a must.
• Learning that in the last decade, getting the landline in your house was a cause for a family celebration.
• Eating specifically spicy and tasty food. Not knowing how to use all the cutlery in the right way.
• Getting your body measured for a suit at a local tailor’s shop using the finest Italian and English materials for twice as cheap as in Europe.

Currently we have 6 international schools listed in Gurgaon, India on International School Community:

• Banyan Tree IB World School Gurgaon
• GD Goenka World School
• Lancers International School
• Manav Rachna International School
• Shalom Hill International School
• The Shri Ram School

If you are on a trip right now, away from your host country, write to us at admin@internationalschoolcommunity.com with your “Can you relate?” traveling experiences.  Tell us where you are traveling in the world, what you are seeing and how you are coping with any culture shock.  Once your Traveling Around experience is posted on our blog, International School Community will give you 6 free months of premium membership!