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Comment by wrong_variable | Hacker News Reader

The Irony !

When I went to India, I though to my-self the living standard in the villages were HIGHER then the cities.

The air in the villages were clean - it was much cooler weather due to not being trapped in the congested cities.

The village people though I was crazy to think that their village was a paradise, and everyone wanted to move to the city.

I think its a serious lack of education that India/Bangladesh will not learn easily. A large number of people need to die due to cancer for it be taken seriously, unfortunately.

We are talking about a country where chain smoking is really common !

And no I a person from the sub-continent so I am not being racist, just pointing out some of the terrible facts about why I am terrified of going back.

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I do not think it is crazy for people of villages to think moving to the city is a good idea. It might seem pristine and like paradise to a person from a city visiting a village but for a person living in a village its a different story. It's not the environmental paradise they are trying to escape from, its mostly lack of opportunity. Most villages in India are agriculture based, and most of central and southern India does not have perennial rivers and solely depend on monsoons for irrigation. So, if monsoon fails (less or more than expected), so does their income for he year. Not to mention lack of education, transport, banking etc. I have been to villages where even now if you need education beyond middle school, you need to leave the village for a neighboring town. Not to mention the social pressures such as not having equal opportunities for women in villages where as in a city, it is common place and generally socially accepted for women to have jobs and careers.

I agree about smoking though, and specially the prevalence of the cheap cigarettes called "beedis", these are simply tobacco rolled over in a tobacco leaf and do not even have filters. Being very cheap, it is consumed by the poorer people and when coupled with lack of education, I assume does contributes to lot of smoking related diseases.

I strongly agree with you.

Since my source of income was built due to being in global cities and the only infrastructure I need is the Internet and my ability to think. My source of income is not disrupted due to being in the village.

But I think if your work doesn't allow you to do things remotely, yes there is a lack of opportunity in the village.

I was just thinking of the fact that my main income drain is rent in a global city. So moving to the village eliminates my biggest expense.

It also eliminates any opportunities for personal development and expanding social circles that are critical for both career and personal growth. There is a reason why rents are so high in the cities: they are desirable places to live because of the opportunities they offer for recreation and personal and professional progress.

Edit: Also I think its hard for anyone (including myself) to relate to kind of lifestyle that most Indian villagers face. Lack of education, illiteracy, importance of superstitions and so on can greatly hinder the progress of any people.

Vehicular pollution, construction dust, diesel generators are a common problem in almost all big cities in India.

However you are looking at the advantages of villages as a visitor with a point of view towards being closer to nature. There are other problems in villages that you probably won't encounter unless you live there on a day to day basis. Finally, grass is always greener on the other side (holds true for both villages & city dwellers).

> A large number of people need to die due to cancer for it be taken seriously

Cancer isn't uncommon in villages and city pollution isn't the only cause.

True, I think if you lived in the village it would be hard for you to escape it and get highly educated.

For that you prolly need to move to a big city, but from my immediate reasoning, I could work remotely from the village for the rest of my life as a programmer and could have a higher standard of living then being in the city.

But I guess that is due to the nature of my job, rather than anything.

Amenities !

You may not get your favorite loaf of bread, although you'll get fresh organic eggs. You may not be able to watch the latest movies in a theater. A good gymnasium probably won't exist, but you can always run in a grass field. There are countless other differences. People are materialistic & not everyone can make that compromise :)

>>I though to my-self the living standard in the villages were HIGHER then the cities.

AND

>>The village people though I was crazy to think that their village was a paradise, and everyone wanted to move to the city.

Well this is because 'standard of living' these days in India is largely measured through a proxy of wealth you own. Not on the factors you mentioned.

I think the city/country thing can also be somewhat attributed to the grass is greener/star bellied sneetch effect.

Clean air and pollution comes far behind to nutrition.

Poor people move to cities because they want to escape malnutrition.

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