In India you are never alone

"In India you are never alone." This sentence may sound like a truism. After all, with more than 1.42 billion inhabitants, India is currently the most populous country in the world. But what is true with countless people and cars on the public roads also applies in private life.

Even in your own apartment, you always have someone around you - who is not part of your own family, mind you. A common example from our life here is last Friday:

Our maid arrives around 10:00 am. She usually helps us from Monday to Friday and is therefore the first visitor on this day. Her arrival is the most calculable, all the following people come with a maximum of flexibility (or no predictability). Just like the dry cleaner who rings next that morning to collect clothes for ironing.

Number three are the two service technicians who arrive around midday to repair the washing machine. Finally, there are the gardeners, who ring the doorbell two hours earlier than usual this time. No problem I think, flexibility and accessibility are part and parcel of life in India.

Having service providers in the house four times in one day is anything but the exception in India. When you consider that the most I open my door during the day in Germany is one time for the mail man, this figure is all the more impressive - and there's more: electricians or plumbers (things break down much quicker in India) or a driver from one of the many delivery services also come and go regularly.

At first it felt very unfamiliar, especially with the maid, to have "a stranger" around at home all the time. You don't know that from Germany. Over time, of course, you get used to each other.

However, the constant and slightly unexpected ringing at the door remains at least irritating, even after a year in India. But if my time here has taught me one thing, it's that you have to take things as they are - and that you're never alone in India.

The many helpers in everyday life illustrate another special feature: India's service sector is enormous and well established.

Read the article Everything comes with a Service to find out in how many areas the Indian middle class relies on service providers - and why we still miss simply doing things ourselves.