How to be happy as an expat in India

This is a very good question.  You must have some attraction to India to even consider working and living here.  If you are here because you are "on assignment" for the American or European plantation, and you are not open to the experiences of Indic thought, Indic relations, and Indic life otherwise, then you will be miserable here.

The more you are embedded in Indic society, the more fulfilling life here is.  For me, I am Hindū and have defected to Indic society.  Even after 3 years, I have no desire to go back.  That means you would develop connections not only to people who are part of Indian society , but also the government (like BJP party), perhaps banking industry, Indian military if you are into military science and research, whatever interests you.  You have to be comfortable enough in your skin to enmesh with Indic society, become one of them to the extent possible under your particular circumstances.

What I did took DECADES for this to happen, and the first 30+ years happened quite unknowingly.  Like, I woke up to the possibility that the world is not as "European and American authorities" say it is as a teenager.  I studied health maintenance in my 20s.  I became vegetarian in '93 and have been vegan for nearly 23 of these years.  I did not know that I had some cultural similarities to Indian women until about 2008, and then I learned that my Natural Hygiene training was really Indian health knowledge lifted by white scientists, the "unacceptable things" sifted out, reframed into the western mind set, and then the sources of this knowledge deleted or link-backs broken so that they could claim this knowledge as theirs.  It wasn't until 2015 that I accepted that I am Hindū, and it all went downhill from there. 

If you are Hindū and poor working-class, you are bound to get a lot of discrimination in certain parts of America UNLESS you keep completely quiet about your life and don't tell anything to anyone on the job about your life.  I learned that the hard way.  I only started to climb out of that hole AFTER I got to India.  It pays HUGELY to work and live in a country that you are mentally and "civilizationally" compatible with.  I'm a relatively rare case, in that I came here in 2018, and I found out in late 2020 that I DO have Indian ancestry, most of it being in SE India and a very small amount in north India.  And I look phenotypically white.

For me, managing stress is simply a matter of remembering that I traded off American problems for Indian problems.  It is also realising that American problems are like trying to climb up 60-degree river banks on a bicycle, while Indian problems are like small bumps in an otherwise well-maintained road in a big cushy-riding car.  The former are quite destructive and can leave you on the street, PERMANENTLY.  Just ask the homeless people in the big cities there.  That's why I had to leave.

I formed my connections through the local Hindū temple, wherever I was, whether it was Dallas, Cleveland (TX), Houston, Austin, wherever I could try to find work.  For the last 3 years prior to my departure from America, I had been seeking odd jobs from people in the Hindū temple community, and they in turn gave me connections to friends and relatives back here in India.  I simply refused to go back to work in western office/retail work, which is all I know how to do.

As far as living habits go, I try to adapt as much as I can.  I dress the style of women somewhat younger than my age (and that comes from the fact that at one time for 3.5 years in America, my ENTIRE HOUSE was no bigger than merely a master bathroom in a big house - how would you cleanly put on a sārī without getting it on the floor and dirty before you even have completed wrapping it on you??).  I do headbaths without a shower, just bucket and pitcher.  I eat Indian food with my right hand only like others do, though with modifications to recipes.  However, I can't give up my toilet paper just yet.  At least I have comfort that I'm one of a few TP users buying from a store that ALWAYS has plenty of it because I don't live in an ex-pat area.  The shoes is a big one for me, though I have to wear house shoes because I can't see my feet clearly and have in fact broken one of my toes in this house.

Thank you sharing .  I am going to follow my passion and move to India in 2026, five years seems so long:-(    I am moving to Mysore and going to work with children but on a voluntary basis .  You are right , India is for people that want to live simply and stay grounded .  Keep well and maybe we will meet someday