From Amsterdam to Paris to Zurich, what started as a holiday quickly turned into a wake-up call. In a candid Reddit post that’s sparked heated debate online, the traveler reflected on just how far India feels from the basic comforts and values he witnessed abroad. “No disrespect to our country, I love everything about India,” he wrote. “But when I went there, I felt envious about everything they had.”
His reflections span everything from breathable air to public transport and, most painfully, the culture around work. One of the biggest shocks came during a meeting with his company’s founder in Denmark. “He spoke about work culture, flexibility in working hours, and more importantly, mental health,” he noted.
The contrast with Indian offices felt jarring. “Our founders speak about 12-hour workdays and other BS things,” he wrote, frustrated at how long hours are still glorified across corporate India.
A remark from a friend in Europe stuck with him: “Yeh log life jee rhe hai, aur hm kaat rhe hai” (They are living life, we are surviving it). It captured, he said, the quiet burden many Indians carry—grinding through broken systems and overwork just to get by.
Public services also stood out. He admired the punctuality and order of European transport, a far cry from India’s chaotic systems. In Switzerland, a vendor helped him understand currency exchange without charging a conversion fee—a moment that underscored what basic decency in governance and public interaction could feel like.
Returning home was not uplifting. “I always feel that we, the citizens of India, shall have the right to basic human needs, food security, and free education. What stops us from making such a radical change?” he asked.
The post drew sharp reactions. “Every Indian should visit some developed country,” one commenter wrote. “Otherwise, things will continue as they are—with self-praise and delusions.”
Another was more resigned: “Power hungry, greedy, illiterate politicians will never let that happen. We deserve better. But we will never get that here in India.”
