Is quality of life tangible or intangible? Is it Physical or Metaphysical? Is it real? All these thoughts sometimes storm my mind especially when I am in some pain or when the thoughts of rushing back to US resurface (resurface coz it keeps surfacing often).
H and I are very often stuck in this QOL web while discussing life in India Vs. Life in US.
Here is my analysis of QOL. It might help people when comparing their lives in US or post R2I.
What is QOL?
“QOL reflects the difference, the gap, between the hopes and expectations of a person and their present experience.”- I read somewhere and I think it is very well put.
As for me, QOL is a subjective mix of physical well-being, mental bell-being, achievement of ones goals and leading a comfortable life. It may also be called a sum of happiness and satisfaction.
Components of QOL?
Physical Health, Mental Health, Financial stability, Education, Professional satisfaction (work and colleagues), General happiness with Family (you spouse and kids- time spent, things done, etc.), Relatives, Friends, house and Neighborhood you live in, General environment( Food, Shopping, Roads, Cleanliness, public facilities, people around, etc.), Belongingness, Security (Security from robbers, kidnappers, eve-teasers, muggers, etc.) etc. etc. Add to it the ease of achieving all these.
I will not get into how to achieve QOL, etc. We all are smart enough and have our own ways to achieve it.
But the calculation of QOL is what we were struggling to get to. And now, I have devised this method. I would be grateful if someone can give me a better mathematical formula.
For everything not achieved or lost in transition: -1
For Indifference: 0
For everything achieved: 1
For everything that can be achieved far better/ easily: 2
(My assumptions are based on my experience of staying in CA and in Bangalore. The financial equation changes if CA is changed to may be IL, TX, or FL, etc.)
Here is our result based on various parameters listed here:
| Parameters | | US |
| Physical Health | -1 | 1 |
| Mental Health | 2 | 1 |
| Domestic Help | 1 | -1 |
| Financial Stability | 2 | 1 |
| Family Life | 0 | 1 |
| Relatives | 2 | 1 |
| Friends | 1 | 1 |
| House | 1 | 1 |
| Neighborhood | 1 | 1 |
| Professional Satisfaction- Career | 1 | 1 |
| Professional Satisfaction- Colleagues | 0 | 1 |
| Education- Quality | 2 | 1 |
| Education-Convenience | -1 | 1 |
| Belongingness | 1 | 1 |
| Security/ Safety | -1 | 2 |
| General Environment-Food | 1 | 1 |
| Gen. Env.- People | 0 | 1 |
| Gen. Env. - Roads | -1 (-10 may be) | 2 |
| Gen. Env.- Hygiene | -1 | 1 |
| Gen. Env.- Cleanliness | -1 | 2 |
| Gen. Env.- Public Facilities(Libraries, Toilets, Water, Power, security, etc.) | -1 | 2 |
| Ease of Achieving | 0 | 1 |
| Climate/ Weather | 1 | 1 |
| Total Score | 9 | 25 |
(Again, these are my calculations based on our factors.)
Isn’t that a huge difference?!
It is not a surprise and it is definitely not something we did not know before R2I. But never gave numbers to anything. Even if we did, would that have changed the decision? Perhaps not. But it is not a bad idea to do maintain a PNL account of our lives. Isn’t it?
Some interesting Links:
http://www.gdrc.org/uem/qol-define.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_5003150_measure-quality-life.html
http://www.calresco.org/lucas/qol.htm
I think you are being too harsh on India. I am sure you have experienced a lot in US, but have you gone through some of the outliers which can happen - without job for a year, serious illness without insurance, racism (even if you experience twice a decade). The first two did not happen to me, but I can relate to people who had. The last one - it was a simple question of someone overtaking me wrongly, and me honking - but we both stopped side by side at the next traffic signal, and he made a gesture to cut off my head. This was in the heart of Sunnyvale, CA. Would he do it if my skin had a different color - I doubt it. Again, this is probably 3 years back and was not a reason for me to move back, but I got reminded of it for some reason.
ReplyDeleteAnother parameter I can think of is just the ability to walk to the grocery store, and get the key items home in 10 minutes, and also meet 10 people on the way. Maybe we can call it city congestion - sometimes it is good, sometimes not.
The other argument I will have with your ratings is that all things are not equal. For example, should climate have the same weight as security/safety. I am sure I will not want to live in Oakland at any cost, but what if your job is there?
In the end, despite there being 100s or 1000s of people doing R2I yearly, I think it is hard to make an absolute scale. Each person has their 2-3 make or break parameters. These take precedence over everything else. If you fix those 2-3 parameters, the whole calculation can be turned upside down very easily.
Sorry I am not trying to challenge your theory, but I have learnt that many people can easily justify the pros and cons of any argument (or benchmark), and if our top 2-3 needs are satisfied, I am sure I can too, and I am sure you can too.
I could not agree more with you Harry. These are the things that are coming to our mind also. Insurance post retirement, losing a job, etc. That is why I said financially we could do better here.
ReplyDeleteOn the racist note, I was once a target of missionary women in MI. They used to visit me often and try to lecture me on world peace. After refusing politely thrice, I had lost my cool and I bombarded them with what GW Bush(a Christian and an American) was doing to world peace and why did the people of America re-elect him. The woman had cheeks to send her send her son and daughter in-law to me with a pamphlet in Hindi!! I screamed at the couple and told them that if they bother me one more time, they and their mom will have the worst time of their life.
Similarly I was taunted harshly by some muslim extremists at Hazrat Nizammuddin in Delhi. I was thankful to Lord for being alive a few minutes later.
But trust me Harry, it is not US or India, it is the people who do it. One of my Brit friends in Bangalore(on expat) and her 2 little girls are having the rudest experience in India.
As I said, my factors were based on Bay Area and B'lore and given our income. These vary from person to person.
I would prefer to live in extreme winters of mid-west then have sleepless nights, robbery and molestations. That is why the same weightage. :)
This is an awesome post and good objective way of putting things in perspective. At the end of the day there are only couple factors which make or break, but this analysis helps not to overlook other things. As in my case just the Family and Domestic help makes it for my wife, but u cant overlook kids education, future, infrastructure and so forth.
ReplyDeleteI wish there was a crystal ball or a magic pill.