American Instagram influencer gets impressed by India’s jugaad culture, ‘You can get anything fixed’

Jessica Kumar, an American living in India, was impressed by its “jugaad” culture. The knack of finding clever, low-cost solutions has excited the social media influencer.

Jessica runs a YouTube channel, India with Jessica, which has 47,500 subscribers. Her Instagram account has 2,14,000 followers. As per Dainik Bhaskar, she came to India to do an internship and fell in love with a man from Bihar. She now teaches Hindi to foreigners.

The video that has now gone viral was originally posted on Jessica Kumar’s Instagram and received just about 6,000 views. However, when it was reshared on Twitter (now X) by another user, it had more than 65,000 views.

In the video, Jessica Kumar highlights how almost anything can be repaired in India: Sandals, shoes, clothes and even broken buckets can be fixed at very low prices.

According to Jessica, in many countries, such items would be thrown away. But, in India, they’re given new life.

“You know, one of my absolute favourite things about India? You can get anything fixed. Anything. Sandal? Get it fixed. $100 shoes. Get it fixed. Electric item. Get it fixed. Broken buckets. You can get it fixed,” Jessica says in the video.

She shared examples like her $45 Converse shoes and $60 Crocs being repaired for just ₹40 (less than $0.50). She admires how India values fixing over wasting, which also supports sustainability.

Social media was stunned to see her speak clean Hindi while having a conversation with the man who fixed her shoes.

One user wrote, “Wow she's so sweet... We should learn from.. how to appreciate the beauty & small nuisance of foreign countries we live in... All expats to learn instead of sharing pain.. indians are very decent, but if we showcase other countries like this... We're not only welcomed but adored.”

“India will teach world how to live economically all life from rs 300 to 1000 daily u can live economically in india living 5 to 6 metro cities,” commented another.

“There is a story of Payjama. How Indians use it. 1st they use it as Payjama, then after some years, half pants, then as a carry bag, then it can be used as cleaning cloth at last, it can be used as media to burn wood. That's how Indians save money. And it's a good practice,” wrote one user.

“Very true.. Everything can be repaired.. except... corruption, misogyny, patriarchy, women objectification, casteism, feudalism, bigotry and hypocrisy,” came a sarcastic comment.