What was it like for ordinary people to live under the Ottoman rule?

My grandfather has started his life as a subject to Ottoman Empire. He was living in a desolate district’s village along the central coast line of Black Sea. He had no land to farm, just an adobe house with a garden good for nothing to sell. There was no school around, not even elementary. The century was 20th, but forget tap water, sewer, or electricity, even the roads were no good for vehicles, as if there were a network of vehicles for transportation. The road would be better when my grandpa, Ali, was 30. The mosque would be built when he was 33. The school would be available after 2 hours walk when he was 35. Not bad, huh?! just because the state turned into a Republic when he was 25! Yet, he serviced the Ottoman military at the age of 14! He was a medic, and he was shot in his leg by (possibly) Armenian support troops, behind the Ottoman front line. The so-called doctor had not enough medicine to spend his relatively unimportant wound and his leg limped a little later on. The army didn’t teach him how to read and write, it was too long and hard with Arabic alphabet. What would he read in his village anyway? After his return, he was married before he was 18. His first two wives were dead because of some illnesses that can be cured with just antibiotics! Third wife was my grandmother. She had birth with 8 boys, 4 lived. All sons went to school, two became teachers for various class levels, one… wait for it… one son became an engineer! First engineer in the neighboring tens of villages! People walked to see his diploma for hours with their school kids to inspire them. Thanks to Republic! My grandpa Ali tasted sugar (any form of sugar) only in weddings till he was 40. He saw the first car when he was been recruited for the army. His village was visited by a doctor when he was a few years younger than 50. He was Turk, Muslim. He even went on pilgrimage, first in his family, when he was 65. He didn’t pay non-Muslim taxes. He did pay tax for the cow that his father gave as dowry to the Ottoman Empire. Then, he conscientiously paid his taxes to the Republic. He couldn’t read but he had wisdom and gratitude! Now, I feel good when reading Mehmet the Conqueror’s tale of capture of Constantinople. But I do not feel much about Vahideddin. My grandfather, my father, and my son are all in debt of Turkish Republic. By saying Republic, I mean Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, no mad Ottoman pervert who were interested in his harem than my nation! And I am a proud Turk. https://www.quora.com/What-was-it-like-for-ordinary-people-to-live-under-the-Ottoman-rule noyan aydin's answer