Posted by
Vaishnavi on
Oct 20, 2010 in
Life, Reason |
8 comments 
A move to India was something that I’ve considered since I left to US for marriage a little more than 3 years ago. Every year, just as me there are so many of Indians thinking about moving back to India. Without intending to generalize, almost every Indian I’ve met there has debated this or is debating this decision at some point of their life. Some to catch up with the growing opportunities in India, some for love and warmth of family in India or some to escape the high cost of living in the US cities (in comparison with the metros in India). For us it was an amalgam of all the three.
Both my husband and I have strong network and support system in both the countries. Though grown up & studied in India, we had never lived a life of a responsible, adult in India. So living in India has always intrigued us. Fortunately or unfortunately, we have an opportunity to try out living in India and we jumped the gun at it!
Yes, after several discussions within ourselves, family, work folks, we set out to India. Why not? We are still young to easily adapt, adventurous and hey, no baggages yet, why not make a logical decision after getting the complete picture. The only sad part was that right when we had our roots grow in US, we were going to India. This I am not sure if it is a pro or con yet
Right now, I am back home, in Chennai – Settling down and catching up with work and my family. I wanted to share my experience of moving back home… in the hope that those of you who are planning on moving can prepare yourselves mentally for the ride ahead before you head out to buy the tickets.
Cons first…
If you are an Indian or has lived in the country for more than 1 week, you are no stranger to the deafening sounds, queer smells, scorching heat, humidity and suffocating Junta. It does take some amount of savviness to figure out how to live in this frenzy country! These struggles are still there and I am pretty sure that it is not going away.
The traffic infrastructure is still pitiable, if not worse – Or at least in the metros. It is a huge contrast from the orderly rules of traffic on the highways and freeways in the U.S. Forget being the driver; even being a pedestrian on the street is quite an adventure.
Even if you get past all the above, what’ll irk you is the “whatever – chalta hai” attitude of people. Most systems lack discipline. There is absolute no professionalism or sense of time here. My home appliances were installed 2 weeks after it was bought. Everyday what we heard was a confident “ I’ll come today itself madam” lines…or “I am 5 minutes away from your place” with no show. In that way you waste a lot of time with no fault of yours.
Opening bank accounts, filling out any government forms is a big chore with so much uncertainty. Customer Service is a namesake concept. (I can write another blog by itself on Samsung, India customer service. It is nothing but a big joke.)
And to top all of this, public infrastructure is yet another sob story – a trip to any public loo is accompanied by melancholy most often.
And now the pros…
The dynamics of India have drastically changed in the last couple of years. All of a sudden India has emerged as a new player on the international arena. Every news channel, news paper, big corporations, Gartner, and even your mom says so! The time has arrived where the Indian economy is meeting opportunity.
India has become so urbanized. There seems to be a sudden mania for shopping malls and multiplexes in India. With shopping malls erupting in every nook and corner, the modern India seems to have become the hot destination for a galore of international brands in clothes, shoes, cosmetics, food, lifestyle, kitchen ware. The towering breadth of globalization seems to have led to the development of the country as a great hub for shopping. Increasing number of malls in India also seems to have empowered the shoppers to a great extent.
Though there exists biting competition, India remains the land of opportunities and thriving entrepreneurship. In-spite of the lower cost of living (Well, I am not sure of the other cities, this fact is based on my move from LA to Chennai), the lifestyle (In terms of a maid etc) is indeed superior here. Though there are several power outages, there are so many solutions in the market for you to choose to escape them.
Cheaper healthcare in india is the added advantage. Unless you are living on Mars, I am sure you’ve heard about the atrocious healthcare system in US. When my mom-in-law had a small accident in US, we were billed for $2800 for a tetanus injection and X rays which costs at the most Rs.500 in India, which is $11.62. Of course she had insurance and we paid just $100, but still when you compare the money which we actually had to shell out, the healthcare in US is whopping expensive.
India though a very old ancient country feels young! Every 3rd person you meet in this country seems to be in the age group of 15-33 years old (Yep, thats the age group I would call young
) What I love the most in India is the warmth its people, my people. There is a very good and a positive blend of western and Indian culture… especially in the metros. The presence of immediate family is indeed a bonus which makes you feel stronger and secure. While there is a sense of belonging here, there is also a possibility of a larger social circle too.
It has been 2 months here in India now and I am enjoying and taking in the warmth and beauty of my vibrant and colorful India. Being away from India for a while has opened me up to embracing all the things that I have otherwise taken for granted here.
And I got to to mention this, I came across this newspaper article in ‘The Hindu’ the day I returned from India saying, “Living the American dream made me fall in love with my country all over again”. I’m not sure if it was the universe was reaching out to me in the strangest of ways, but I could relate to it at a higher level.
This article is for myself and for the others like me, in a hope that it helps and gives a realistic sense of moving out here. And yes, I’ll keep updating this pros and cons list in the due course of my stay here.
woh..way to go….
Hey Vaish,
Very well said… and I do agree, we are also strongly considering moving back to India….the question is when!!! Hopefully sometime soon…
Glad that you guys are enjoying the move… good luck …am sure you guys will do great…. am just feeling bad that I didn’t get in touch with you while you were in the US…all coz of my laziness!!
- Archana
I know Archana! Wish I called you before coming back…Its just that it got so busy for us towards the end.
vaish,,,no matter what the cons…home keeps gluing each of us back …:-)..u gonna fit in well..and the readymade packaged life with trimmed lawns would soon be replaced by the familiarity and comfort of home…
ciao soon at a place called home………:-)
Its true Anu….it is home
Your blogs are quite interesting vaish…Keep going with pros and cons, will keep an eye on it..:)
I guess moving to India is a long term project and getting
it to work requires a congratulations!! I hope you are loving
it
Still, i think the US or any other (middke east) country, has the job opportunity. since lst 8 years i am doing job and earning money, if i had spend those years in other country, i would made asset for myself and my family…. so that is the reasone the person like me want to go abroad to make money.
regards
Digamber