An Introduction - Ashit

Hi my name is Ashit Vora and have been in the US since 2001. Have been living in Northern Virginia since 2003. I have been contemplating to moving back to India as soon as I started working here. Reasons to move back:

1. Be with family and friends
2. Start a business: I believe the opportunities available for entrepreneurship in India are good. Yes business can be started here but in the end given the line of work (tech) work will be done in India:-)
3. Raising kids: Would like to raise kids in India close to their extended family.

Here are some of the things that I worry about:

1. Personal independence: This is bound to be restricted given the society structure.
2. Taking up a job: I believe if I were to work for someone, it would be better here. So if business does not work out it would be quite difficult to take up a job in India.
3. Day to day hassles: This is a given for life in India (especially Mumbai where I am from). I believe I can cope with it but who knows...
4. Political instability: Not a biggie but worth considering. The whole trust vote fiasco made me realize how fragile our economic growth is. If someone like Mayawati had ended up in the PM's chair, don't know what kind of turn the economy would take.

I am giving myself a three year horizon after which I hope to be back home... yep Mumbai is still and will always be home:-)

Top five reasons to move back or stay put

I am Natarajan and have been in the US since 2001, been in Chicago for three years now. I have a 10 month old and am thinking of a move back for about a year now. I have been trying to think of my top five reasons to move back or stay put and am recording some of my thoughts in brief. Please feel free to add to it or debate existing reasons.

Top five reasons to move back:

Opportunities - Read this article to know more: http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14702517

Food - I am vegetarian and am tiring of how few options I have in this country.

Help with uninteresting household work - Having a help at home, however expensive he/she is a big thing for me.

Kids - I think it would be nice to have kids speak more than one or two languages as in India and get to know Indian culture. By the time they grow up, the cool place to move to could be Shanghai instead of NY. Who knows.

Culture - I am an avid Carnatic music fan and long to be able to go to concerts beyond just the summer.


Top five reasons to stay put:

Work like a dog - I have heard that weekends are not truly weekends. I have also heard that a 50 hour week is the norm as against a 40 hour US workweek. I would be happy to hear that this is not the case.

Systematic way to obtain basic services - Things might have changed dramatically but I recall my Mom having to run from pillar to post trying to get something done with the Electricity department of the local government about 4 years back.

Mobility - My primary nightmare is to drive on Bangalore roads during commute hour. I would much rather take a trip to the dentist.

Exchange rate debate - How much more can you do with the dollar than with the rupee. For instance if I wanted to travel to Latin America, how much more does the dollar help me out than the rupee.

Pollution - One of the first things I recall the first time I got out of an airplane in the US in Dallas is how clean and fresh the air felt to breathe. Similarly when I landed in Bombay in 2004, the experience was not good.

I hope I have been relevant enough to the topic.

Best!

Natarajan

Balaji

I am also from erstwhile Bombay. Grew up there and came here in 1992 (technically 1991 as I landed here on Dec 31st 1991.) I have been trying for some good opportunity for a year or so now. It is harder for the kind of job I am looking for as I am looking for something senior enough and not many like that in the summer when I can actually move because of school etc.I have been in Chicago now for 10 years. 2 girls 9 and 6. they are OK to move. I can probably try for another year but will have to give up after that.

Mohammed

Hi,I guess I will go ahead and contribute the second post to this blog. Khozem has started a very useful blog as personally I was looking for a forum to discuss this topic with like minded people. If everyone starts contributing actively we can generate some useful information that will be beneficial to everyone.I have been in the US since 2001 but I was finishing up my undergrad education till 2004. I started working for Deloitte Consulting in 2005. I am from Bombay and eventually I would like to move back to India as well. I am more concerned about what is the right time to move back. Is it more beneficial to go back at the early stage of one's career or should I try to reach a seniority level in a US company and then try to find jobs back home?

What are the home schooling options in India?

Specifically for Pune. Does anyone have any information to share?

I am looking for home schooling options till 6th or 7th grades.

Do any International Schools provide home schooling options?

Will houses/condos get any cheaper in India?

I think everyone is aware of the soaring prices for housing in India. However, current high level of inflation and RBI's response in increasing the interest rates lead me to believe that some speculative element in housing will be tamed and prices might reduce a bit.. Any comments?

IT Jobs in Mumbai

Anyone want to comment on IT job market in Bombay? I know that some finance companies like Merill, UBS etc have some IT operations in mumbai, anyone want to comment on it?

PJ

Hello, I moved back to India about 2.5 years ago! I'm originally from Delhi, but moved to Hyderabad directly from Seattle. We are a family of 5 (3 kids) :) and we are really enjoying having come back to India. We've faced a lot of challenges in trying to settle down and figure everything out as I spent most of my 15 year career in the US. But, my wife and kids are loving it here.

If anyone has questions or just concerns about coming back to India, please feel free to ping me and I'll try to answer to the best of my ability.

Khozem

I am an IT consultant working in Chicago area, I am in US since 1994, married and with 2 sons, 11 and 7 years old.

I grew up in Mumbai and like the city very much. My objective is to move back to either Mumbai or Pune. I am just intimidated by the amount of finance required to move into a comfortable apartment/house in those places. Also, the general cost of living and inflation concerns me.

Please read this post first

For this blog, I would recommend that all the members do the following:

1 - Create a posting that gives your short introduction in one para and another para to outline your objectives regarding moving back to India. Please label this posting as Introductions.

2 - For your postings relevant to the context, please try to classify them in following categories and label them the same.

ProsAndCons - Your opinions on pros and cons of moving back to India.
Housing - Discussions of useful resources for researching/obtaining housing.
Education - Discussion and evaluation of various education options for our kids.
Jobs - Discussion of jobs and business opportunities.
Finance - Discussion of various financing options available, not just for Housing.
Living - Discussion of concerns like congestion, pollution, health care, public services etc.
Miscellaneous - Any topic that does not fit into categories above.

Please feel free to create any other categories that you feel appropriate.