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
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2 comments:
Natarajan,
Thanks for a great post. Hopefully we can have good conversation on this topic. I think almost anyone thinking or even in planning stage of going back to India would be thinking about this.
One of points that I feel strongly on moving back is that quite a few us are "economic migrants" (atleast I am) and in my opinion, now the economic factors alone do not justify staying in US.
To explain this a bit more, When came to US in 1994, this was the "model" for the IT professionals when I graduated. Get hired by an IT firm, work for a few months till your H1 visa was processed and take off. I think most of us came here for better pay and to some extent better job prospects and opportunities. I do not believe many of us would have debated the social/cultural/political advantages/disadvantages of the choice we were making. Over a period of time, you realize that there are certain costs to be paid for this choice. The most significant one is (as posted in another related blog) "I know you cannot come, but we would like to invite you anyway". You pay the price of getting detached from the extended family and friends back in India. Phone calls and infrequent visits do not make up this loss.
I would argue that even with the level of inflation, hype and jonesing going on in India right now, we could find decent opportunities and earn a decent enough pay to live a decent life over there. The infrastructure is improving over there, procedures are getting better, the power of middle class is starting to emerge, the religious/factional elements in social life are reducing.
I am not naive enough to think that everything is great back in India, but if the economic advantage is reducing, what other considerations would make us stay here?
Could we have some discussion on the factors for this tradeoff?
Khozem.
Hi Natarajan,
I have been in Hyderabad for 3 years now. I live in a very nice gated community with a lot of amenities like swimming pool, gym, club house, restaurant, small market, park, kids play areas etc etc.
My wife was born and raised in the US till we came here to India 3 years ago. I myself lived in Seattle for 13 years and then moved to Hyderabad. Hyderabad is not even my native city.
But, we all love it here. Life is not perfect and to answer some of your questions:
1. Weekends are weekends if you work for an MNC. 40-50 hour work weeks are there in the US too unless you're working in an industry that pays by the hour.
2. Things have changed on the surface and some underlying changes are happening (but very slowly). Getting anything done, does take time and it can be frustrating.
3.Driving is a nightmare anywhere in India. Nothing new :)
4. Yes, you can do more with the dollar, but the salaries are much higher here now, specially for people with good experience. I make about 75% of what I would be making in the US at this time.
5. Yes, pollution levels are higher here.
To address the reasons to move back:
1. India is currently a land of opportunity and there is no doubt about it.
2. There is nowhere in the world where you can get the food that you get in India! No way to beat that.
3. Having help at home is valuable but also frustrating and bothersome. We don't have any and we are happy!
4. I love the fact that my kids are growing up here - learning the culture and the language. They also understand what Diwali and Holi mean. Being immersed in another language makes it so much easier to learn.
5. My kids take classes to learn Indian music, singing and dancing and it's all available easily. I don't have to drive them 10 miles to an instructor.
Hope this helps a bit.
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