Saturday, October 27, 2007

Return to India (R2I) - Why is it incomprehensible

As we declared our final decision to move back to India, thoughts poured in from all our friends and relatives, colleagues and unknowns. What amazed me most was most of my Indian acquaintance (and unknowns) would ask me "Why do you want to move back to India?" while most of the other people were happy for us that we are moving closer to our family and our own country.

I wonder why is the decision to return incomprehensible, especially to people to my own country. I can understand if it was just a human desire to know but the amazement in their voice is far from a simple know-why, most of them assume something went wrong, to the extent that I must have been fired or not doing well at my work.

I am glad to have friends who are not able to return yet but appreciated my move and made me feel happy for taking such a decision.

Here are FAQ's and my answer to them:
Am I worried? - Yes

Do I have a guaranteed future in India? - No, but I did not have that in US either

Will I get all the facilities in India? - I might not be able to (though that is a passé with the
current economic conditions) but I would be surrounded by my family and well-wishers and that for me is far more important than few extra facilities

Why did you come to US if you had to go back? - Am I forbidden to leave my country if I want to return?

Won't you have problems after spending so many years there? - No, I spent 22 years of my life there; spending 5 here did not change me to the extent that I would not be able to adjust. I might be a little challenging initially but that's what makes life interesting, isn’t it.

Shouldn't you have earned more here and then gone back? - Is there an end to amount of money you could earn, how much is enough? Wouldn't my expenses grow with my income? The years that I would lose yearning to return back, could they be bought back with this extra income?

Are you sure you will not come back? - I don't know what future holds for me but I prefer to make decisions based on present.

All I would say for America is - Veni, Vidi, Vici - Now its time to return home.

P.S.: I will update FAQ's as and when required

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice shot