Tuesday, October 30, 2007

R2I Quotes

I am a member of R2I forums, a great community for anyone who wants to discuss about Return to India. It has topics ranging from dilemma with R2I to successful R2I stories. One can also find lots of information and tips that would make this transition a lot easier.

One of the recent thread has been titled callled R2I Quote, I could not resist myself from posting some of the quotes I really liked and some of them which are really funny (Credit goes to OP).

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1) R2I - Return 2 Infinite possibilities!

2) US is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong. Now that you are strong, show your strength where it is most needed!

3) R2I not because you think it will turn out well but because you are certain that it makes sense, regardless of how things turn out.

4)Ticket to US Rs.200000
Evening of Pizza $25
Down-payment for home $10000s
Commission to the selling broker 20000
Trip to Hawaii $xxxxs
Ticket to India $5500
Withdrawal from IRA 10%
New Tax 35%, 20%
How much is enough? Crores
...
R2I? Priceless

5)Passion without action = LIA ( X+1)
Action without Passion = R2I -----> R2A
Passion with Action = R2I

6) Barely tested the car horn in US - wait till you R2I

7) Time to enter a chinese restaurant and say, "Veg Fried Rice" instead of "Veg Fried rice with No meat, No chicken broth, No sea food, No fresh water food......."

Fact
8) The magnitude of R2I talk is inversely proportional to the possibility of R2I

My Favourite
9) Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
where I can relate to the people and the government does not spy

Where a Chokalingam does not have to be Chuck or Subbulakshmi a Sue
Where I do not have to report to the INS every time I move

Please give me courage and wisdom so that I am happy with the decision I make
In to that heaven of freedom, my Father, let me awake

Monday, October 29, 2007

It happens only in America

This could only happen in America, here's the story:

The retail chain store Target had a coupon for $1 off any 2 gerber baby food item, they have gerber baby food which are as low as 52 cents effectively making 2 baby food for 4 cents. The promotion lasted month long and parents enjoyed it a lot, most of the Targets ran out of the baby food and restocking them will not help them either. By the end of the promotion most of the Target started limiting number of coupons that you can use.

Below is an excerpt that I borrowed from one of the deal discussion sites. See how the person is ripping off the store, enjoying every bit of it and all this is legal.

"After having an awful experience trying to redeem 20 $1/2 Gerber coupons (10 by my wife, 10 for me) at the Liberty, Missouri SuperTarget for our 6-month old twins, we finally had success this weekend at the same store. I had my coupon policy in hand and was hoping to run into the same cashier and manager (I'd wanted to see their jaws drop -- at the very least, they would have had to restock the shelves).

We rolled up with 3 baskets of baby food and had 170 coupons, individually cut out, numbered, and ready to go. I'm not sure all the coupons got scanned, though, but that was at least $170 in savings right there!

The register ran out of "tape" while printing the mile-long receipt. We paid roughly $50 for all of this stuff (we did not exclusively buy jars, as you can see), after using a few manufacturer's coupons from Gerber and from two from the Internet . Employees were gathering around us in awe while the receipt printed out, and I paid with a gift card. We were surprised that the transaction went through with no hitch. We were prepared to buy 10 at a time. The cashier, a woman in her 40's, was enjoying all the attention from it.

Here is the weekend's bounty, all sorted and organized (boy, that was fun!). I know that 340 containers of food won't be enough to last the twins' feeding habits for more than a couple months, but it was nice finally to see some "justice" on that store. Enough other people must have complained, or maybe they realized that restocking product that they are trying to get rid of was just a futile effort on their part. "

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Who can beat nature:

These are pictures taken in Northeast US (Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire) during fall of 2006 and 2007. The vibrant colors just mesmerize you and it is impossible to capture the vividness in pictures.

Nature you are the best painter.

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

Friday, October 26, 2007

Journey called Life

Life is a journey, a long one......

Where are we going ??? most of the time the answer to this question is unknown but still we keep moving, traversing the unknown roads, climbing big mountains and swimming deep rivers.

This blog is intended to capture some of those major moments of my journey and may even help in deciding direction and destination of this wonderful expedition.