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Back to India

yugal.me

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Re: Back to India

#11

Post by vishnumohandas »

hans1729 wrote: post #5

I'd imagine moving back to India after being successful in the US gives you lots of leverage and status, in the sense of being a big fish in a smaller pool (what a beautiful irony, thinking of India of all places as the smaller pool, heh). But lets be real, isn't the quality of life much worse? I've never been there (or in the US, for that matter), but I'd imagine that things like infrastructure are far worse in Indi…

I moved from Switzerland to India sometime back, for reasons similar to OP's.

Here are my ₹2

> quality of life

"Quality" is subjective. My wife and I value having our parents around, being able to afford a cook/maid/nanny, not having to deal with winter and darkness, ...

> infrastructure

For sure it's worse in India. But our lifestyle here is such that we don't have to deal with it frequently. We live next to friends, in a arguably beautiful society, and when we do need something done, we inevitably "know a guy who knows a guy", who can help sort things out without us having to deal with the subpar infra. But yes, for sure India could do a lot better on this front.

> chaotic

For someone like me, who was born and raised here, it is easy to thrive in this chaos. This is home.

Re: Back to India

#13

Post by dartharva »

hans1729 wrote: post #5

I'd imagine moving back to India after being successful in the US gives you lots of leverage and status, in the sense of being a big fish in a smaller pool (what a beautiful irony, thinking of India of all places as the smaller pool, heh). But lets be real, isn't the quality of life much worse? I've never been there (or in the US, for that matter), but I'd imagine that things like infrastructure are far worse in Indi…

There's immense variance in the quality of life you can find in India. In some places (esp. private townships) you'll feel no different than in classier parts of Europe, in others you'll be apalled at how one can humanely live here. The chaos is.. an acquired taste. I find beauty in it.

Re: Back to India

#14

Post by maskedinvader »

I just wanted to point out I loved the fact the op used expat to describe his status in the US and not immigrant. I’ve always hated we had two different words to describe the same thing.

Re: Back to India

#15

Post by akmittal »

It is time real innovation has started in India. India is embracing tech for new fields like agriculture, India's fintech is thriving, Indian govt is investing a lot in semiconductor fabs.

A lot of people i know moved to US because of huge salary gap. Now that gap has reduced a lot and you can save more in India maintaing same lifestyle.

Re: Back to India

#16

Post by igorkraw »

maskedinvader wrote: post #14

I just wanted to point out I loved the fact the op used expat to describe his status in the US and not immigrant. I’ve always hated we had two different words to describe the same thing.

Are they the same? To me immigrant implies a newish arrival, probably with the intention of staying and integrating. Expat implies orientation towards the "fatherland" (patriae) to me, so someone who lives in a different country for a while (maybe a long while) but hasn't and has no intention of "going native". But maybe those are private definitions?

Re: Back to India

#17

Post by firasd »

Are there ways to solve for this H1B limitations issue? I guess there's something called an EB-5 visa if you invest a large amount (around a million) for a business that will hire American workers?

Re: Back to India

#18

Post by FlyingSnake »

hans1729 wrote: post #5

I'd imagine moving back to India after being successful in the US gives you lots of leverage and status, in the sense of being a big fish in a smaller pool (what a beautiful irony, thinking of India of all places as the smaller pool, heh). But lets be real, isn't the quality of life much worse? I've never been there (or in the US, for that matter), but I'd imagine that things like infrastructure are far worse in Indi…

There will always be subjective differences between India and the USA and not everything is hunky dory, but there are some things India is IMO better than USA for an Indian expat:

1. Climate: India is definitely sunny and enjoys predictable weather patterns all year round. Climate change might upset the equation, but it is still bright and sunny.

2. Biodiversity: India is 7th largest country with lots of great places to visit. Mountains, deserts, beaches, jungles, plains etc are all there and South East Asia and Africa are just a flight away. India is 2nd only to Africa when it comes to wildlife.

3. Food: Most Indians eat locally grown stuff sourced from the region and there is an amazing variety of fruits and vegetables that are local to the regions.

4. Social support: The society is definitely more warm and cordial compared to USA. There is house help readily available and the extended family support is unbeatable.

5. Booming tech scene: India will soon need to support it's own internal market which is growing exponentially. The success of Byju's DarwinBox etc is just a start.

P.S. Balaji Srinivasan goes into details about ascending vs descending societies here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlY8HICFiRs&t=4183s

Re: Back to India

#19

Post by secondaryacct »

maskedinvader wrote: post #14

I just wanted to point out I loved the fact the op used expat to describe his status in the US and not immigrant. I’ve always hated we had two different words to describe the same thing.

I hate that. I call myself immigrant in my new country and I find it very snobish to call ourselves "expat".

In fact I did some tutoring to a school for poorer pupils, many of them second generation from the Philipines (so born in Hong Kong, where I immigrated, with two parents born in PH).

When I told them I was an immigrant they were dumbfounded "but then you re very lucky to have arrived here", I was like "not at all, immigration is a choice, you dont need to feel victim of it, we're not here by luck but by work and opportunity seizing".

Talking of immigrants as victims is like talking of africans as "subevolved" charity needing parasites: it hides most of the truth of it.

Every expat is an immigrant, every immigrant is an expat. You left for a reason, and it s always money or a girl.

Re: Back to India

#20

Post by frontman1988 »

firasd wrote: post #17

Are there ways to solve for this H1B limitations issue? I guess there's something called an EB-5 visa if you invest a large amount (around a million) for a business that will hire American workers?

Incorporate your company in US and then work as an employee there on H1B. Seen a few people manage to pull this off.
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