Amazing India

[r2somewhere]

Another good think about India is the USD to INR exchange rate. US market went up after the election. I go to my google sheets excited to see new number, but in USD it hardly seems like an increase.

But in INR, it went up 50 lakh in 3 days. That gives me a much better feeling. I feel like in 3 days I earned enough to buy 1 bathroom in Mumbai

[SAPPORO]

The things that attract me to India regardless of its problems:
1)Geo arbitrage. This is a big one. I was always fascinated about this concept of money, where the timing of earning and the timing of spending can be pushed apart. This is thanks of financialization and being a financial markets guy, I had to make use of this feature. The formula I used is: 1 year of work in a high income country like Singapore = 2 years of work in a low cost country like India. So 15 years of working in Singapore = 30 years of working in India. Being a lazy person, this is exactly what I was looking for and nothing gives me more joy than thinking about executing this for the rest of my life. It is like I have done the 50 overs of balling now and now it is the lunch break and remaining 50 overs is batting

2)Familiarity/culture: No matter what I was broughtup as an Indian, I married into arrange marriage and my wife is of same caste. She cooks the same food my mom used to cook. She is stay at home mom and takes care of our house and my daughter and ours is the perfect template Indian family. So we have kind of carried on what our ancestors taught us and so far we have brought up our daughter in the same mould. Our wish would be to give our daughter the chance to follow the same path. Ofcourse she could choose to marry someone out of our caste, but atleast we if go back to India and her teenage years are spent in India, the chances are she marries an Indian. So it is easy for us and not a total shocker having to deal with inter racial marriage etc.

All the problems of India like pollution, population and corruption are manageable for me. I have reached the level of maslow's hierarchy now, where belongingness and social identity is more important than money and materialistic pursuits.

"Water, water everywhere but not a single drop to drink " - unless you or your wife is garrulous and quick to make friends, you may feel out of place in India after being out for a long time. I lucked out with the Florida move since my wife is good in making new friends.
You may have to adjust your expectations about your DD, things are changing fast especially in India and your DD may want to be independent and not live with you while going to college.

[SAPPORO]

Another good think about India is the USD to INR exchange rate. US market went up after the election. I go to my google sheets excited to see new number, but in USD it hardly seems like an increase.

But in INR, it went up 50 lakh in 3 days. That gives me a much better feeling. I feel like in 3 days I earned enough to buy 1 bathroom in Mumbai

But wait, the same bathroom went up in price by 20 Lakhs

[wd40]

"Water, water everywhere but not a single drop to drink " - unless you or your wife is garrulous and quick to make friends, you may feel out of place in India after being out for a long time. I lucked out with the Florida move since my wife is good in making new friends.
You may have to adjust your expectations about your DD, things are changing fast especially in India and your DD may want to be independent and not live with you while going to college.

Singapore and Bangalore are quite compatible. Besides, we have parents and relatives in Bangalore. Initially I was hesitant, but now it looks more likely that we are going to stay in the 1st floor in my parents landed house, which is currently rented out.

If DD becomes independent that is great and we will encourage it. But we need our base to be strong 1st, we are currently living in Singapore like long term tourists, with no base. So the move back to Bangalore is to create that strong base strenthen the ties we have there.

[SAPPORO]

"Water, water everywhere but not a single drop to drink " - unless you or your wife is garrulous and quick to make friends, you may feel out of place in India after being out for a long time. I lucked out with the Florida move since my wife is good in making new friends.
You may have to adjust your expectations about your DD, things are changing fast especially in India and your DD may want to be independent and not live with you while going to college.

Singapore and Bangalore are quite compatible. Besides, we have parents and relatives in Bangalore. Initially I was hesitant, but now it looks more likely that we are going to stay in the 1st floor in my parents landed house, which is currently rented out.

If DD becomes independent that is great and we will encourage it. But we need our base to be strong 1st, we are currently living in Singapore like long term tourists, with no base. So the move back to Bangalore is to create that strong base strenthen the ties we have there.

I was purposely excluding the relatives since one can't have a beer with them and it's purely transactional at least in the typical Indian conservative family setup.

[Returning_Indian]

Social life in India is very vibrant. I think that's the biggest thing going for it. It's very easy to make friends and plenty to choose from. You meet many and some will fit your mindset. I got overwhelmed and my wife I was going through midlife crisis to have built such a huge circle. But it also came from people in society playing cricket/swim/badminton/tennis etc together. Then there is group of people who are fitness enthusiasts. You can choose from pool of people where you interests lie. There is a cycling group. Sports for men is a big ice breaker especially cricket. It's full of politics so suits Indian mindset.

You are not limited from the pool of opportunists as in the US. People just wanna hangout and don't really need anything from you. Many of the times they do not care much about your status either. Many do especially around Delhi/NCR. But other regions of India do not suffer from show off. Get together on festivals is just amazing. None of that potluck nonsense either. Zomato zindabad. No cleaning business, pay extra to Kaamwali and she will be happy.

Other than friends you have relatives as well but as in all families around the world, it's more of an obligation except for parents and immediate siblings. Unless one gets lucky with relatives of similar mindset.
But east or west it all depends on you as an individual. Just that India has lot of Indians and cultural similarities so it's easier.

[SAPPORO]

Social life in India is very vibrant. I think that's the biggest thing going for it. It's very easy to make friends and plenty to choose from. You meet many and some will fit your mindset. I got overwhelmed and my wife I was going through midlife crisis to have built such a huge circle. But it also came from people in society playing cricket/swim/badminton/tennis etc together. Then there is group of people who are fitness enthusiasts. You can choose from pool of people where you interests lie. There is a cycling group. Sports for men is a big ice breaker especially cricket. It's full of politics so suits Indian mindset.

You are not limited from the pool of opportunists as in the US. People just wanna hangout and don't really need anything from you. Many of the times they do not care much about your status either. Many do especially around Delhi/NCR. But other regions of India do not suffer from show off. Get together on festivals is just amazing. None of that potluck nonsense either. Zomato zindabad. No cleaning business, pay extra to Kaamwali and she will be happy.

Other than friends you have relatives as well but as in all families around the world, it's more of an obligation except for parents and immediate siblings. Unless one gets lucky with relatives of similar mindset.
But east or west it all depends on you as an individual. Just that India has lot of Indians and cultural similarities so it's easier.

Any day, I would take the potlucks over cold Zomato food since the journey is always more enjoyable than the destination itself. We had potluck both for the 4th of July block party involving all races and the Diwali one with Desis only and my wife had fun organizing both of them. We also had an authentic Viajaywada meals served on banana leaves for Diwali in a friend's place. The farther the temple, the closer the god! I am also part of golf, cricket, pickle ball and "just hangout" groups.
It's the first time I am hearing there is no show-off culture in India and wonder what people do with all that money!
As you rightly said, it all depends on the person, but the variety you get abroad is unlimited. I will simply get bored seeing just Indian faces in India just like I get bored in Edison, NJ!

[wd40]

Any day, I would take the potlucks over cold Zomato food since the journey is always more enjoyable than the destination itself. We had potluck both for the 4th of July block party involving all races and the Diwali one with Desis only and my wife had fun organizing both of them. We also had an authentic Viajaywada meals served on banana leaves for Diwali in a friend's place. The farther the temple, the closer the god! I am also part of golf, cricket, pickle ball and "just hangout" groups.
It's the first time I am hearing there is no show-off culture in India and wonder what people do with all that money!
As you rightly said, it all depends on the person, but the variety you get abroad is unlimited. I will simply get bored seeing just Indian faces in India just like I get bored in Edison, NJ!

Good for you man, that you were able to be a part of that community. My experience however is that the Indians who go abroad, whether US or Singapore are all of a particular mentality, opportunist/high achieving/hustle type mentality people.

But in India, you get all kinds of people, from all social strata. There will be people doing absolutely nothing in the life, always free. There will be rich , there will be poor. You will always find people you can go and talk to. But abroad, you will have to take appointment to meet someone and nobody has time.

Besides, family is not just parents, it is also cousins, neighbours etc In the US or anywhere abroad as a first generation desi, we will never culturally fit in.

Anyways, I am saying this as a person on visa and you guys are a minority. The majority of the desis who go abroad now and not going to get GC/USC or any other country citizenship, even if they stay 10-15 years. So they are going to live abroad as if they are there temporarily and will be longing for the permanency in India.

[r2somewhere]

Good for you man, that you were able to be a part of that community. My experience however is that the Indians who go abroad, whether US or Singapore are all of a particular mentality, opportunist/high achieving/hustle type mentality people.

But in India, you get all kinds of people, from all social strata. There will be people doing absolutely nothing in the life, always free. There will be rich , there will be poor. You will always find people you can go and talk to. But abroad, you will have to take appointment to meet someone and nobody has time.

Besides, family is not just parents, it is also cousins, neighbours etc In the US or anywhere abroad as a first generation desi, we will never culturally fit in.

Anyways, I am saying this as a person on visa and you guys are a minority. The majority of the desis who go abroad now and not going to get GC/USC or any other country citizenship, even if they stay 10-15 years. So they are going to live abroad as if they are there temporarily and will be longing for the permanency in India.

Indians are the most class and status conscious people in the world. Most Indians I know in India stick to their own social class to hang out with. I know people from my college who are in some high managerial positions, some own startups. They only hang out with each other. They even look down upon me because I have openly expressed my views about work life balance and I am a mere IC. Its funny because my NW is likely 2x of theirs. But they value hustle and designation more than NW in India.

I dont know what kind of friend circle you have maintained in India, but you might be in for a shock. The hustlers will look down on you and the regular folk will envy you when they realize (and they will realize) that you are FIREd with a big corpus in 40s.

This is how most of India is. My college folks are from all over India and a good representation of this mentality. There are some pockets of cultures that are more egalitarian and chill. But those are niche - like Goans, North East, Western suburbs of Mumbai, Kolkata elites, etc.

[SAPPORO]

Any day, I would take the potlucks over cold Zomato food since the journey is always more enjoyable than the destination itself. We had potluck both for the 4th of July block party involving all races and the Diwali one with Desis only and my wife had fun organizing both of them. We also had an authentic Viajaywada meals served on banana leaves for Diwali in a friend's place. The farther the temple, the closer the god! I am also part of golf, cricket, pickle ball and "just hangout" groups.
It's the first time I am hearing there is no show-off culture in India and wonder what people do with all that money!
As you rightly said, it all depends on the person, but the variety you get abroad is unlimited. I will simply get bored seeing just Indian faces in India just like I get bored in Edison, NJ!

Good for you man, that you were able to be a part of that community. My experience however is that the Indians who go abroad, whether US or Singapore are all of a particular mentality, opportunist/high achieving/hustle type mentality people.

But in India, you get all kinds of people, from all social strata. There will be people doing absolutely nothing in the life, always free. There will be rich , there will be poor. You will always find people you can go and talk to. But abroad, you will have to take appointment to meet someone and nobody has time.

Besides, family is not just parents, it is also cousins, neighbours etc In the US or anywhere abroad as a first generation desi, we will never culturally fit in.

Anyways, I am saying this as a person on visa and you guys are a minority. The majority of the desis who go abroad now and not going to get GC/USC or any other country citizenship, even if they stay 10-15 years. So they are going to live abroad as if they are there temporarily and will be longing for the permanency in India.

You don't need to rationalize your decision to R2i. It might work great for you especially since you will no longer be working. For the others that work and if they think that they can't get GC in the US, they consider Canada, Aus/NZ and what not. India will always be a last resort for them. I met with a few neighbors on H1B after Trump win, they're all scared, and they are looking to moving to Canada and other places. The spike in the search term "Move to Canada" on google after the Trump win maybe after all, in part by the Indian citizens! Forget legal immigration, Indians are the second highest number of undocumented immigrants in the US mostly via the Dunki route.
As of the now, the population of Indian diaspora is estimated to be 35 million exceeding the total population of Malaysia and in a hundred years or so it might exceed the population of all other countries except India itself and China!