Vinny’s Blog

This is the last post on ‘My trip to India’ series. It won’t be over until I include some economic facts into my posting and present my individual point of view about certain things. Without that I guess series would look more like a traveling photo journalist’s log…

But before I begin….let me tie some loose ends…first.

There was a first post for this series though it was not labeled as 1^st. At the time of writing it I did not know I was going to write as many posts as I did. So the first one was labeled simply as “-My Trip to India July 25th 2008″ I have now changed it’s heading to “My Trip to India Ist - July 25th 2008″ and have linked other posts 2^nd , 3^rd , 4^th all to it so one will lead to another….

Here is the link to that 1^st post in case you missed reading it…please feel free to explore….

http://www.diwakars.com/wordpress/?p=270

Then, sorry guys in India I did not mean to ignore you, it’s just that 2 weeks was a very tight schedule and I had to squeeze in a lot of things in between, first 3 days of my arrival I was very immobile and not myself due to my very stiff back situation.

Later I had to catch up with lot of things like kids school, their eating, learning, playing , their health, their behavior, personality changes as they have been in India for almost over 2 months by now….etc. etc. a lot of things I had to observe, understand and learn and make lot of mental notes, in order to draw a big picture that I am building right now. It’s a big task and a challenging one. I don’t want to make a mistake on this one…I hope I won’t (but wish me luck anyway). If you are a parent you know what I am talking about…………

Then, had to follow up with all my properties and shopping (obviously) and eating out (which was fun) and meeting/talking with people and getting their point of view on things….it’s a lot of work.

Now let us begin with some analysis…Since I have come back, I have been asked many questions. These 2 seems to be in most of the conversations.

• 1) Is it OK to move back to India ?
• 2) What are the expenses each month ?

Answer to 1^st question is simple - It’s totally up to you. There were reasons for not going back to India may be 5 years ago but they are now excuses rather than being reasons. On the list of reasons there are lot less reasons now.

People generally pay more attention to the side they feel more comfortable with. Those who are inclined to go back look at positive side of India and tend to ignore the bad part. Truly speaking those who want to stay back in US are doing the same but fail to acknowledge the bad side and tend to disagree strongly with the bad part.

Typical of US parents (me included) they, generally point or look at parents with older Indian kids and keep referring to them each time and if those kids are doing well they tend to believe their kids will do well also.

Truth is your kids are different…….you are not the parent those people are and your parenting is lot different than theirs.

Best is to look at the question ( Is it OK to move back to India ? ) from a neutral point of view….it’s rather a difficult thing to do (being neutral) but if you can manage it’s wonderful….why I am saying that is because then you don’t have to either defend or support your arguments.

Applying that to myself (if I was neutral) this is what I see. Both sides have something better to offer it totally depends on you which side you choose. Reality is chances of returning back and being happier in India are much greater now than they were say 5 years ago. Remembering what I have seen during this trip of mine indicates that going forward for sure the line between western world and India will only blur rather diminish, in terms of comfort that only western world once offered.

From philosophical point of view, to conclude it further - Though you live in a bigger and richer country your world is very small. In India it’s just the opposite you live in a smaller not so rich country but your world is surprisingly much bigger.

Trend for going back is on the rise…….not everyone has been successful in returning back to India, some (few) have come back from India…but most stayed back in India.

I found some articles indicating….decreasing popularity of being an American…there is no reason given for it in the article but I tend to think that emphasis on going back now is so high and so many have gone back that people are probably opting not to go for US citizenship. I don’t see any other reason why, if one has decided to stay in this country for ever…no reason why one would choose not be a citizen of this country. Still…

Number of Indians seeking US citizenship decreases
Press Trust of India
Friday, July 11, 2008, (Washington)

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080056604

Here is another article indicating that reverse immigration is on the rise…
Reverse immigration-Return to India…

Even Statistic Canada a respectable government department which gathers statistic information in Canada. Reported on March 1, 2006 that one third of all male immigrants who were between ages 25 to 45 when they immigrated to Canada. Leave within 20 years of their arrival. Further more 6 out of 10 of those who leave, do so within the first year of arrival.

Read full article here…6 out of 10 is 60% a very high rate.
http://www.nriinformation.com/nrireturntoindia.php

At the same time typical of me I searched for articles indicating immigration is on rise in America and surprisingly I could not find any…. I tried to Google this phrase “immigration on rise in America” you give it a shot and see, if you find articles indicating rise is in place send them to me and we will have a different and balancing point of view. Make sure it does reflect Asian population and please ignore migration numbers to US from South America, Mexico etc. As they won’t make sense in the topic that I am covering.

Also make sure articles are from 2008 not earlier as Google tends to spit whatever on the topic…no matter how old the article is.

Now let us see if I can answer 2^nd question which is -

What are the expenses each month ?

Interesting thing about this is -if you have considered never to move back to India the kicker worksheet I have prepared for answering this question will probably make you think otherwise .

Believe me I started questioning myself after the number crunching and the first thought that came to my mind was what the #$*@ I am doing here working my %$# off ? When I could be enjoying my life back in India doing NOTHING.

Anyway..seeing is believing so see you must. Click on the link given below it will either open or copy an Excel file for you. Now this is NOT the calculation done for you…it’s just the frame work feel free to play with numbers and have fun.

Frame work is based upon 2 assumptions a) you have a fully paid house b) you have fully paid car or cars.

Don’t forget to check out the kicker worksheet for ultimate fun…. Enjoy…..

http://www.diwakars.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/Budget_Breakdown.xls

Something else I found interesting on the net…..
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080051794