2 years of moving back to India

It's 2 years that I moved back to India and I had several thoughts on how life will be after 2 years when I boarded the flight from Boston. Lot of things changed in last two years and lot of habits/tastes/life style/preferences did too.

I still long for Chipotle, Not your Avg Joe's, Joseph's II and several other cuisines but Hyderabad has lot to offer as well including Hard Rock, TGIF, Chilis (soon to be opened) with Sub Ways, McD's, KFC's all over the places and offcourse the best Indian cuisines and local delicacies like Bawarchi, Gokul chat and more modern restaurants like Indijoe from BJN group.

Hyderabad has also caught up on Malls with the new Inorbit and GVK one being on par with international shopping outlets and experience.

Internet has revolutionized several business and life seems easy for booking movies, train tickets, paying utility bills and banking but there is more scope for improvement on few areas. Internet speeds and prices, I believe India is much ahead of many developed countries - 4mbps speed for Rs.600 ($12) from Beam Cable - just amazing.

Cell phones are one of most common commodity in India now and I think India provides the best services, tariffs, plans and phone models.

Traffic is one thing that still makes life miserable but after a while the long honks, heavy black fumes and zig zag driving will not bother you lot. Power cuts make life inefficient but you will soon be ok with planned outages. Other thing that bothers is prices, India has become very expensive, in 2 years prices of petrol, groceries, food, travel, clothing and entertainment have shot up and in some cases even doubled up.

In short - moving back to India is about your will and your desire and your need. All other things will fall into place sooner than you thought of.

A year after..

This week I will be completing a year that I am back from US and well settled in my home country. There were several achievements/changes, biggest among them was to find my life partner. In less than month and half I will be married too.

Referring back to my blog where I mentioned about moving back to India (link) I talked about moving to India has advantages of living in growing economy, having sense of belonging and having citizenship restored. All this points I truly feel are making my transition meaningful and enjoyable.

"Living in growing economy" - Though India's economy has shrunk a lot in wake of global economic downturn but it is still a place where economy is positive. The GDP is expected to be around 7% for 2009!. Definitely living here is fun with so many new multiplexes, malls and other projects coming up (I agree it has slowed down a lot though from when I moved back)

"Sense of belonging" - Living in India, with 1.11 Billion population, lots of traffic, pollution, long queues - no more bothers me. Though there were few incidents where I felt pity for the country (Bomb blasts at several Indian cities, Mumbai attacks, moving of IPL on security concerns) but it is part and parcel of living in a country with such a population with so many religions and cultures. Every morning, when I wake up, I feel proud, happy and meaningful.

"Citizenship restored" - Am sure many would agree with me that "Citizenship" as biggest boon of living in one's own country. In such a tough situation for H1 holders, living in one's country reduces lot of INS, H1, paper work tensions and issues. Definitely peace of mind! And soon (Apr 16h), I will be exercising my franchise by voting both assembly and parliament elections.


Revising my FAQ's :P

What am I missing most? - Friends. I have got used to daily life though (esp with lot of helping hands and advancement of technology, leading daily life is much easier now compared to 6-7 years before. I bragged about traffic but now I am one of them). I miss the evening hours though, work in India drags to late evenings :(

Whats exciting? Food (Apart from authentic home made, Hyderabad has gone mutli cusine place now, its easy to find Mexican, Greek, Thai food), freedom from H1/Green card paper work (ah! you cant believe how much less worried man you are residing in your own country), enjoying Indian music, movies, TV and cricket. On seasons perspective - though summer is very hot, somehow India's weather is more energetic (esp that days are not very short in winter as in US)

Will you be back? Well time will answer. As of now I have no plans and currently would like to continue to stay in India.

ARCD

America-Return Confused Desi, or ARCD for short is a term used to refer to Indian who returns to India for settling after living in United States for some time, in contrast to those who were born in India and always settled there.
For example:
1) An ARCD cannot bargain equivalent to real Indian. If he can get 10% off, feels happy for his success, even though he knows 30% off bargain is any average Indian skill.
2) Asks "What is your return policy?" buying a wireless router.
3) Wears a sunglass, a cap and a kerchief as nose mask traveling in auto to avoid any pollution. Also takes them off when curious pedestrians stare him.
4) Wonders how a loud Sai Baba song in city bus works? Truly secular he thinks.
5) Stands in line in front of any counter until 3 people cut short and get their work done.
6) Replies "Thanks" to autowala or anyone who helps him. But when he realizes that the other person do not understand it, cannot reply the gratitude in Telugu/Hindi.
7) Asks the cab driver, rather begs for his sanity sake, to drive between the lines and the cab driver pretends for few minutes before going back to drive on road line.
8) Requests a black coffee which creates a huge confusion at any place.
9) Complains so much about Ekta Kapoor serials, yet steels a glimpse of it to be truly Indian.
10) Writes this blog even when he is on vacation.