New York Times, India Ink (April 18, 2012)
So, you Want to move 'Back' to India?By THE NEW YORK TIMES
.
A recent article about the children of Indian and Chinese immigrants
moving back to their parent’s home country to seek their own American
Dream hit a nerve with New York Times readers, who alternately lamented
America’s moribund growth prospects and wrote enviously of those
moving.
Here at India Ink, we’ve had a front row seat to the “repat” or
returning expat phenomena. One thing that seems to be true about moving
“back” to the India that you left as a kid (or maybe never even lived
in at all) is that it will be harder than you imagine. More fulfilling,
more interesting, more challenging, but also more difficult. We can
probably count as many acquaintances who have returned to the United
States after trying a stint in India as we can folks who have stayed.
Here’s some fun reading by Anand Giridharadas being in India while his
parents were in the United States and leaving again, from Heather
Timmons on a “repat” who struggled with his Indian government job, and
from Sumedh Mungee on deciding not to stay.
We realize that the short reading list is a bit on the pessimistic
side. So we contacted Mumbai’s Prashant Argrawal to ask his advice
about making the move.
You could call Mr. Agrawal, 39, the cutting-edge of the “Move back to
India” phenomena. He landed in Mumbai in 2002 from New York, after
spending his childhood in Columbia, Md. He worked first as a consultant
at McKinsey, on projects that included Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation’s entry strategy into India. Since then, he’s been a hedge
fund manager, started a news and social portal called Indipepal.com
(since shut) been a senior adviser to the Office of Tony Blair and
penned columns for GQ India, the Wall Street Journal, Mint newspaper
(and India Ink.) Mr. Agrawal is now the co-head of private equity and
corporate finance for the Boston Consulting Group in India.
Here are Mr. Agrawal’s top tips for relocating to India:
1. Patience. Pack an extra suitcase of patience.
2. Don’t begin sentences with “Well in America, we used to. …”
3. Pick up cricket and Bollywood. It’s big here. Really big.
4. There is plenty of opportunity here, but the roads aren’t paved with
gold.
5. Bring an Ipod. The noise can be deafening.
6. You may come because of the opportunity, but stay because you love
India.
In fact, Mr. Agrawal suggests you flip the situation around, consider
what made your parents successful in America, and then apply it here.
1. They made it home.
2. They nurtured and persevered at opportunities.
3. They adjusted to working life in the United States.
4. They took to a new culture, food and music while often retaining
their own.
5. They made friends with locals.
Good luck!
_______________________________________________
assam mailing list
assam@assamnet.org
http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
