Why I May NOT Move Back to India (AGAIN) | 10 Years in India After R2I

3:42 Where to stop or you know take on your own that was pure you know there is no specific goal I would like to say that it was an interesting experience coming to USA for Masters yeah I'll say I realized how ignorant I was at the start like oh I'm going for Masters but after coming here I I realized oh I had to pick a major you know and that was natural selection if you see like they ask me like oh asish what courses you want to take I'm like okay mechatronics you know neural network stuff like that without any counseling and that kind of helped me to realize what I like you know because I think back home I never had that thought or so nobody asked what you like yeah you know so here somebody is asked because our education system was like oh you are going to mechanic engineering these are the courses you do you make sure you pass and congratulations but you're like oh somebody's asking me what I like to learn you know and that really helped

4:45 To to basically evolve my career in the direction I wanted to yeah so that was my main aspiration to come to USA I came for masters in mechanical and aerospace engineering did it from Oklahoma State University during that time I basically learned this platform called lab view which is more like a instrumentation and automation platform yeah so that helped me explore so it it had always been what I like to do what I enjoy yeah and I think that's one aspect which I really appreciate in terms of growth culture here it's more like organic I saw Although our our situations for us is more like a Visa and restrictions that kind of sometimes I feel slows down or may makes you make the career decisions just for the immigration purpose but I'll say I was fortunate

5:46 Enough to not have to compromise my like my interests for the Visa because I say fortunate because it just things happened at the right time like somebody picked me as one man cons consulting firm in labu he said like okay Ashish we will sponsor your visa and imagine a oneman consulting company sponsoring a H1 Visa and that's not a body shopping company it's more like a legit engineering consultant yeah so that's how it started in California I moved California found a job worked for Healthcare worked with the consultant for a year then I found opportunity with the healthcare start yeah worked with that startup for like two years and then that company got acquired by Johnson and Johnson so it became like a suddenly like from one one consultant within five years you were working for Johnson and Johnson

6:47 Yeah so that so I could see the good and advantages and disadvantages of a small firm and a big firm because you lose Freedom as you go in the bigger organizations right but that that transitions kind of help me gauge on what I enjoyed doing you know it's fun to have freedom but it comes with responsibilities too which I was missing with Johnson and Johnson so that was mostly my journey that was the last company I worked in Johnson and Johnson before I went back to back to India nice no thanks a lot Ashish for

7:26 That overview so sounds like I think it's the the growth and you had a good opportunity to you know work on what you really enjoy and you had a good career progression you know with the starting with the startup you know getting it Acquired and being part of a large organization so everything is going good so what why this thought of India occurred has it always been in the back of the mind and what made you to move you know early in the career right you know 10 years that's when you are stting anding and growing so curious in terms of making that a big decision early on if you're relocating to India after years abroad listen up I have created something that will absolutely save you precious time that most Nar waste while Googling this is based on my interaction with hundreds of people about their move back Journeys and uncover the biggest frustrations nris

8:26 Face when planning their return so I came up with some something that can help a 15 we email series a free stepbystep road map to address these challenges and make your move back smoother and stressfree whether you're moving back for family retirement or VISA related reasons we got you covered here is what you will get each week actionable tips to decide if moving back is the right choice strategies to plan your move back whether it's from Logistics career Financial tax planning how to choose the best school for your kids and we also have several checklist that help you with the move from a financial Logistics and much more this isn't just an advice it's carefully crafted road map to save you time reduce stress and help you make better decisions ready to plan your move with a confidence click the link below in the description to join for free and start receiving actionable strategies right in your inbox yeah no I mean thanks for

9:28 Asking it does transition to the next phase of My Life so couple of things were already in my mind like once I settle down or get some green card I wanted to become independent in the sense the nature of work I do I see lot of independent Consultants or experts who provide U you know robotic solutions to the industry that was in my mind it was not a primary goal because for us primary goal is make sure you get your green card first right without that you just cannot do much but during that process you know I had been always Keen to explore talk to people see go to the go to the industrial events you know as a as a typical curious classic typical engineer you know without any Ambitions so I could see once a while I used to get asked like hey Ashish can you help can you do some Moonlight

10:28 Job and I'm like I don't think so you know I'm let's not try that but I had been helping some people in the evening just to get their problems solved but without any compensation but you know that helped me build some good relations you know like work it's not always for profit it's like you know invested in relation I in the hindsight now it looks like an investment because in the future of my next 10 years in India those relations did help a lot now we because my start Healthcare startup our Healthcare startup was bought by Johnson and Johnson I was able to buy a condo in Santa Clara so we we lived there about four solid four years five years then in 2010 I lost my dad in India so and that was a I'll say that was a trigger but U I wanted to make some you know I don't want to emotional decisions kind of could be little bit dangerous so I took a year to decide what could be the

11:29 Best route forward with my mom being in India I have a younger sister but we know although we are going forward becoming more balanced Society still you know parents staying with daughter is not something people not about people but even parents are not too happy about especially if I around right yeah so those those aspects kind of mitigated and how we Sol and the best solution I could come was you know I should move back to India that was you know and I say that was one thought and then and and this idea about in the back of my mind that I wanted to be independent I was like okay if I'm making that big move anyway why don't I just start my own you know yeah so so I basically spoke to all the relations I had like you know so even before deciding on the business my my

12:31 Son's name is AR a so I'm like all right I printed business cards called AR Technologies without having the company and I was in the Bay Area right yeah so like so I met all these people who I've been who I've having some relation with and like hey this is what I'm planning to do so in parallel I had been exploring companies in India where I can go and work to find but at the same time I started meeting people here yes telling about this Vision I have you know going back and starting on my own and I landed like two or three projects yeah which were like okay seems we have seen your work you know I start so before even moving back I I got some orientation on the tools they were building and that made and that made it more exciting otherwise it was not so exciting move because emotionally I was still Rec or we all were still recovering we had to short sell our condo before the move because the market was bad but this opportunity about

13:33 You know I'm talking to the company owners otherwise you only talk to the engineers right and sitting with them and deciding on U scrambling on what should what charges should I ask for you know like these things were like up in the air never thought about it and yeah so so those aspects lined up in a say in a way to justify or convince me that okay asish is not not a overall a bad decision so that that basically was the dad was losing dad was a trigger but then taking one year to evaluate my options but again putting my interest first you know like I want to meet people I want to start on my own and when they ask for the pricing I'll ask them what do you suggest I should ask for you know because they have seen my work and I think that's a culture I likeed here like they won't they never try to downplay use me yeah downplay exactly yeah you know they had always been

14:35 And then that made it easy for me to not become smart in business but focus on providing good solution because they will take care of me yeah so so that's how it all ended up like so 2020 2011 October we moved back to India nagpur I moved back to nagpur because that's my hometown my family or my mom had been it's easy for her to settle in there because the whole society you know we've been living there forever and also I realize my customers here they don't care where I'm working from you know nagpur is still a tier 2 up upcoming City for the jobs but it's still not like a you know tier one in terms of Bangalore or Hyderabad or Mumbai but you know I didn't have to worry about that aspect because my customers were happy where I am got

15:32 It no thanks a lot for sharing the the reasons so sounds like it it triggered with an emotional part but evaluating and making a rational decision you know and and it's smart I think I mean I I I see especially someone in barrier right you get that entrepreneur Spirit or mindset you know when you have when you already been in the journey and you know it's the connections it's the relationships it changes like how you even look at like you know the dayto Day stuff I mean I I I personally you know Echo to what you're saying so sounds like I think you're excited about the opportunity and at the end of the day like you can also help out with Mom and taking care some of on the family side so that's great so I think in this one year you kind of mentioned about your career plans right I think you know you're starting your own stuff and you kind of did some evaluation and you got some project so that makes sense so you moved in 2011 and so how was the life in India you know after 10 years is it what

16:34 You planned yeah maybe tell us a little bit about that yeah I mean going back to Hometown so that was like half of the problems were not problems because I was the whole setup was there you know that was a big reason that made it easy to to to Kickstart you know back home in India although without the diet it was a different dynamic because otherwise I had always going and you know don't have to worry about anything yeah but now I'm going and I'm I have to you know take be in the driver seat although family was there mom and wife and kid were there but I had to at least you know they call it U you know you had to fake the confidence you know I had to take that hat like okay we'll deal with it but definitely you know the family the relatives who had been you know my wife's side they basically jumped in and basically they set up the whole house before we came there oh nice you know that way you know the first and then they stayed with us for like two three

17:35 Weeks a month to make sure we buy the fridge and set up the TV and wait for our career to show up because we had a shipped something from USA that because we had a house here right yes but so but it was it was although I thought I knew how to live there but things Chang much faster than you can imagine because you are in a different pH in USA yeah some some bigger not shocks but kind of things were like you know suddenly the expenses are much higher than you had been thought of thinking about the work culture is different which I was luckily not had to go too much into for early five years or two three years because I was primarily focused on the customers in USA and I since I was on my own I used to work like till 2:00 in the night and you know that way my schedule was more like not too much I was looking forward to

18:36 But hey it was what it is right you know and at the beginning it was more like just take one day at a time you know your ultimate goal is to make sure you give a it's a it's for family you know so I'll tell you one thing literally I had thought like if this thing doesn't fly for more than a year or if I see that I am giving more than what I'm getting you know I was even open to open some shop and you know and live there that was my I was mentally prepared even for that because it's not you know expenses are not huge yeah and luckily my dad had some assets that I could start my business to have a retail shop or something like that sure so that was literally like you know what worse can happen right it can not work I had gone with that attitude and otherwise if I had been very calculative I don't think I would have taken that decision yes honestly because it's you know nobody will be able to know what happens in a year once you move back right yeah so so that some big CH big

19:40 Differences I'll say are somewhere I'll say little bit if you want to get some help you know like getting some work done in the house or some it's like little bit of overc commitment what I see in India yeah you know like you know if you tell something and I got used to that in a year but earlier it took you know yeah but initially took a little bit learning curve but I guess the whole you know you were B born brought up there so there is nothing to not like about it it just those nuances if you if you miss for a while things change much differently so those are some learnings family adjusted pretty easily because you know we had we had help there but work culture I used to miss because the ecosystem the Bay Area the Dynamics you know you have the speed at which Pace you work the technology wise also I started learning exploring new

20:41 Other other companies that were doing like a business in electronics or programming meeting people the the level of expertise or knowledge was more like based on what is a need there you know so it was still evolving so I realized I could be a nice interface between how things are done in the other side and you know and shed some light so started slowly engaging into like a industry associations in nagpur they were there is a big industrial Zone in Nur there were like special economic zone got sanctioned so slowly trying to you know be a part of Rotary Club in nagpur so that way we can meet some different different and again I I like to talk and meet people see how I can help that had been the you know but again that's why I'm saying that's not always true but it that overc

21:41 Commitment a little bit n lack of professionalism was something I had to I say I was little bit struggled with yeah you know so

21:57 Yeah okay yeah that's good Ashish so just to confirm like I think you know when you made a decision to move to India I know it's a permanent move right so is there some time frame that you had in mind or you just like yes this is what I'm doing I think you have the backup plan I think you kind of indicate right you sold the house and then if you can touch a little bit on the finances a little bit on the you know on the Visa side just to make sure so that people are aware of it like you know where you are and how that would help in your decision process so I think that just gives a little bit of a color to your thought process in making in the yeah okay so yeah so on the on the yeah okay first of all on the Visa side let me let me empe that so I had my i140 already approved but I was that was last thing in my mind but I think I made the decision that okay I have to move and then I consulted a got a one hour time from a attorney Center I'll say that attorney definitely was a big

23:00 Big big help I highly recommend go to paid Attorney Services to to get some expert advice instead of you know family friends online so what one question was should I get my green card and attorneys kind of told me like if to come back you better move now before the Green Card because your green card most of the companies don't cancel it so your status will stay active that i140 will stay active as long as it can be and that new other company if you plan to come back can pick it up so that's why I decided to move within one year otherwise you know I I might have changed the plan so that was that on the Visa part and the finances part it was 2011 we had the house for about about four years already and

24:00 Typically you know thumb rule I had known was you know after 5 years you always make money out on on the house so I'm like that that was at least not being a smart investor I knew that you invest in gold or house or fds or something like that some classic investment tools I was not I never invested in stocks till 20122 you know so I don't know if it's good or bad but I'll say that but then so I kind of evaluated like it's it's a either I have to sell at a loss or I rent it out you know then but then I'm going to India if I had to rent it out it's like $3,000 a month and if it's not on a rent for a month or two months it's a big it's a big amount for me to sustain the mortgage yeah plus the property manager so what I did was again go to The Experts I had some contracts who had been running the real estate properties as a on the business side

25:01 Professionally and you know they advise me to you know if I have no clear plans I don't have enough funds to fund for six months of mortgage as a backup they advise to just let it go you know and California at least California has a law that if you short sale your primary residence you know it will not impact your they will wave off the balance okay mortgage you know and and since I had no other plan no plans to come back I wanted to go with the clear history otherwise I have heard people just lock the door and leave again I heard it I don't know if people do it but so that was a decision I took about short selling the house I just sold at a whole loss after four years of mortgage payments but that was a reason for it got it now the other aspect was this so Johnson and Johnson had this 401k plan where I investing and somebody said that it's not super urgent you can

26:02 Always decide later what you want to do with it so I'm like okay there are too many other things on the priority let's deal with that later so I left it as is I already had some bank accounts active for two three years even after I went when after I moved back to India yeah which kind of helped because that you I had to make some purchase ask some things to come and I don't have to worry about asking anyone for help yeah so those were very simple you know not very complex but the decisions I took got it and then at the time of the move

26:36 You know if you had kids like how old were they and yeah just the transition on on their part yeah so yeah my son he was two year old when we moved back again he didn't realize the move right just 2-year-old he's happy oh we are here okay let's have fun so a little bit transition in terms of because he was born here it took a little time I think first 68 months he realized about you know allergies although luckily he's not allergic to any major things but you know the tropical weather it made a little bit impact but yeah nothing noticeable that we had to really worry about the move was yeah I guess it was more we were not too sad about short selling the house part because our bigger Focus was you know getting back to the family closer to the family although it was a transition that that was a good

27:36 Learning I think we always grow from the learning yeah I'll say my wife is an architect by profession so one aspect was because of the visa restrictions here you know at that time we talking about 2010 2011 yeah H4 was not getting the eeds for on i140 So You Know had done some degree some courses here as architect but professionally she could not see unless we get wait for a green card yeah so that was one big aspect like once we moved to India she she was able to resume her career as an architect so those things really fell in place like to basically make everyone independent in their own own ways yeah sounds great so I think if

28:25 You can talk a little bit on your you know business I think you kind of indicated about some work culture after 3 to 5 years and so on so anything that you can share about your 10year journey on the professional side and U you know why again you know I think we let discuss this career you know family how everything evolved in the 10 years okay so the initial two two three years I was like same thing you know I had this clients who were more than friends and they were like they like the work so I'm like all right let's continue you know things are going I went into the comfort zone like things are working why bother right and Engineers don't it's not fun to manage people it's fun to manage machine not people and I never thought about that direction but you know after three years I I I distinctly remember we had one family friend come over he and not everyone is as curious as some people he

29:27 Asked me like what you do and you know things like that and he said why don't you put a board on the on your house you know you have this company or you have this proprietorship created we have board I I have some engineer kids who want to learn more you know you you get them and teach them I'm like oh that sounds interesting you know yeah so why don't we try that so the board was just just a indication like you know think about growing you know been two years seems like it's working out so why not grow so so I I reached out again I realized one thing like if you ask you the universe responds you know like I got nice some two kids who were like out of college did not find a job in it companies because they were late for the interview so they like okay now what to do okay let's do some engineering job you know yeah and they were like they had that similar

30:28 Curiosity about oh and my engineering project failed but it was fun to work with I'm like okay this is kind of people I it's fun to work with so that's how it started I had two fresh out of college kids and started learning oh and now I have to give work to them so it's like you know delegation and you know you had to plan on what they can do have some patience because something you can do in an hour they might take a day which is okay yeah you know so that whole thing started and then we had like about at one point we had 10 team members working from nagpur office and then learning about first of all hiring a professional experienced person in my domain was a challenge so I had to always rely on getting fresh graduates who want to stay in Nur because that's another challenge people want to go to outside n for work

31:29 Unless it is something specific that do but then you know I engaged with local engineering colleges conducted workshops there so they used to send some smart kids my way so at least for first three four then after that like I'm like okay now what we should explore some local Industries too you know why not we're in nagpur and the world talks about India it's booming so so we had you know Mahindra and Mahindra tractor they have a biggest plant one of the big plants in nagpur then special economic zone there some Industries came up there so I started visiting them understanding the requirements you know and then the experience I had from working with us clients I tried again that's it's same one mind right like all right you want this 10 things okay this much it will cost we will have it done in this time and deliver it every thing is as per the

32:29 Requirements that's not how it works you know you need some little bit more so I was missing on the other nuances of the work culture there yeah it's apples and orange I'm not saying one is good or bad but I was missing out on that aspect where I realized lot of hidden costs were coming when it came to the projects in India although there were big projects but I was not I realized like at the same time time this work in USA or the projects or the clients in USA were happy and they wanted they had more things to yeah explore or work together and so you know as a a typical like a business business person like if you're getting more returns for the investment you know you change your direction def so and but I guess I started with emotion in the sense oh I'm in India I should work with the you know to contribute to India but there are different ways to contribute I realize like if you're not

33:30 Able to contribute in one way then find another way but then business should not suffer because of that emotional aspect so I try to separate it out like okay you earn more but then you pay more you know that way you are able to contribute so so that's why after the work culture wise again that's something like that overc commitment goes in professional world too sometimes yeah like U you are for doing more within the although we had committed for Less stuff like that so I think after maybe five years or six years in the company I it's not like a solid timeout but I real I decided like I won't explore any opportunities within India anymore obviously we had some systems already delivered so we will maintain them support them yeah but we mostly focused on you know Market that was already growing for us yes and and during that 10 year I

34:32 Think now I'm going closer to the eth year or something like that of my 10 years where so since I realized that oh my main primary FK business clients C Bas is in USA I should start visiting them yeah you know so I came in 18 to meet existing customers attend some events then again came in 19 for the same reason because that's all the marketing business development aspects and and during that time I saw I can grow but I should move out of nagpur yeah because because the challenge was to find some professionals who would like to relocate to nagpur is very rare unless you know it's like a very very unique situation I had to find yeah so around 19 when I came back from USA I decided like okay either I have to move to Bangalore or Hyderabad somewhere and because the platform we use lab VI their India headquarter is in

35:34 Bangalore so so I decided okay either Bangalore or myour or somewhere I will move and I started recruiting from that point of view okay yeah so I all the my nagpur team was there I said well so re recruitment I said well you start from you know deide the joining date we tell them that we are starting from Bangalore I have not yet decided on where the office space but why don't you start from home yeah and soon once we finalize we will and this happened during the covid just start of covid yeah in December 2019 right yeah so and you know because I had to hold up my decisions too because of covid and pandemic so even nagpur team members they were working from home okay I provided everyone with the work from home setup yeah and this new recruits working from home in South India yeah under the condition that everybody will relocate in

36:35 Bangalore in a after covid yeah kind of subsid yes so during that phase one

36:42 Of the clients in here he was curious like yeah we need someone like you in USA and I'm like but I mean he was hinting that can you come yeah but I said I don't know but these are my first thing is I cannot shut down my business so if you straight we ask answer is no but then he said no if you're able to manage it you they have no problem me coming on board as a employee as long as I can manage these other things on the side yeah so I think those are kind of somebody was looking after me you know these things don't happen like for everyone yeah so I'll say I was lucky enough to have this kind of relations I had built again I did not build those relations for this specific opportunity yeah you know so it just happened so I sent them the i140 or details I had and

37:43 Within three months they replied like the attorney replied like oh your H1 is approved because you had that one and a half year left on your existing H1 that we could just start so your your August 20 2020 or no 20 21 your clock started on H1 so and then I discussed with my India team who was already working from home yeah and they're like they're like yeah we don't see you anyway you know and so I asked them do you need me see me is different then need me essentially this I'll say it was what I don't know what you call it but it's like unfor unfortunately during covid forced me to have team work from home yeah and not being around them made them more independent blessing in it was a blessing in disguise because

38:43 Because if I am around them I will try to force my programming style or development process Style on them but me not being there kind of the team kind of evolved Beyond me you know so I would only get updates and I will then work listen to them so kind of that was important for me to get a pulse of what team feels you know if I'm there and it was mutual and they were happy that you know I'll be more closer to the clients yeah and so this covid pandemic everyone working remote and this timing converting into this opportunity was purely like I could not have planned this ahead you know but if it happened I had to grab it yes because the okay why I grabbed it it was 10 years in India the reason for family they had settled 10 years is a long time everybody was back to you know time is the only remedy for this kind of family crisis yeah you cannot force yourself to get out of it

39:45 Even I'm not yet out of it yet but I learn how to live with it yeah yeah you know so that is important don't try to avoid it face it deal with it and internalize it that the only thing you can do my son Arrow he he he was he's 12 he was 12 year old in the Middle School in the seventh grade and clients are in USA team works from home team thinks I'm it's okay for Ashish if you want to go we can manage and luckily the time difference is not too bad like you know I can be like this is a time when I'm typically on the call with my India team you know exchange with them and U so those are some things like I looked at what is the now now after 10 years what is the priority for family for my career for business and again it all lined up so I I took the move got it now

40:38 Thanks for sharing that journey of your career right in terms of building that startup you know from baby to like how it evolved and you know Lessons Learned interacting with different clients and how you know some aspects of the business grew so thanks a lot for sharing those details so I think that was the decision process of moving back to us right I think you know with this and you know the team is settled and you know where you are in the life you know that's the important so I know it you moved in like peak covid times like you know in 2021 so how was the move it's a big move again I think you know with the family and I'm assuming you moved back to California or like some other place yeah no California yeah California so how was the move back and one thing is with the kid right you know what curriculum was he in and how was he able to adjust when he moved back us I think that's one something I was curious about yeah okay so yeah so

41:41 It was pre time and at that time AR was 12 year old so he could not get the vaccines for covid because that age limit was still not open so so but when this opportunity came one thing we did was we sat down at least me and my wife like just trying to dry around the scenario of we moving to USA in terms of you know you know in nagpur you have your own team you know financially you have more freedom you know because you are because financially you you're you are very decent shape in terms of so we had to try around the scenarios like okay when we start what will be the what are the risk yeah and at least get get on board on what are we getting into yes you know and make sure that settles in very well in terms of just run the numbers through like what will the salary how much I'll get in hand the India teams

42:43 Revenue I knew but I knew that there within a year I will realize is it going to work or not because although team was very happy and encouraging about but you know as things evolve yeah those are some things I wanted to be ready about like assuming that after one year of the move let's say this company doesn't my India team doesn't work out you know thinking about that worst case scenario are we able to how will we manage that will it will it sustain and then we realize oh with the her with the H4 she can she will able to practice right architecture so those things adding and just putting some hypothetical approximate numbers again not going into details of dollars and cents and again thinking about yes we won't be able to buy a house right away but we can have a comfortable life yeah you know that was the conclusion we we got especially we are going back to the same

43:43 Area similar area yeah so it was not like very different so less unknown we already had some families here who who basically gave a moral support like you know like overcome it right a you know but that helps a lot because you know that you know that emotional umbrella is what we always need you know we don't have to use it much but that helps to take some decisions in case so those I'll say I been lucky with those were friends not even family but I think when you go out of country everyone is family yes yeah right so that part was that's how we dealt with now this Pandemic part so AR could not get vaccination so it was simple as double mask you know cross our fingers keep the basic U Common Sense hygiene things that we can do during the flight and we took the

44:44 Non-stop flight from Delhi to San Francisco so that way we don't we avoid another layover yeah and the second day after we landed I got him a vaccine okay yeah that's all we could do the school part that was the best part you know in the sense we approach I approach the school before even coming to USA in the middle of like you know September I approached once we decided where we are going to live I emailed to school they asked for the details and they said okay just tell when he can start he's good to go the adjustment part the schoolwise I'll say I think our school is having more stronger curriculum so I realiz he did not struggle on the academics part like they did some initial evaluations like it was middle of October like school had already started so the school gave him a like a school

45:45 Buddy for a week who basically helped him navigate how the school works but after that they did some evaluations on English and maths and realized he can go in the advanced course he didn't have to do the basics yeah so the the part he struggled was the the the friends and the social social part where the where we live right now it's it's although it's a Bara but it's more like a like a suburb so it's not not many Asians or South Asians are very very less so that part and then I think he we moved when he was about to because of covid they had a lot of friends hang around in the society in the neighborhood in nagpur and he was just getting out of home independently and then we moved it move him here that part it took some about six8 months for him to settle in I say took solid two years before he got comfortable to

46:48 Get get his friends at home you know or go to their home and stuff like that yeah but I'll say overall getting jelling in the society for him was a bit of a struggle but for me and my wife it was not too big of a a challenge in terms of because we had lived here she was here for about more than five years so that part was pretty straightforward but dry running it in the background helped a lot because that way we can plan and that way we are not feeling some shock after we come you know that that helped a lot I think the takeaway is the playing out the scenarios in terms of what this happens

47:33 And you just to be prepared mentally like you know these are the options yeah correct correct so I think that's great I think just a curious is Mom still in nagur and then you have kind of set up with the time so just curious on that part yeah yeah so you know since I used to live in ground our home is a TW story so we lived in ground floor and office was in first floor in India they call it first floor right yes so because of the office I had I have a office person we have some lab Electronics lab although no team members in nagpur yeah but we have a registered office there so we had cctvs and everything hooked up so yeah mom lives in the ground floor still we have this somebody you know we Su the office to some people but then that way I always have someone in nagpur keeping an eye on the property or the helping out mom on this different scenarios okay that's Fant fantastic so yeah thanks a

48:28 Lot for taking us through this journey I mean it's very inspiring you know how someone started you know made a decision to move to India you know for a family which triggered that and then you know how you developed your own career along the way you know business and then as the opportunity came up and then evaluate the options and then make a decision so on a broad scale like if you can compare and contrast from a work culture or career anything that you wanted to add on like you know because you have worked with the people hiring in India you know working with them you know now they're independent you know any on a broad stroke anything that you can share some insight for someone who is planning to move back to India to do their own startup hey do this do this don't think about it and any other advice that you can give on that part I'll say we are very in India we are very eager very excited lot of energy need to channelize it to see if you are able

49:30 It's challenging to implement the US work culture in the in the India team what helped was one aspect that I missed was now we have our India team members come onsite in USA once a while seeing the War culture here so you know investing in getting the India team members come on site helped a lot because now they can appreciate how things are on the other side instead of just sitting on the so I think empowering them and educating them helped to get them on board yeah so it's like empowering and you know giving the opportunity to grow and then bring these different yeah yeah correct that's I'll say biggest takeaway at least I I felt helped me a lot great so thanks a lot is

50:27 So I think to wrap it up like is there any topic that we haven't covered that you want to bring to our audience or any advice that you want to give first people who are thinking about moving to India you know from your perspective I'll say it now I see lot more people I see on this different soal they do have some nice platform where you can get some help on on making the move but each one have to gauge their situation personally financially and keeping emotions aside be more practical because know once you are out of your emot crisis should be prepared for it but it's a it's a booming economy there is nothing to lose but it will come with its own set of surprises in terms of the

51:27 Inflation is very high in India you know the the salaries expectations as a business owner I can tell that you know salaries don't increase as fast as they increase in India but at the same time costs also increase somewhere I'm I'm learning now how to keep the emotional aspect side before making decision so I guess that's the biggest say for anybody trying to move back I guess one aspect was I had a couple of friends in nagpur who used to visit when they had some family crisis yeah and they were on the S like yeah rashish even I I I'm thinking to move back so what I told them was don't move I here you know whatever I can help with with your parents I will help you know see how far it goes but I wanted them to Think Through not think when they're emotionally at the weakest Point but take their time and make the decision so though and then they

52:28 Never moved you know because when they settle in have some more calm mindset they realize have some rational decisions then yeah to move back I'll say I'll say luckily it worked out for me but if I had to do it again I might not do it this way yeah and just curious any reason or anything that you know why you might have said that just I think this would help maybe people who might be in a similar kind of a thought process yeah yeah yeah I think for your family to flourish again like a tree right yeah if you uproot a tree and plant in a new more enriched environment still you're uprooting it and it takes time for it to settle in and then you're uprooting again settling in yeah it is disruptive you know I had seen families here who I know personally they had been having average income but just because they had been consistent and steady at one place focused on not being

53:30 Very ambitious but focused on their priorities at least the next generation is able to flourish you know if not you so you have your own situation but then you are not impacting the Next Generation you know that's why I'll say I'll say but the on the on the other on the flip side you know my son spent his 10 years with his cousins he's very much attached to now yeah although he's born here he was he he's Bor born in USA but he's a he's so that is helping us because we are still you know having that kind of culture otherwise I see my friends kids who they are struggled with already like you know as they grow thoughts are different so but yeah I'll say that's why I won't suggest ask for help within family yeah before you move ask for help and things I Evol a lot for example I can hly say like although it's not very accepted in India or it's evolving now like senior

54:31 Citizen centers yes it's an example right yeah like they are very it's not like a it's not like asham it's like you pay you get a nice lifestyle you have 24/7 help help and those be options I mean people will have their own opinions to say so but then if you take your decisions based on what others will think that will be a bad decision yeah I'll say so think through be practical yes you know so that's why I said I won't do it if I had to do it again yeah yeah no thanks a lot for sharing that Ashish so really appreciate you taking the time and talking to us and being very candid with you know your thought process your journey I think this would be very helpful to the people who might be a similar situation and how to think through it I think the takeaway is be mindful when you are emotionally at the weakest point and take your time and make a rational decision you know way the pros and cons and and think

55:34 Through the scenarios and you know feel free to ask for help and make AAL decision I think those are the takeaways correct correct correct yeah great thanks a lot again for taking the time and you know being with us and sharing your story really appreciate it of course thank you very much for the opportunity yeah that's good