Ex-Googler's Decision to Return to India for Spirituality After 13 Years in US

3:43 I've understood the culture and I then weigh my options so you can call it parents you can call it mountains love for Himalayas and I would say Wonder lust and and itching to get back to to To Your Roots I would say so yeah everything just fell into place and then I had about six months to pack everything up I know I had announced when I was in Google I announced it in December I'll be resigning so I had about four to five months to plan everything and put things in motion so yeah that's how it came to pass cool yeah thanks for sharing that overview so did you grow up near the mountains I know you mentioned about like fwn for Himalayas just curious like you know or is it something that you developed later yeah so I belong to the state of Kashmir so you can say it's in my blood but no I was actually I never stayed there my dad stayed there but I grew up near Delhi in the state

4:45 Of Arana but yeah it's it's in my jeans and I guess or some previous life got it so you always has this even though you didn't grow up but you always has that fond of got it yes yes so sounds like I think you know after the education you were working at Google so it's the parents and it's the calling back to home is the main motivation to be back so how maybe let's talk a little bit about the planning you know from a career transation from Logistics from some of these aspects if there's anything that you can talk through so you mentioned that you have resigned at Google so you didn't think about like maybe a internal transfer or looking for opportun or like you have a different plan so on a career front as well as you know other aspects on a

5:36 Relocation yeah see this is a very subjective topic I mean I spoke to a lot of people I've spoken to a lot of people I get you know messages on Linkin from students wanting to immigrate out and people wanting sorry immigrate out and people wantan to you know immigrate back in but in my case she had worked for close close to close to six seven years actually more than seven years8 nine years out of which four and a half were at Google professionally I would say I was not looking to continue my career so it was a move not for not to get a job in you know in India and then continue the same continue down the same path of the same trajectory the reason I wanted to move back was I wanted an indefinite amount of time on my hands whether that was 6 months or two years to do something that I always wanted to do which was one I wanted to travel in

6:38 Rome without having a deadline right it's like when I would come from us you know three days before my flight I would know okay vacation is ending or the trip is ending I need to pack up and you know and go back so I don't want that hanging on my shoulder I didn't want the same calendar invites or the same reminders although it was the smartphones hadn't really picked up back then but I think you will get the drift so and there is a funny story that's associated with that I'll get to that in a second so and I wanted to do something without having a paycheck without you know doing the same thing basically so that's how I ended up so basically what I did when I moved back no I didn't look for an internal transfer although my director tried very hard you know she wanted to place me in Hyderabad I said you know know if I want to do that you know I would do it so I wanted to teach I wanted to interact with little kids I wanted to fuse I want to have a fusion of

7:39 Travel and doing what I wanted when I wanted right so I taught in Delhi for three months to a group of Youth at at arindo asham which is which is a huge organization and they do train a lot of Village youth after that I spent about a year in utan teaching teaching in a primary school but predominant working with the same parent NGO working on an array of projects like water livelihood working really at the grassroot level as cliched as the word grassroot level has become but you know it still was grassroot I mean I still remember when I landed at that Village there was a board that said population 29 it reminded me of sounded like a horror movie titled population 29 but so yeah I that's what I wanted to do professionally and I knew right and I had the luxury of being a bachelor so have a family so that chapter of my life had not begun yet so when you're in that stage you can take risks right you can truly follow your dreams and I think that's what I

8:39 Did got it so it's a different lifestyle that you have chosen and intentionally you decided not to continue the corporate world but just do something what you would love and travel without any you know strings attached so so in terms of the other preparations I don't know if there's anything that you wanted to touch base from a logistics side I know you mentioned you have about six months to plan your move anything that you wanted to touch maybe on a financial side or anything on the logistics of physically moving things or any any of that stuff like or anything that you would suggest for people who are thinking about a complete relocation yeah see fundamentally there are three things there are three ways to it phase one is something strikes within and you start down that path hey do I do I want to move back should I move back if that thought is missing then you know we're not talking if that thought strikes then it really depends right

9:40 What stage you're in if you're in my if if you're a Wanderer like me and if you don't have a family you can take risks you can do whatever you want obviously you have to have some Financial stability right if you worked hard if you've saved up you don't want to go back and be dependent on somebody else whether that's your parents or somebody else I don't care right I I strongly believe you should be self-sufficient if you can hold your own water right if you can stand on your two legs then come you know then comes everything else whether that's travel whether that's teaching anything else right that's Financial second is logistically yes you have to have you have to take risks but you have to plan right there's a very famous military saying is those who fail to plan plan to fail right so yeah logistically when I moved back right I didn't I actually lived a very Spartan life in the US so physically moving the luggage back or you know planning around

10:42 Hey how the heck do I move back I didn't have to go through all that I barely owned anything right all I had was books I think I had a two actually one guitar and and clothing and right and more books so yeah but you need to have a plan right when I move back it's it's moving two different countries and you're leaving it everything behind right you're leaving the Silicon Valley or wherever you are you're leaving your routine I know a lot of people who have resigned at age 40 and in a week they've regretted right because it's we're all humans right we're wired to to go through a same routine you know we get triggered we get turned on by certain things and when all of the those things disappear challenges disappear you know the reminders disappear the presentations that you make to directors in VPS disappear some people you know succumb to that so yeah financially you need to you need to you need to have stability right you need to have a plan if you don't have a plan that's also fine right as long as you can as long as you stand up to it right if you just

11:43 Want to travel go ahead and travel I wanted to mix travel and ever since I was a kid I wanted to teach I had this romantic idea I would sit in a village teach a bunch of kids and play the guitar and lo and behold that's exactly how it g the bus it was like predestined so yeah I mean anytime somebody sends me a message you know somebody reaches out to me on the end this is what I said right I said play the mental game first then play the physical piece and then get to the psychological piece right you have to you have to be very careful very strategic think you know these have these things have to be thought through I mean don't make a knej reaction yeah and most people are in a family it has to be a balanced decision right I can't just be up and say hey I'm moving to India right you have a wife you have a kids so that's a whole different dynamics that are at play definitely so yeah let's talk through about your journey after the move so you have this idea about you know teaching the kids traveling around without the string so how has the

12:44 Life been initially after the move so it would be exciting to hear like you know your journey

12:51 There yeah surprisingly believe believe it or not I mean when I was moving back I had a lot of you know Engineers obviously almost them Indians you know my last few days in Google they came up to me and most people said hey what would you do when you move back right why are you moving back I mean these things are incomprehensible to most people why the heck do you want to leave us right I don't want I don't have to mention the basic differences between us and India all of us know let's not get to the the emotional and the family ties but there are fundamental infrastructural differences and those are real right no matter what we say home is always home but us is US India is India so I never had I never missed anything right I mean there's there's a family joke the only thing I miss is the interstate driving on the interest rates and the maybe the national parks of the US but yeah yeah when I moved back I you even when I ended up at that Village it was a very small room right this was a hell lot of difference two months

13:52 Ago I was living in Silicon valy in in a very nice apartment in the Bay Area and now here I am in this Village shitla population 9 upstairs you know in the middle of nowhere when I remember there's a family of jackals that would pass through at night howling so but I you know it all fit in like a glove I but before that right obviously I was in Delhi teaching for a few months so the the you know the layer actually the mask actually came off so it was not like that I resigned from Google and the next day I'm in in a village even though I think I I still would have fit in quite quite nicely so I think there is one word that comes to mind which is adaptability how adaptable you are right and in my case every time I would every year when I would come home from the US I would always make sure that I kept few days to travel in the mountains so it also depends on your adaptability depends on your lifestyle how you tackle you know you know change in your life so I think those things all

14:54 Fit in in obviously after the the the Delhi stint when I moved to the Village there was no transport right you had to walk like four to six kilometers through a jungle every day and there were couple leopards staying there so it was yeah it was it was it was quite a thing but yeah logistically and from the from an adaptability perspective it just happened I think you know you have to take it one day at a time and you have to enjoy what you're doing and if you if you regret if you think you made a mistake you should still stand up to it and then think what you want to do about it yeah there is nothing like any wrong decision but the decision and you just move on and what what you want to do next yeah so I I don't know for how long did you continue this you know lifestyle before making any change or like you know maybe you can talk through like your life in India how has it evolved you know that would be great yeah so

15:54 Yeah actually that was a question I

15:56 Remember my brother and a few other folks asked so you know what next is it like a one month thing three Monon thing are you trying to do something are you trying to write a book you know I said no there is no expiration date there is no shelf life to this chapter of my life when it ends it ends as I said I was in Delhi for three months and in between I was traveling right I attended I remember I attended the mahak Kumba MAA if you've heard of it it happens every 12 years it's the longest it's it's the largest Congregation of human beings for a single purpose that happens on this planet so I remember in 2013 February I was there on on a day when there were 30 million people in that 30 million is a lot of people so I did some traveling in between I took some breaks obviously I spent time with my parents but when I was in the village that was in March of 2013 I spent close to 11 months there in between I you know I continue to

16:57 Travel so you want to work but obviously it's it's a volunteer based thing right it's not that I can just take off anytime you want you have to you know have you have to have responsibilities but I did have that flexibility I would travel off for three four days and then I would come back and join so even after I left after one year I think when the one year was over obviously it naturally organically happened that the the few projects I was leading you know they folded I delivered all of them the school ended the director changed and obviously you know when you when you're in that stage that stage when it comes to pass then you have to say okay do you want to get married do you don't you don't want to get married are you ready to go back so I think the perfect detox had completed you know the one cycle had completed so I decided yeah this is the time when it's time to get back to again become a taxpaying citizen and

17:59 That's when I decided to you know let's let's give it another shot it's it's not time to become a mon yet so I can still do something so yeah after about a total of year and a half I reentered the the corporate world cool so are you back in Delhi or so I'm guessing like you are you know back into some Metropolitan like working in a corporate world you know kind of leading like a normal like a taxpayer life I'm assuming in the last

18:30 You know 10 years or so yeah yes so yeah I rejoined so my parents live about 60 60 miles from Delhi so obviously I I wanted to be closer to them there was some discussion of M Hyderabad but yeah I joined and then I walked away that's another story so I've joined Google twice now in between I joined and then I decided this is not what I wanted to do and I wanted to be in a place where there was Seasons I can't live without Seasons I have to have Winters right call it the mountain Madness so yeah I think in January of 2014 is when I rejoined I moved to move from mountains to my parents place and then obviously I applied in this area in the Delhi goodg area so currently I'm in based out of gula that's where my office also is got it cool so I know you came for a specific purpose which is you know being home call for the mountains and so on so looking back I think you know from 12 Years of Living

19:31 Or 13 years of living in India how do you summarize your experience is there anything that you miss or anything that you could have done differently you know whether it's social life whether it's your spiritual life whether it's you know spending in the nature or doing volunteer work so how has the life been in these last you know 12 years yeah there's a very famous song by

19:56 Frank santra that comes to mind Love's been good to me and I would like to add life has also been good to me obviously you know when if you if you if you could time travel there are always things you you would want to do differently but I think long and the short I think it's been good I do I do I do feel at times right all of us and you know we get so busy in in in in in the daily routine routine is you know life is what happens to you when you when you're busy doing other things I still think life is happening while we're spending most of our time on either our gadgets or phones or meetings you know running around at home but there is still that safe passage you have to look for that you want to walk on to truly pursue the you know the quintessence of Life whatever that may

20:58 Be it might be a beach on Goa for somebody it might be retreating to you know an isolated location in the mountains for somebody but no I think if I could sum it up it's been a great journey I would like to attribute a huge chunk of it to my wife who's also a doctor and a mountaineer we always joke that you know before marriage I was this CA wearing guy who nobody could believe had just come from the US but you know that's the beauty of life when you interact with other people when you live with somebody you know both of you bring changes and you know you challenge the other person you see there's a lot of potential but there are some inhibition so I think she has really opened me up to the universe I am now trying different things I am dabbling you know into a lot of different areas

21:59 Obviously they are aligned with my own beckoning but yeah there's a lot of change that has happened I think the core in my case has remained the same there are always few hours that all of us wish to find you know every day then every week I could do a I could do B I could do c but you know one can always hope but no looking back it's been a great ride no questions asked that's fantastic so so again I think now that you are back in the corporate world you work for close to 8 years in us is there anything that you can comment on the work life balance or you know the culture of the work culture or the career opportunities in India versus in us so I know things have also evolved in India so anything that you can share insights from your perspective what it has been you know about a decade back and what it is now for somebody who is considering move back to India maybe

22:59 From a corporate side from an opportunity side so anything that you can share from your perspective yeah

23:05 There are a lot of different schools of thought obviously in the in the current macroeconomic conditions that we are seeing for last almost 15 months right the speaking about the the huge amount of layoffs especially the IT industry things have definitely changed and also the Dynamics if if you speak about work life balance I I remember in 20078 nine right when smartphones were barely kicking up the apps you know you could actually exhaust you could actually exhaust the search results when you were trying to find an app or you may actually say no results found right that was no results found error so I think work life balance is is much harder now than it was right I'll give you a quick example I know when I was working at Google in Mountain View I would come back obviously I would have some night meetings and so forth and so on but there was no 247 urgency of getting pings getting reminders getting buzzed on your smartphone right Smartphones at least in

24:05 In our case 2009 were barely there at the max you know you would open up your laptop go through your emails attend the meetings and that's it you move on with their life I think in this time and age when everything is controlled by that 5x Seven box that we you know hold in our hands it's it's a I mean I'll be honest it's a challenge for me that there have been days and days and days when I sleep at 2: and I have to wake up at 6 where the hell is the work life balance right you have to find it everybody has the same amount of you know hours in a day whether that's Sund Pella or you right everybody has a life everybody has responsibilities so walk life balance is really key I mean I've literally seen a lot of unfortunate episodes without getting into too many details people have people have really people have really lost it so we really have to as an individual as a human being have to make a call when you know when do we reach that stage and

25:06 Enough is enough because at the end of the day right like my dad always used to say 60 years down the road you would not remember a presentation that you me you know or or a promotion that you got maybe some would most won't right you will remember the the the times that you missed out on right the conversations you missed out on with your wife the trips you never took so these are little things but they do make a difference to especially to the the mental well-being of us and people who are living with us from a from a professional standpoint I think see it's very sub obviously it's It's associated with the industry you're in right it I think since I'm in the IT industry I would only speak to that I mean I see a lot of opportunities in India right especially in the current macroeconomic conditions that we're in I see a lot of movement a lot of shift that has happen from the West to the east I I have friends in companies where you know teams and teams have been have been let go because their positions have been moved to India right and we're not

26:08 Talking about the the original offshoring where call centers and support industry you know was just flourishing in early 2000s I think it's it's gone to another stage especially with AI coming in you really have to you really have to keep evolving keep learning if you're in in an industry a you have to have a plan you have to be you have to basically keep up you know have a vision down the road where would I be where where do I want to be but no I mean when I speak to people in the office when I speak to people on Linkin or other professional you know forums today we're living in an age where there is no right answer right earlier we we used to say oh you know let's move to the US let's study there are You The Grass Is Always Green and the grass actually was greener I think in my opinion back in the days but today I mean I don't see anything I mean let's not get to the infrastructure and the Pooles but strictly sticking to industry opportunities and profession I see a lot of opportunities in India and I think things will continue to to to evolve in that in that space and opportunities will definitely open up

27:09 Especially with a lot of Industries now getting touched by artificial intelligence so the takeaway is from your perspective there is quite a bit of opportunity it's no longer more of a service call centers it's actually some of the development with a lot of these new technologies coming up yeah thanks absolutely yeah so I know you mentioned about on the nature side and then some spirituality and the home I know some people are looking into those kind of angle right you know when they're thinking about moving back to India so just curious is there something that played as a role like India versus doing the same thing like in Western countries you know you still have access to you know these mountains nature you know some of these but I'm just curious anything that you can share from your perspective why you decided India or like maybe is there anything when you went through this journey of spending time in the nature some of that because there are some folks who are like kind of looking for spirituality or you know the home

28:10 Like it's a different aspect right

28:12 Just curious anything that you want to share from your perspective I think quite simply put we all biological beings we're all biod differently we all have our different energies different frequencies that we vibrate at so so to some you know they will get immense Bliss hanging by a casino in Las Vegas some will find the same piece sitting in a Sahara Desert some will like as if you're as crazy as my wife will be freezing their ass off in minus 13 ladak in January right that's where she finds peace so in my case my apologies to Dr varuna but in my case I think it had to do with I would I would attribute it to my roots my jeans call it carry forward from from last birth but to me Himalayas have always been that you know the the Mystic Zone if if you call that

29:15 I remember first time I went traveled when I was 23 in many years ago and then something something struck right I started getting I don't want to make this podcast the metaphysical one but I started getting these dreams and Visions right people started showing up out of the blue very very quick example there is this individual who showed up in my dream and said hey why don't you visit me just come over to this place and a week later I was chatting with a friend and she said by the way do you know this gentleman passed away a few years ago and I was like okay if he's visiting me from the dead I better make sure I go there right and by the way I'm going there again tomorrow for Holy weekend but yeah I think it's very subjective you really have to you really have to see what what vibrates you right what makes your soul tingle so in my case could I have done that in the US probably not I don't want to compare

30:17 Mountains but I think personally to me Himalayas to me are like living mountains there's a lot of energy thousands of years have gone by when people have done you know unimaginable practices austerities or whatnot so that energy still calls to me that's what that's what appeals to me I guess to each their own I think yeah no thanks goam for that so is there any topic that we haven't covered that you would like to bring up with the audience or any advice that you want to give for future return to India aspirant I think one thing or one

30:58 Thought that passes through so there was a talk that I gave in Google and few people wanted to know right about inhibitions or risk or the what if right what if we make a mistake in my opinion I actually seen within Google people who moved back and they' regreted right everybody including my relatives warned me hey Gotham you've never worked in India I had never right I moved as I said when I was about 18 one of my aunts actually said you'll be back in three months like you know you can take it to me take it from me in writing I said you know if that's the if that's how it is that's how it is you know you make mistakes you learn from them you like my favorite hero Arnold says be prepared to fail and I was prepar to fail but in for and I did make some mistakes right some people like you know some people said you should not have walked away from the second offer in Google you know you would have been somewhere else I said that's that's where it is that's where it is I still say you know the one

32:01 Year that I left in that Village taught me so many things that I could never learn if I spent 50 years in any company I don't care what company that is there are certain things that you observe as a human you know at a very at a very basic level there are so many things you take for granted right when when you when you open your facet you're living in that Sky scrape right the water is always there to some people that is a luxury right a lot of things are luxuries to a lot of different people that we take for granted so to risk and the what if question you know that I've answered a lot I think you need a certain amount of conviction and self-belief a lot of self-belief right if you fail then you fail don't blame the universe for it please don't don't even blame yourself you know it's a pursuit of never never never ending happiness that you give it a shot if it walks out

33:02 It walks out what doesn't kill you make you stronger so I think that that that that mist has to hover around your head and I think things will turn out fine that's what I tell most people yeah I agree I think it's more to do with I don't want to regret that you never even give it give it a shot I think you don't want to have that feeling I mean what's the worst that would happen what if and then you always have you know other options to do yeah very well and lastly right I also warn people right don't imitate anybody else right everybody has a unique life everybody has their own Dynamics their own circumstances that they're going through I always learn from people and then I make my own decision right I don't romanticize with the idea of moving back either right I watched this very famous movie called swades in 2006 and I knew back then and there right that I would move but I didn't romanticize with

34:03 That idea obviously right you have to have some sanity and some practicality there are some decisions as I said right the financial piece is huge so but yeah at the end of the day don't kill your spirit for it yeah great yeah thank you very much gutam for taking the time and sharing your journey with us really appreciate it especially the you know the time that you spend in a in a place with 29 people it just sounds like you know yeah it's still like you know hard to comprehend I think for somebody who has lived a different lifestyle and being able to adapt to it and like the lessons that you learned you mentioned right that one year has given so much of information I can I appreciate and I believe it I mean I know thank you for sharing your journey this might not be like a practical these are like some of this you know the things that somebody has to think from a normal routine life right you know not let let the life go by take a step back and see what you want to do and you know and go with that you know with the conviction as you said earlier so once again yeah I sorry I do want to add one

35:05 More thing is you know sometimes you feel that you are doing a lot you're taking all the risks you're making all the big decisions but in my case you know a brat like me was fortunate to have help from so many people I remember when I was when I moved back there's this very famous journalist who now lives a reclusive life in in utak so I won't name she opened a lot of doors for me on the spiritual side on the Social Development sector side right working with the NGO similarly in other areas right my family provided immense support my father never questioned a single decision I remember when I resigned from Google a second time he never said goam why the heck have you lost you lost your mind who who the heck resigns from Bo all he said I remember never forget till the day I die is okay you know let's plan the next travel to utrakhand I like okay that's that's a cool dad so yeah I think a lot of you know gratefulness pours out of me to All the known and unknown people

36:08 Behind the screen who have been a imense help to me so without that you wouldn't get anywhere right so you have to have some help from the universe and and people around you so yeah very well thank you so much pleasure was all mine thank you so much thanks a lot have a great day really appreciate it okay thank you have a great day bye thank you all for joining us on this insightful journey of Dy return if you enjoyed this episode and want to explore more stories and expert advice make sure to subscribe and hit the notification Bell don't forget to leave a comment below with your thoughts and experiences by the way check out the links in the description below for our Facebook group and social media for updates and engaging discussions as well as connecting with fellow daa wrers thank you once again and until next time may your D journey be filled with joy growth and endless possibilities