We Never Planned to Move Back to India: Neeta's Story

What was Neeta's path across Germany, Australia, and the US?

Neeta's story starts with a point that many return stories miss: going abroad was not part of her family script. She says nobody in her family had gone abroad before, and moving overseas was not something they regularly discussed. Her original plan was simpler: do MTech, perhaps do a PhD from IIT, and continue from there.

That changed during MTech. She started in 2014, received a DAAD scholarship in her second year, and moved to Germany for research work. She stayed in Germany for a year. From there she applied for a PhD at the University of Melbourne, which took her to Australia.

Australia became the center of her abroad life. She spent most of her time there, completed her PhD journey through COVID, and did a short postdoc there. Later, while she was thinking about returning, her supervisor suggested that she should also consider the US for another postdoc.

That suggestion took her to St. Louis, Missouri, where she stayed for two years. Neeta is a plant scientist, and she describes St. Louis as a strong place for people working with plants and agriculture. Her workplace was excellent, but life outside work did not feel the same as Melbourne.

The final return happened through Patiala. Her husband eventually settled there, and when a position opened at Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, she applied and got the job. That is when the long overseas chapter finally turned into an India chapter.

Why was Australia so close to her heart?

Neeta liked Germany for order, cleanliness, punctuality, and rules. She also had a real language barrier there. On her first day, without internet and before Google Translate was common for everyone, she had to draw on paper at a reception desk to explain what she needed. She remembers it as funny now, but it shows the practical friction of being in a non-English-speaking environment.

She chose Australia partly because it was English-speaking and partly because she loved teaching. During her PhD, she wanted the possibility of teaching alongside research. Melbourne gave her that, but it also gave her much more: weather she liked, open people, multicultural life, and a large Indian community.

The Indian community mattered because she did not feel completely cut off from food, language, or cultural familiarity. She says there was an Indian restaurant in almost every area, so she did not miss Indian food in the same way.

Melbourne also became personal because she met her husband there. That is why the city is still close to her heart. This is important for readers who assume every returnee leaves because they hated life abroad. Neeta did not hate Melbourne. She still misses it.

Her US experience was different. The workplace in St. Louis was strong, but she did not enjoy the social side. She does not drive, which made life harder, and she did not feel very safe because of St. Louis crime concerns. Two years there were valuable professionally, but not emotionally similar to Australia.

For another interview-based return story with Australia and Germany context, read the Australia and Germany return story after 18 years abroad.

What happened in 2019 that changed the return decision?

The turning point was not a job offer or a financial calculation. In 2019, Neeta's father had a heart attack and passed away while she and her husband were in Melbourne.

Travel from Melbourne to her hometown took almost two days. She says she had to keep her father's body in cold storage. The experience was mentally taxing, and her husband watched her go through that turmoil from close range.

That day changed his thinking. His own parents were younger than hers, and the event made him decide he would go back to India as soon as possible. This was not a generic "family is important" thought. It was a specific experience of being far away during a family emergency and seeing what that distance can cost.

Many NRI families do not plan around this type of moment because it is emotionally uncomfortable to discuss. But it is exactly the kind of moment that turns a theoretical return plan into a deadline. If elder-care proximity is part of your reason, make it explicit before the crisis arrives.

Why did her husband move first without a job?

Neeta's husband moved back to India in February 2021, when a short lockdown window in Melbourne opened. He moved after his PhD and, according to Neeta, he returned without a job in India.

That created a four-year long-distance marriage. It was not a romantic ideal or an easy arrangement. It was the practical result of two academic careers moving at different speeds. He could return sooner. She still had to finish her PhD and make the right postdoc decisions for her field.

She submitted her PhD in June 2021, and the final completion was done by December 2021. At that point, her husband's situation and her own field requirements were different. He is an aerospace engineer, and in engineering, she says postdoc work is not as necessary for academia as it can be in life sciences. Neeta is a plant scientist, so she felt postdoc experience was important.

That difference explains why one spouse could return first while the other stayed abroad. It also explains why "just move back together" is often too simplistic for academic couples. Field norms, supervisor advice, job openings, and city geography can all pull the timeline apart.

How did academic career timing shape the return?

After her PhD and short postdoc in Australia, Neeta went to St. Louis for another postdoc. She says her supervisor suggested the US when she was deciding whether to move back. For plant science and agriculture research, St. Louis made professional sense.

Meanwhile her husband moved through several Indian cities: Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Noida, and finally Patiala. Once he landed a government assistant professor position in Patiala, they saw it as the point where the repeated moving could stop.

Neeta did not immediately have a position there. About seven months after his job, an opening came up at Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology in Patiala, in biotechnology. She applied because her husband was stationed there, and she was grateful to get the job.

This is one of the most practical parts of the story for academic NRIs. The return decision is not only "India or abroad." It is also "which city can support both careers?" For a couple, one person landing in India does not automatically solve the second person's work path.

If your return depends on jobs, do not treat city selection as an afterthought. Build a two-career map: spouse location, universities or employers in that city, realistic openings, field-specific expectations, salary range, commute, housing, and family support.

What planning did they actually do before returning?

Their planning had two clear parts: home investment and moving light.

Neeta says they decided early that they wanted to invest in a home because she did not want to stay in rentals. They invested in a house when her husband was in Chandigarh, then later in a house in Patiala. Her reasoning was part emotional and part financial: she wanted stability, and she also felt real estate was likely to keep going up.

That does not mean every returnee should buy immediately. The lesson is more precise: know whether your first-year plan depends on rental flexibility or home stability. Neeta valued stability strongly. Another family with uncertain jobs, schools, or city choice may need the opposite approach.

The second planning choice was baggage. Neeta was clear that she did not want to take many things back. When she moved from Australia to the US, she had three suitcases. When she moved from the US to India, she again had three suitcases. Whatever she had accumulated, she left behind.

That minimalism reduced logistics, but it was still emotionally difficult. Many returnees underestimate the emotional cost of leaving accumulated belongings behind. The question is not only shipping cost. It is what you want your first month in India to be about: unpacking a life from abroad or building the next one.

For the broader move sequence, use the NRI moving back to India checklist. For money, property, accounts, and tax sequencing, use the financial checklist for NRIs moving back to India.

What was hardest after moving back to India?

Some return adjustments were predictable. In the interview, Neeta says she came back in June the previous year, and the heat was difficult. She says it was really hot. Food, on the other hand, was a clear positive. She loves the food.

The bigger work adjustment was system order. She was used to a certain way of working abroad. In India, she felt that order was missing in places, and she was still adjusting. Her response is not to complain from outside the system. She says that when you become part of a new system, you also have to mold yourself and get comfortable with things.

That sentence is useful because it avoids both extremes. She does not pretend everything is smooth. She also does not treat every difference as proof that returning was wrong. She is learning the system while becoming part of it.

Healthcare access also came up in the interview. Neeta describes an after-hours medical scare in Sydney where she was taken to emergency and waited alone for more than five hours before a doctor saw her. Her point was not that India's healthcare system is perfect. Her point was that in India she feels there are more immediate options for getting something checked, even when the hospital may not classify it as an emergency.

If healthcare is part of your return calculation, separate emotional comfort from financial planning. Read the health insurance guide for NRIs moving back to India before you rely only on family doctors, local contacts, or out-of-pocket assumptions.

How should NRIs prepare for family and in-law adjustment?

This was Neeta's biggest emotional preparation area. She had lived alone for about 10 to 11 years. Even as a child, she was used to having her own space because her sisters were much older. Returning to a shared family environment was not automatically easy.

She was skeptical about living with family, so she started therapy before moving in. Her goal was to get her mental state in order before entering a home where her in-laws, relatives, and visitors would naturally be part of daily life. She also says her in-laws are more conservative, which made preparation more important.

The practical advice she gives is simple but mature: keep empathy. If you are living with them for the first time, they are also living with you for the first time. Adjustment goes both ways. They have to adjust to your personality, and you have to adjust to theirs.

She warns that rigidity creates friction. If you return with a fixed belief that your way is the only correct way, every small difference becomes a fight. If you try to understand why someone has a certain way of living, the same situation becomes easier to navigate.

This is especially important for NRIs who have lived independently abroad for years. The return is not only an address change. It is a change in space, privacy, noise, expectations, routines, and emotional boundaries.

What did she learn about loneliness abroad and connection in India?

Neeta says social isolation abroad is real. She has seen people become isolated because of lack of circle or because their personality made it harder to build a community. When near and dear ones are not close, isolation can take over your life.

Her contrast with India is the relationship layer. Parents, school friends, relatives, or someone else may check on you. She feels India gives more importance to relationships than to an isolated individual existence. For her, that means she usually has somebody to talk to.

She also adds a useful age point. In your 20s, you may have more energy, more openness, and more willingness to meet many people. As you grow older, your tolerance and your willingness to spend energy on new people may change. The abroad life that felt exciting at 25 may feel lonelier at 35 or 40.

That does not mean everyone should move back because of loneliness. It means social design should be part of the return plan. If you stay abroad, design community there. If you return to India, do not assume community will happen automatically. Build it around city, family, friends, spouse, children, work, and emotional bandwidth.

What lessons should returnees take from Neeta's story?

Neeta's story is not a neat checklist story, but it produces a useful checklist.

If your return is still half emotional and half practical, put both sides on paper. The practical side includes taxes, bank accounts, insurance, phone-number continuity, housing, school or career timing, and first-year cash flow. The emotional side includes parents, grief, spouse alignment, privacy, family boundaries, and community.

For phone and account access during the move, use the guide to keeping your US, UK, or Canada phone number active in India. For tax-residency timing after return, use the RNOR status guide for returning NRIs.

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