Watch: Entrepreneur Reveals Secret to Thriving in India After 22 Years in US

3:28 That company we had 4 employees at that time until actually last year and then I sold the company so this is the Journey of professional but pretty much from Family Life Florida you know it's like Mumbai the temperature so we were very comfortable in Florida in Tampa life was very good had Parents my father died in 2015 so at that time I I had had a shock little shock emotional shock because I could not spend much time with my dad and I was not hoping or expecting him to die so soon he died out of heart attack and the whole experience I went through at that time with the hospitals in India was not very positive so that gave me a notion that you know I don't want to have that risk with my mom when

4:28 My father died he was 74 my mom was 60 at that time very young yeah and then then later on I realized my mom she she has some kind of you know blood cancer in a popular language we call it CML so it took her almost 10 years to continue on the medication for CML I kept coming going in every you know possible way 6 months or 4 months but I think at that time I realized it's the calling is coming to my mind and I'm the only son I have my sister who lives here in jaur but I took it as my personal responsibility to look after my mom so when almost like 10 years passed by in 23 I was at a point both the kids went to college almost empty nesters me and my wife so I and then I got another surprise my mother got Perkin

5:30 She diagnosed with a huge huge very rare kind of Perkinson called c coressel syndrome CVS and in that Perkinson what happened your half of the body got disabled and it was declining very fast so little did I realize within three months she got paralysis like she got half paralyzed I she came to my she came to United States lived with us like for a few months and I took took her to you know a neurologist there my friend he said this is rare I don't know Canal what to say and since I saw my father died in my absence I didn't want to happen have her go through that kind of trauma and that time you know that was the time I decided that you know I'm going to move no matter whether I have to hire a nurse at that time or not for my mom and she is young she was like 68 at that times or 69 year old now I didn't want her to feel

6:32 Like you know what happened it's not about the the the luxury you can provide your parents it's not that you can have hire a nurse you can hire maid servants it's more than that it's it's it's the confidence you have to develop amongst them that you are there to look after them you know and that was the main reason I said I'm going back to India no matter what happens to my business my family life my kids and you know everybody else was a second priority for me at that time it was just my mom so that was the main reason got it no thanks a lot for sharing that so sounds like a successful career kids are kind of in the college by independent go to a premium College yeah yeah so and I had a dream life I have no complaints extremely I am US citizen extremely life American Dream I could have become a a billionaire easily if I would stay another 10 years there

7:32 But hey life is not all about money right I think you don't want regrets yeah so let's talk a little bit I think I understand I think the reasons for moving back and so you kind of gave an indication on the family life so has you and your wife moved back together no no no it's just me she's still there yeah okay so and it's been an year since you moved yeah yeah got it are in Washington DC and I'm here with me myself my dog he's baring behind and that's another thing another change in my life because when you feel you become lonely you need something and we never had a dog in our home my kids always complain that you never had a dog when we wanted it yeah now you become feeling lonely now you are having a dog so it was such a funny thing my my daughter stopped talking to me for months and months that you did not buy a dog for me you are bought do for yourself now she sees more pictures than me of dog on on Facebook and

8:35 Instagram because she loves her all the I mean they don't they haven't traveled in last one year but but that's how it is got it yeah so how how are things

8:46 With Mom I mean I think you know definitely as you mentioned being there yeah see I have a I have this you know very peculiar kind of situation when we talk about the Hospital industry in India health and since I was into Healthcare in us so it was always a priority for me that she gets the best health care possible and since I come from the health care background I take her to the best physician and Indians are great Physicians I can tell you I have dealt with them all my life back in United States every fourth American doctor is an Indian yeah so they have great knowledge wisdom they are ready to adopt new things technological savy so they understand but the kind of Health Care System we have in America is very different than India in India still we have a CH type of attitude now it's very easy to listen

9:49 This yeah but you want to see more patients you want to have more people that's why you see it it's better so it's basically what I call it a chaos it's a Controlled Chaos it's poorly organized in India especially Healthcare Market no matter what hospital you go my friend owns the hospital so I started taking my my my mom there of course I didn't have to go through all the bureaucratic things and hurdles and waiting in the line and Q and all but the doctors are very good okay they have a knowledge they have understanding they are ready to help but let me tell you the difference is very simple how you treat your patients in US is very different than how they treat here in India the protocols are different

10:49 Medicines may be same but they here in in India they don't give you a firm picture like this is what it is probably looks like and this is going to happen in us I always had this like whenever I had a healthcare emergency or anything I was like very confident that I'm in safe hands I don't get that feeling here in India that is the biggest difference that certainty part you know you have full confidence in the system and then on the top of it getting the prescription done going to the pharmacy everywhere there is a bureaucratic hurdle and especially if a patient like my mom is on a government scheme aayush manhat because my father was MLA so she got inherited all of his spks and U she get free of healthc care card but like here the prescription they gave you for one month and then now she

11:49 Is homebound so we have to put her on the on the chair on the wheelchair take her to the hospital put it in a queue for an hour or two to see see the doctor when doctor sometimes see it doesn't see it and only the doctor can write the prescription so these are very like it takes half a day just to write a one stupid prescription which is the same medicine every month yeah so it's it's a very very like unorganized and and and a lengthy process and especially country like India cannot afford that because we have so many patients so it's better to have a efficient system okay go in come in come out go come in go out take a prescription electronic prescription done like if it would be a us type of situation we could handle billions of people without any problem yeah cool

12:39 So maybe let's talk a little bit about the planning right I think you kind of mentioned about exiting on a company on a professional side kids are out so I think you know you have the situation with Mom you know where she was diagnosed there's a timing that you have to make it happen respect of the things so if you can talk a little bit about the planning like you know when you started planning for it how long it took and then when the actual move happened I think that would be very helpful so I didn't plan at all as I said because my situation was I was not ready for it I was hoping another couple of years and then you know do it a much better planned I still have a home back in US yeah I don't go there but I still have a home I have a boat there sitting there wanted to sell it could not sell it had a car could not sell it somebody else sold it later on so still have strings attached but you right the planning people who move finally and especially largely those who are not

13:40 Entrepreneurs and the those who are in the jobs they probably have things which they can completely untie the strings and move I still have some strings attached that's so like I didn't move my 401k a lot of people try to move their 401K I didn't have to close my bank accounts I still have the bank account so I'm physically moved here my heart still stays there because some of the things which I I'm still doing as far as the business is concerned so I still work during the night because it's a Us hours yeah as far as the planning no no planning was done the only planning was done is putting the stuff which I was using on everyday basis on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist and just sold whatever I could s you know something like that but other than that yeah probably I just kind of packed my bags and just moved yeah in the beginning I I took two or three trips every 3 months or four months and then I

14:42 I I brought other stuff I still have a home there so a lot of stuff is still sitting there understood so how do you

14:50 See I mean based on where you are with the situation like and again you know if you're open to share like looking ahead right I think 3 years 5 years 10 years down the road do you see yourself like moving back or staying here spending time across or I'm just curious so I had I had two purposes say I always tell people the purpose has to be very defined yes planning may not be defined but the purpose has to be absolutely clear in my mind yeah when I saw my mother's health condition I said there is no point I'm going to live or continue live in US second I was fortunate enough to meet Mr Modi in Washington DC and my father had a political background social background I had a little bit inclination that I once I turn 50 I'm going to give back to my motherland in some way so I had about 30 seconds one minute conversation with him and he kind of pushed me and inspired me because he knew my father so he saw the picture I wrote a book on my dad he saw that and he said what are you doing here there is nothing here the

15:51 Movement is in India the the a moment this is the moment you should be in India Adventure is in India and that just 30 second conversation hit me so hard because I was connected with lot of Indian Community there and and and I had a feeling that you know now this is the moment India is building up this is going to be India's Zer in next 10 years 20 years so these are the two main reasons one was absolutely sure that India is going to be my next home because my mother has a critical condition but it is not a condition where she will die like tomorrow she would continue to live but she would have a life of a disabled person or if I stay probably she could be better yeah so for me there is no going back number one to answer your question number two what else if just you know I cannot be just a senior care taker from my mom have to do some other things so one thing which is very close to me is giving back what can you do socially

16:53 People who are not financially kind of secure or safe they probably find jobs but I did not have to do that I I was lucky enough to have my financial s secure yeah so I said well whatever I need just to eat on daily basis if if that is covered I'm fine I don't have to run after money so I decided to you know run around talk to politicians talk to bureaucrats it was like one year was crazy okay people like to to enjoy you have your company have a drinks with you because they see you are an NRI you have a different side of stories and you like you know that kind of it's it's it's kind of elite company they look for but then eventually you find it's just a Wast of time Mo most people they just talk here in India very few people literally follow up what they say they do they mean it yeah so that's another thing you

17:56 Will find that difference and sometimes you like o what's happening you just don't want to be a part of it people will say big things they will do big talks but in actually really there's there's no reality so that happened for almost one year I I could figure it out and then finally I decided to kind of you know I sit down again and I have a team here who who still works for me so that what we can do and I said well this is my plan I want to give back to socially I want to do something in education because I education needs lot of everything comes down to that because that is the source of development in any country and especially when you see it in the in United States you see the difference between your kids and yourself right how they grow up and how I could see it like their mental intellectual they are much they have you know much better idea of this word when we were growing up we have no idea

18:56 So I could see the difference and I see why can't we create the same opportunity for kids here in India you can because in India these kids are very smart just like we were very smart we had no backing no thing we still went all the ways you know situation is school nothing change in Indian thing except the population see they have the same resources maybe they have a computer lab which never functions only one computer was working and that computer also has only data entry facility which they need to run their school I'm now think about it in a government school where there should be 20 25 computer labs only one functioning computer there roof has a leak AC doesn't work and there is a teacher

19:58 Sitting there who makes close to they said 20 lakh rupees a year salary which is a very good salary in our time our teachers used to make 20,000 rupees a year probably so that change has come but other than that the outcome of of the education is is the same it is extremely extremely poor condition these kids are right so these are the opportunities socially India is still still very far I'm not talking about Elite India I'm just talking about what's happening in The Villages what's happening with 60% 70% of the populations maybe 80% of the population who is arm people are still dying on the road yeah I saw people you know just today I think somebody posted on the on on our Indian expert group the whole family wiped away in an accident we still don't see traffic inspectors they they are whole traffic

20:59 Inspectors but they don't stop anyone yeah they have no control over crowd yeah people still have you know chaotic way of driving and they don't even feel bad yeah they don't even feel sorry at all they are I still don't understand why the hell in India the roads are big now why a person will come from the opposite side I still could not figure it out what difference will it make if he takes another 100 ft 200 ft another side and follow the law but just they just don't do they don't realize that they are breaking the law that's the thing yes they don't even realize they are breaking the law if you so sometimes you know I had to literally stop people on Red Light along with me I was standing on the red light the other person is crossing I literally had to yell on I said why you are doing this and he did not even realize it it's wrong

22:00 Yeah so yes problems are there things are there life will become little uncomfortable but hey you got to do what you got to do okay so on the same lines

22:12 I think you kind of made it very clear right the purpose has to be very crystal clear to navigate these challenges so I I think you know for you like someone who spent more than couple of decades in abroad and you know life is much more smoother there and you know you don't have to deal with some of the challenges that you have explained but you are clear with your purpose so how are you able to mitigate these you know like people to you know people don't follow the rules you know some of these things how are you navigating through them or any tips and tricks to other fellow nris yes you know it's not always you know a green I mean you know everything is perfect place you have to navigate some challenges so anything that you can share from your own Journey on how you are dealing with those things I tell you I I had I have a old home where my mom used to live and everybody who is 225 years away in India it's very common your neighbors sometimes either

23:12 Become very good or your neighbors are like your second home I grew up in that neighborhood but over a period of time now they know there's a old woman living in a home they started having different kind of motivation for their love and their pamper towards my mom and they think you know these These are old homes had no papers nothing in some kind of you know religious community and you see everywhere people have kind of encroached so we used to have a space for a truck to pass by through our community now we don't even have enough space to for a car so everything bothers you when you go enter and then when you try to make a change they think you are the only cran and you don't need to be a krantikari they don't like cran Kari they may like a stupid leader who will come and do their cleaning and who will do and pamper their ego but they don't like a person who would say the right things that's a culture here so it took me some

24:14 Time even I had to go to the police station few times I had all kind of bad bribe some of the police guys to get just the away from me and five six attorneys I had to deal with everything was a mess if there would be a person you know other than myself he would just pack the BS and run away like next two months and lot of people told me the same thing when I was moving a lot of my friends said to me you would not survive for more than 6 months we are telling you it would be that you would bring your mom here and you would live here which was true the kind of condition I had it was like crazy because everybody was trying to just think that he he he came after 22 years he should not be here they made a

25:15 Public statements you are a US citizen what are you doing here socially yeah and I don't know how to handle those things and I just stand firm I said well this is my motherland this is my mother's home I have all the rights just like you it doesn't matter anything if I have a US passport doesn't mean I don't belong to this country yeah I mean people can say whatever the crazy things they want to say but you have to do what you have to do yeah for sure I know I mean I think especially like the way you explain the things that you have to go through I think the main purpose is so clear to you you are navigating all these absolutely challes I was lucky enough I was just blessed enough that at least I had some budget to allocate for this I kept I'm a business guy right so I I what I budgeted when you were talking about the planning I budgeted everything in the beginning that I did that okay if I need a good car this is going to cost me this yeah and some

26:17 People what they do is I know a lot of friends so I call it learning unlearning and then relearning relearning yeah so the same thing which you un learn now you have to learn so what I did is that I did a planning that how I'm going to budget wise allocate my dollars for what purpose so that it can give me peaceful life like maids servants driver what I can do myself and what I can't do myself cleanliness now cleanliness in home is a is is is really a big deal and it it is a big deal because what happens if it is because you know I mean you liveed in US I mean cleanliness is a big deal we never see dust we don't see why things are dirty here you one the cleaner will come one time and he will say if I say why the things are dirty by

27:19 Evening I'll clean tomorrow morning yeah but why can't you clean the same time when it it becomes dirty yeah the whole day if the dishes are not done why the dishes are not done no no I will do it tomorrow morning yeah the make come two times well you do the dishes two times but it it's just like people have their own way of doing the things so that was another challenge for me to Train everybody all of my staff mates servants cleaners drivers everybody the way I wanted Y and because I did not have a language barrier I I speak and understand Hindi very well yeah so I sat down with everybody had a big I still have a big white wall with the with a board and I wrote their roles and responsibilities this is the role of a driver this is the time made supposed to come this is the kind of breakfast she has to make like it took me almost 6 months to change her habit not to use so

28:22 Much oil in our food yeah so I had to literally give her like small small packets of and then one time the oil is finished I didn't order it for 6 months I said you try to find a way to make sub without oil because otherwise I'm you're going to blow both of us yeah so cool so maybe Switching gears a

28:47 Little bit you as an entrepreneur right I think someone who has a successful entrepreneur in us and had a company here in India I wanted to understand maybe some insights some experience you know people wants to do their own entrepreneur Journey after moving to India you know anything that you can share like as an advice or insight for someone who are thinking along those lines so those who have extremely good experience in us and if you have developed some relationship for potential clients my suggestion keep and nurture those relationships I send one email out every month to all my contacts in us just to say hi hello how are you doing how is it going people don't check social media Facebook quite often but they do check their emails the purpose is I want to be in touch with them we might have 10,000 miles away I'm sitting but the the internet is is the most

29:49 Underrated tool we have I can tell you we can really really use this is the power of internet right now in India this is is changed in 20 years back the internet was really pathetic in India now internet is as good as we have in us so that's one of the best things I found there let's talk about the good things now in India so internet was one of that Amazon was the second thing which I really like so by using that kind of you know I stayed in touch with my clients and I because I had a company here already so starting another company is not a problem for me because what I did at that time without having a wisdom and experience now at least I have a 20 years of experience so I can do the same thing in a much better way so I had that confidence so any anybody who want who who are on their H1 jobs or any other jobs on Green Card whatever you did in us with the best of your abilities you

30:51 Would find plenty of opportunities around that kind of your your your side whether you worked in sap you I know couple of my friends they they they came back and and and created a huge global company in sap have 3,000 sap Engineers working for them so it's not just me a lot of people have lot of good success story this is the best combination you lived in us for 20 years you know how to navigate the US market India is a pool of good talent you will find plenty of engineering colleges pick up a nice Talent create a product service which service us clients you know how to everything is on internet now whether you go for an accounting system QuickBooks MailChimp email CRM hub spot everything is all online you really do not need physically to be in us to run a business out of us so it's very simple it's just you have to have a mindset that no

31:51 I can do the same thing what I did in us just sitting here got it yeah no thanks

31:57 Is is there any topic that we haven't covered that you want to bring up or any advice for the future aspirants who are thinking about moving to India again as I said the purpose has to be very clear don't get bothered by these small small things India is not going to be us in next 20 years I can tell you we we will not even close to be like Singapore or any European country so don't just do not expect that try to improve PE surroundings around you like what you can do yeah focus on that not don't expect anything from people if you go out and expect anything from people nothing will happen only thing you can accomplish probably by having some kind of jugar in India have bankers at your side have find some good attorney advice Good attorneys develop two or three good friendship people who are genuinely there to support you and help you

32:58 Other than that be safe in India the problem is don't make enemies you cannot trust I mean there is a law system is there so like I had some situations where I had to literally call the police and they showed up so the police has become better over a period of time at least you know you don't have to worry about that you can lose your life but just be safe you don't have to be a revolutionary or krantikari and putting your nose into every damn thing which is happening around you which you don't like yeah I mean those things will happen seek your priorities like if you live in a good Community which has a how homeowners association try to work with them try to work with people in India because not everything is legally as good as us you cannot call the cops for everything work with people communication is the key you cannot

34:09 This problem you would never Jessa base yeah great no thanks a lot for that so maybe couple of quick questions that I

34:17 Have that I want to get your input so what's one thing you wish you knew before moving back to India legal legal system I wish that came as a surprise U I didn't have any idea how police functions here the basic laws like why F nowadays it is mandatory to have it's not only mandatory it's like either you know the police commissioner or you know somebody's senior or you need a lawyer to get even your fi you know so those are the things like it's change and then then you don't want to deal with somebody who who's like policeman a local Constable would never understand your plight let me tell you as an NRI for him you're just like a normally citizen whoever he is around so if you don't like his way of handling

35:19 You this is how it is going to be either you know the police commissioner you know the top man in police whom you can call and get the things done for you if you don't just stay away yeah okay so what's the biggest myth that NIS have about moving to India the biggest Miss is they think they are going to be VIPs and people will treat them with lot of respect without even asking no it doesn't happen nobody damn care a about nris in India I can tell you maybe your driver your mates your servants people who will make some money or tips from you because you earn in dollars you spend money in in in rupees or maybe the bankers because they want to have a foreign remittance but other than that they are the only people who are going to love you your Bankers your servants your mates because you're tipping them other than that nobody is going to love you I can tell you you you you're moving with a purpose stay with that purpose

36:21 And then if you can develop a friendship it's your personal PR yeah don't show people that you are an NRI no matter they don't care they have their own circle of friends they have their own Comfort zones they live and they're very happy about it y so thanks a lot Mr Kunal for a very candid honest conversation about your experience about the journey you had and I know lot of insights right I think for someone who is thinking about moving to India to understand the reality and not to have this expectation which is different than the reality so really really appreciate you taking the time and sharing your story with us today thank you Vash I hope it will help thank you byebye