Watch: Global Citizens Living in US for 20+ Years with a Stint to Live in India for 7 Years

4:08 Do it is August 21st 1988 there you go yeah so our dating started in 1988 and the journey continues we are still dating though we are married for last 31 years and we still enjoy our lives as a couple U all the ups and downs we have enjoy together we have made it happen thanks to she as a fantastic partner she has bent backwards to all my adventurous acts likewise of course whenever she is wanting to do something I think I suppose I have probably tried to bend backwards yeah it's it's always a team effort I would say you can you can if you have a good partner you can you can cross a lot of things so I would say I would put it that way definitely sure again to go back to having started in Bangalore rangan from the world go after engineering she was in the it field wherein in 197 if I'm not wrong

5:09 I think somewhere mid maybe March or so she got an offer from a Baya company called as Fortuna Technologies she was in an IT services company already then I'll have her narrate about that and I though I'm an instrumentation engineer like her I never soiled my hands in terms of software or it per se I was more into into sales and Business Development back in India was part of a German collaborated company called a time moer as a regional manager sales catering to South India least we thought that like we step out of India so we were pretty happy having started having known each other before we got married for four years we were pretty settled well settled in India and then we were blessed with our first son by then when rangan got an offer I remember rangan saying no to that offer purely because she thought that like he nag would not enjoy coming

6:09 To the US but being non it guy being a sales guy what would he do there I'll probably have that go ahead yes yes so yeah this was you know when and I've always and just a little bit about my background always being brought up in a family where you know we value a lot of educ ation right and a lot of being very independent right so my father till date consults he does a lot of Consulting so grew up again in the engineering family U my brother my dad and myself and we had a good I think we we were in a joint family so that really helped us a lot that's a big plus I would say you know joint families are a very big plus and then of course you know then the journey started and yes and when I had my younger one one the first one his name is Atria I think that was the time when I had this offer and as nag said you know we were pretty much settled and we were like okay you know

7:11 It's good two people earning and you know we were with our in-laws and everything small kid and then this offer pops up and I'm like nages do you really think I have to go you know I mean like though you know by that time I think I had made some individual trips to Bombay because I was in the software field you know banking software had just come up at that point in time and I remember time Mouser which is Times of India group for the financial thing had just started off the those were the days I'll tell you so then I think that was a time when nages is like well I think you've got an offer I think you know you should just go ahead and try it out and then my dad I just spoke to my dad and my dad was like yeah yeah you know you've got an offer so you know you you pretty much go ahead and try I was like okay you know how do I live my younger one you know back in India because it was not Google right so you don't know how the daycare works you really don't know how things work and I

8:12 Remember very well in the whole office there was one system which was connected to the internet and it was so difficult so there was no Google engine no AOL you know these were the times and and we were like I was telling n you know there's something called like a daycare where people you can go drop off and then you can do things so that because we were privileged having a family around supp you know a good support system and then nages is like let's go ahead you know go ahead and try it out and then I said okay so then the Visa process started and that's how I think I got my thing and I landed first here in Atlanta that was the place with and believe me in India we never had heard about cont Contracting right like Contracting like when you join a company it is like okay you join a company it is a private sector but you work with them and everything no concept of Contracting but us was way ahead in terms of Contracting and so many

9:15 Different things which was kind of a big thing for me I landed here and I told nages well you know what I have to go through interviews again and yeah it was like for both of us we thought when she had an offer we thought it is already the employment is on she comes here starts working starts working that was not so it was not the case so we were like I was like I was like no Nish it works this way you know you come here then you talk to people and then you go through your thing so that was a change but I think at that point in time nages is like give it a shot and I just went back to Dad and Dad is like I went back and I told him that you know I don't don't think this is fine you know I'm going to come back to India and especially I think what was really hinging on me was the younger one because you know I just left him there and then nag says don't worry you know we will try to make this happen look around understand so I think what's very important is sometimes you

10:16 Have a lot of potential but until unless someone says you go try do it you will never be able to you know you don't know that is within you you know you just need to have that good backing you know at some point in time where I'm really lucky you know in that way it was like okay go ahead try it it's okay you know we are here so I think that was a very good thing and then I'll have Nish talk back because he supported in a way he said he will come back so maybe you can go sure again having rangan having said that like luckily without Google World supporting us she had some good mentors to guide her saying that like hey this is how it works here have that wherewithal and then be around I'm sure things will happen and lucky to me again while I was in India I had not even put down my papers working for another private sector back in India because I was holding a pretty decent job and you sabatical right something like almost

11:16 Like that I had not even told my employer saying that like my wife has gone to America and then very soon I might also join which had no such thoughts we initially thought she goes she settles down and then I would follow that is following certain protocol of giving notices to my existing company there and then I follows along with my son that Isa but anyway it so happened that like she started matter of 10 days after coming here she started missing us and having not known about the processes or the Contracting setup in an IT services company she said no nages I'm not enjoying it here I'll come I'll come back to India I said no all it matters is probably I think I'll also come and join with Atria I know you're missing him and probably missing me too which of course I was missing her I was missing her a lot so I said I'll take the plunge and I'll dive into anyway I talk to my employer there and I did talk

12:16 To my employer saying that is there a way that like I could take sabatical in in the interim I will give a standby or a alternative resource to manage the showing on my behalf in India though they were obviously upset about it that like without giving much notice that I took up that call they agreed they were very nice and kind so they agreed I immediately I told yes I'm coming and then we booked our tickets landed U to the US those were the days wherein I'll tell you every dollar mattered especially converting a dollar into rupee or rupee into dollar boy it made a big I think it was 33 if I'm not wrong per dollar I remember I remember I asked rangan how much do I carry coming from oh you don't need to worry you don't need to carry no I remember telling $50 something like that you don't need to worry she was given some allowance by the way to survive there so said carry

13:19 50 that's good enough I got my son I converted rupe into dollar 50 bucks can you imagine in 1997 and I land here in Atlanta and then she comes to the airport to receive me she knew that there was something called as Marta which is like Metro service from airport to the apartment which is apartment which she was staying there which was provided by her company yeah we could have taken the train but her excitement was such that like she want to spend more time with us and my child with me and my son she said no we'll take a cab how much it matters I'm just sharing this today it it's a not a big deal but those days it was called for a cab sat can you imagine I was seeing the counter actually when it was running it had already crossed 55 though I have 50 in my pocket luckily she had carried enough cash and we were not having carrying any credit card or anything having come to

14:19 The country that just then yeah and I remember that was the first debate between us instead of talking how you are how how are my God the money which I carried it was blown away within no time and that's how our beautiful Journey started yeah and matter of time rangan found a job that is contract but prior to that I would like to share this episode the CEO of the company which had made an offer to rangan when rangan said no to that offer quoting my reference saying that husband nages will not be able to actually get him employment in America if I will to come so I don't need I'll not take the offer whereas that's when the president or the CE of the company they said nages if you in sales and marketing I would like to have you on board why don't you come in funny thing is I remember telling him his the gentleman's name is called as TC asoke I

15:19 Suppose I can refer this wonderful gentleman learned a lot from him he was heading a company called as Fortuna Technologies then and he did say that like nages come and join us so then I said that like hey TC I'm not even an it that is software guy what will I come and sell so that's when he gave me a reference saying that like I used to sell insurance and if I could start a IT services company I'm sure you can definitely do it and it's just the concept what matters yeah so he gave me that confidence as we say that like there are mentors all along so he gave me that option I took that verbal offer without even having any confirmed offer I joined ran hoping that I'll also join that company but that was not the case actually because when I came to Atlanta that was a new Branch for them rangan was the first employee there and they actually did not have any job for me but anyway subsequently there's another elaborated story where in

16:20 From Atlanta we went for a short period to Conneticut and that contractor lasted only for about 3 and a half months for her and then then she had another contract in California within no time and we did not look back after that and then we came to California and then the gentleman who had promised me the job he took me on board so luckily both of us were part of the same company called as Fortuna Technologies nice I think yeah it's it's a it's a long story to to basically you know wrap around but in essence I would say that you know what it has taught us through the whole journey is just try to go with the flow right and then I'm sure things will work but you have to make it work right it's it's not like everything just falls into place but you just have to put your 150% and just you know just leave it leave everything else to whatever you

17:21 Want to call it right but certainly it has its own nice Adventure right and that's what I keep telling him so you know and and of course maybe I may sound very spiritual now you know it's not about the destination but probably the journey and also what matters is your companionship right and you know that those are the things which really matter be it anywhere you know and then you can take it along yeah but again think though with small glitches or hitches which we had along the journey we made it happen together yeah and we will make it happen because there's a lot to do you know and especially when you start looking when you travel I mean that's something a big a focus for for for us and I keep telling this to my children too you have to travel the world because when you travel the world you are going to meet people and then you're going to understand their lives and then you're going to say hey my problems are my things are nothing around it you know and you know you will

18:22 Actually see amazing people do fantastic things which will make you feel really humble I I I would really you know educ I mean I really want people to travel same thing to us because then you start wondering oh this is something which we could have done you know slightly in a different way yeah I think that is very important it was again if there are any further questions on that aash don't mind but there again within no time we enjoyed staying in Bay Area California funny thing another thing which we would like to note I'm sure today it is a different world but those days we were vegetarians and finding vegetarian food options was a huge deal and again as I told you the search engines were not such wherein we could search and then go to certain places so all the time it used to be our own cooking and then eating and if at all seldom and we went out to eat we used to struggle hard to find I I can quickly quot the first

19:24 Meal I think after I landed from India to the US I went to McDonald's and then so I I asked them like okay what do you what do you have in vegetarian right so they're like vegetarian what is that so I said no meat and then so they're like okay are you okay with chicken I'm like no meat you know I mean then I told them okay what do you have so I remember very clearly it was like you know two I think it was just like a like a burger bun yeah and then lettuce and tomatoes yeah okay because I was even scared with the cheese because see coming from India me today we love cheese we love everything else right because we kind of you know we are acquainted to a lot of different things but amul cheese was the only cheese which we would you know we we would kind of eat you know it was it was like okay you you take it but it was not like a staple thing so you from that to this is like an amazing thing yeah I mean I can even remember

20:26 Like when they say like non they they consider like seafood is like a vegetarian like you know is okay to have like a fish or like you know it's still like yeah very much not you know Common no you know thank you very much yeah thank you very not anymore not anymore yes yes yes but thank you very much for sharing these little like you know things right like little stories where you know that reflect back your time like 25 years back or you know long time I mean you know things are different I don't know how many people can recollect like the age without Google age without where you have to find things right and as you said it's the journey that's more important and enjoying it along the way and that's what makes the memories yeah yeah so I I I mean I think you know you have settled in Bara I think things are going well maybe what made you think about moving back like if you can share like you know some some insights there and what's going on yeah so that would be lovely lovely no again before we get there yeah within matter of both

21:28 Were on H1B visas those days and it's today it's a bad word I must say there are those days within no time within I think I for me I got my HB in seven days and rang probably yeah it took us like two three months that's it and within no time we got our approvals no long processes pretty easy though we were scared about facing consulate interviews Etc but it was pretty simple compared to what it is today again in 97 when we were in Baya within 1 and a half years we decided to buy a house and you can imagine in Bia the same time when I remember some of our friends in Texas paid 130,000 for a massive Bungalow in Dallas Texas as against we buying for 500,000 for a small box which was 1667 Square ft² to be precise a small three-bedroom house I remember he teasing me saying that man you're out of your mind to pay so much and those days

22:29 500,000 was a big big deal even today so we bought that we stayed in a lovely neighborhood called a Santa Clara which was coming up and it's Hub of Silicon Valley close to San Jose again Sunny whale and such wherein we started noticing lot of Indians moving into that neighborhood with a stroller on a similar age group like ours with a a small kid it was fun you go to a departmental store you bump into another Indian family talk for hours together share similar stories as to how they all made it to the US and SE so that went on and we thoroughly enjoyed 10 years of our stay likewise by which after having served that company for four years I had decided to quit because that company was about to be acquired and I started my own company called as idon in 2002 so about 4400 half years of being in Fortuna whereas

23:32 Rangan I think was still Consulting with them and then I joined was it silicon bank or H yeah I was was still Consulting I I had just gotten my green card and everything by that time and I I just want to quote one more thing right so he spoke about buying the house and then so for me I mean this of course things change you know your perspectives change as you age that's very you know what what the way you think 20 years ago is not the same way you think today today right and so when we bought the house I was in my think saying that okay I'm going to retire in this house you know I mean it's like because like like if I take my parents you know of course my grandfather you know he moved from the village to Bombay and you know we a lot of you know people worked in Bombay and then that came and then they settled in Bangalore and everything but you know it was like okay once you build a house or buy a house it was like okay it's going to be there for eternity you

24:32 Know that that's at least something which you carried in initially so when we bought this house and I was like okay I'm going to put up a picture here I'm going to basically you know have this picture and you know my children are going to grow up here and you know when I pass away I'm going to be in the same house and everything so then nages it it was like and you know it was like the days when from that place he was like looking around and he said I think we should now move to a different place because better school district school district and I know to be very honest we had a great set of friends you know I mean it was like a you know in it was a what kind of a house was P yard home so we had a family which was from Cana family from their people great you know and then there were also a lot of Americans were there so great neighborhood and Santa Clara happening place and you know

25:32 Everywhere there was a buzz word can you believe there was no laptops you know I remember I remember I used to consult for havet Packard and agilant Technologies which kind of got merged and I mean today where Apple stands copertino you know I used to go there to work and you know it was beautifully housed in a case the laptop was housed in a caseing that this is going to be the next generation okay and I'm like wow we know we us to work and I'm like nages what makes you think we to Mo to CER everything is fine here you know the kid is going to school we have great friends everything is settled n is like no I think certina has a better school district you know because that's where you know there were a lot of people who moved in and everything so then I said what will you do to the house I said the house you just make money I'm like no he's like it's just a commodity come on you can't get stuck to a house you know how can you basically speak I'm like no no no no you can't do that you know so

26:32 That was something that's when I think something hit me it was like man nothing is permanent you know it's like you just have to just get to the thing so somewhere you know he kind of forc me but I think it's it's good because that's when we just you know moved out of that place on that note on that note when we started talk earlier that's where she's really cooperated bent backwards being a fantastic ftic partner and when I take certain decision she's made it happen because one as a lady of the house mom to a child is a different perspective than to her dad but she really made it happen the transition moving into another house it was a cake walk thanks to her again having said that you asked me a question why did we go go back to India typical of we Indians maybe culture being what it is or or maybe it's a food or the connection to our families all along though we enjoyed our

27:33 10 full years of California state All Along The Love for India continue to happen and those days talking to her parents there was no video call by the way so talking to her parents was a huge deal because I remember AT&T I remember this very well because AT&T had a SK sche going on that if you call India only on Saturdays or Sundays on some particular time they would give you four more minutes otherwise otherwise otherwise the they would clog in like $130 minute or something like that it was so expensive right so we it was like you just have all your emotions bundled up on a Saturday and Sunday and then you kind of you know talk to but you know it was kind of it was okay I think because it was like the world where we said okay at least we have parents to talk to and they were also young right yeah but again having said luckily we got our

28:36 Parents also visit our home back in us my parents subsequently Ran's Dad they all visited us and we felt very nice and warm but again whatever set and done they said then done because they had their life going on back in India they could not stay in US too long because their life actually was tied with our lifestyle if we step out they could step out because they could not drive on their home so again after 10 years I started ening rangan I told rangan by then we were blessed with the second child too and we had our Second Son Arian who was about 2 years and when we were in catino I told rangan oh you should tell them that about the way we bought the first site you know it was that yeah that that's very interesting because it gives a little bit of a segue to this whole thing yeah sure slightly rewind yeah so it so happened that like you know typical when we are making

29:37 Our lives and career what have went hand in hand with was to build our assets whether properties in the US or in India because we are all having come from a middle class family those values had its own one we were as rangan mentioned we were in a joint family and we had to have have our own property in Bangalore whether Bangalore or in India wherever it so happened that like I still remember those days the Villas had started back in India just then Bor there was a gated Villa complex where in we had seen a huge advertisement in a local Indian Express which used to be we had subscribed even in the US actually every weekend we used to get this sort of like a magazine kind of thing not like a daily news paper we saw a centerfold which had this beautiful property in India which was gated community you could buy and I remember when I ran it by rangan she took it too

30:38 Casual saying that like oh this fellow keeps no I it's always been that you know he decides and then he's like okay we will do this we'll do this and I've always been like a devil's advocate right you know poking all the negatives and everything you because it's very important for someone to do that right I mean one person can be very optimistic aggressive iive and other person has to kind of you know either and then it's it's good you know there are some things where when we agree to disagree on different things and then we just leave it there but this was like you know he I I kind of I remember this wake up and then he said before that when I told this ran took it casually that particular I had to wait for India time to happen and then I remember midnight online I'm chatting with the salesperson and then the gentleman sold it the way as if that's the L F available plot away if you don't take it you lose it so I couldn't wake her up by then she's already hid the bed can you imagine 22 years ago right 20 years in 2004 I bought this property online

31:42 Without even one Consulting her though I casually run it by I place an order paying credit card for the initial down payment bought it and I wake her up at 5:00 in the morning because I couldn't sleep the whole night because it was a major decision for a Clos h family like her like ours and then I told her rang I we bought a plot in India and it's a gated community wherein we had to start her Villa construction soon she's half asleep at 5: in the morning on a weekend she just brushed it aside because she's experienced my how do you put it I'm sort of I want to claim myself as pretty Jo jovial I keep pulling her legs she thought it's at another episode whereing this guy's pulling Le because buying a property can't be a joke where in or phone or or online you can't buy and having told I thought I got relieved and then I went back to sleep at in the morning this girl gets up Shan saying that like now

32:42 I'm up what did you say can you please tell me and then I had to narrate that this is what happened and the journey is such and by then we had to construct the house and she had no inclination to go back to India whereas I had all the interest to build the house for whatever it is worth and thanks to my parents they helped a lot monitoring while construction is happening back in India without visiting India we got the house constructed a massive 4200 Villa so 4200 Square ft Villa so anyway sorry that we took long time when you ask me that like what made you go back to India having already narrated we had to give this a sort of a tibit or a story one thing I would I would want to add right so I think for now it was it was like you know kids will be street smart Okay I I should tell you this because kids oh because being in India kids will be yeah because I remember okay construction was one thing because you know it's like okay it's just getting constructed okay

33:43 I mean there's no chance of you know moving right because this was a time when India was like slowly coming up but you know there were a lot of things in the US which was like oh things are so clean you know road is so neat need there's no infu infrastructure is great the customer service is awesome you know you have a great job you know things are going fine why would you really want to move back to India and your parents can come because they're young and everything why what is a big thing so when we moved to ker in nages is like no rang you know kids have to be street smart and they can be only Street Smart only if they grow up in India I'm like no I don't think my note there was us is very easy streamlined one can pick up the phone and get the work done whether process oriented whether it is bureaucratic or government job or anything to be done those days America was much straightforward compared to what India was for for me I felt I learned very well or probably learned

34:43 The life better while being in India and that's why we are doing better here in America somehow that inclination I had that was one note as ran said that like kids growing up in India will make them more robust more more equipped to what do you call go through their life and then manage their life plus I wanted them to spend time with grandparents Uncle aunts cousins know the relationships right I think that was a very valid point I would I said that's valid but I don't know about streets smart because some of the trivial things were like I used to tell him hey you know was when I was young I used to walk like few kilometers and then I used to pick up two buses to reach my school and then do the same thing I told him do you think today you're going to just let go your son to pick up the same two buses and then go there instead of that what you're going to do you're going to say hey you know what I have to go to office on a particular time I I have to be working because I always want to work I

35:45 Cannot just stay at home so what will you do you will make sure that they're comfortable you have a driver you'll have a car you will have everyone and then so I was like how will they become Street Smart you know how will they basically go through the normal thing you know you and me we did that so today we know we can actually do it but how will you basically do it but we had our differences but you know we we kind of this is where we come together her not necessarily a negative input or a pessimistic view but that gave me certain perspective to rethink or reestablish or probably further stabilize or even moving back to India with a lot of hesitance I remember when rang and my older son Atria who was 11 years then whereas the second one was still 2 years long way to go we made in a home moved in 2007 fantastic journ yeah that is where I will stop if you have anything on that that's the Fantastic you also to ask questions or talk about it yeah

36:46 Definitely I mean I think few things that I wanted to U get into if if you're okay to share definitely right I know you mentioned that you got your green card you know pretty early on so I'm guessing you are citizen by the time or you holding a green card so I think no we were not citizens we were just we were just green card holders yeah at that point in time and that was the time when nages was like I I don't know what what was you know what was on his mind is like 2007 2007 early 2007 the big crash had not happened in 2008 2008 The Bash happened but 2007 I remember he went to India and then I remember that day very well I was sitting at home and then nages is like we have to move rangan you don't know there are a lot of things here lot of bubbly activities happening I'm like I had a big book and I a person who very detailed you know I put down my Pros I put down my cons and then I went like 60 years down the line where do you

37:46 Want to settle down do you want to settle down in India with people here or you know because see we were also not very much aware of you know we were just in our 30s 30 30 it's not like you're going to oh you de our age no no you don't want to think about 60 70 and everything right and the world was just becoming a global economy I mean you you look at it right India was connected to the world to the US but not in such a way today it is because today it's like we're all globally connected so then nag is like no rangan we have to come down then I'm like okay we have to put this house for sale you know it's not an easy thing and then you have to move to India then you have to look for school and I was like oh my God again this starts right this is the whole nine yards I'm going to start and what am I going to do but I think one thing what I want to mention is I I I can basically say this because I was working for silicon B bank so great company I learned a lot about banking

38:50 Finance and everything through that company I was on the technical side right but I kind of understood what it means because I come from an engineering background right so not much of exposure to finance and everything but I kind of understood a lot of things working around that from a functional point of view right and that was the time where India was opening its doors to Offshore offshoring you know the software offshoring and I must it you know opportunity just knocks once right so that was a time where svb was looking for people people who could go to India set up something you know work you know with someone so I was like okay so this discussion was happening and M Tre which is today's lnt was one of the first for M it was the first banking offshore you know Services sector which got have got done and I was very

39:50 Lucky because this was in Bangalore and they said rangan if you're thinking of moving to Bangalore why don't you actually start help us to her Lu to do this the place where we had bought her Willa had literally a back door to her office in the sense like it was just matter of few kilometers and then no huzzle buzzle no hle buzzle and they were like okay can you do this you know can you start you know because I I by that time I was so fascinated I'm in the data analytics field so very fascinated with data I was like oh my God you can do this you can do this you can understand you know it's about okay you're trying to get away from the actual engineering right and then try to look at data in a different way today of course everyone talks about that but those were the days when you know I was like oh this is entirely a different world and that's when you know it said rangan can you do this you know you can go back to India settle down for two three months but you still have a job opening here

40:53 But yes it is India is it's a different world it's no longer you will probably have to unlearn certain things I think this is very important right in one's Journey unlearning a lot of things and learning something new that's very very important you cannot just stick to one thing so I think that was one thing where I was like okay I think I will have a job it's not going to be like you know entirely different I'll be working with my client you know that part of is done then yes you know it's a great thing to be with you know your parents and your family and everything so I was like okay nages let let's take a look at it you know let's let's kind of look at this journey and on the career front I was lucky because I had already started my own startup in Baya and for me the transition was pretty straightforward to in her case if her journey luckily her company Silicon Valley Bank having tied up with M Tre back in India they asked her to go ahead that particular activity on the data analytics front in my case I had to

41:56 Bring ideon setup shop in India oh he went through a lot oh that has a beautiful journey by itself beautiful now I would say but I did not enjoy then but anyway for me the transition luckily by retaining my us Corporation I went setup shop back in India so by then luckily I had fantastic Partners whom I had brought him on board by diluting my shares in the company then he did a fantastic job managing my absence that helped me move to India started my IT services or it infrastructure Services which included both training and certain what do you call offerings within the it area thanks for sharing that yeah because that's a key point right I mean I know there is a a reason for the kids but it's a career and and how you actually like you know smoothly land you know it's not like an Abrupt decision like on one day you just

42:57 Decided to go back so there is that affection there is that reasons why you wanted to be back in India but there's also a plan in place in terms of career transition in terms of yeah you know thanks for sharing that we were still in obviously I would want to quote that because we wanted to still our career was still at a stage where we have still not made it happen in a big way but we have seen it all to some extent in the it space and then we want to take it and continue from where we left in the US actually one more thing I was just want to just going back so this was 2007 correct so there were news that there was a reverse brain drain you know that was the time actually if you go back and then look at it and then but still I think we had already applied for our citizenship we were that also happened to our luck very well yeah so we applied and it was an election year right you know because I think 2008 was an election year 2008 was yeah yeah so

43:58 What basically happened was and then you know there was a lot of flux in the market and everything see today that's what we say right today you're so connected you understand there a flux in the market something's happening here here so many you know feelers and everything but then it was like okay you know there's an election year we started our citizenship and we were supposed to just get it like you know it was a matter of few months or something no but we didn't know not very clear exactly in March I think 2007 we moved yeah we moved in March 2007 we sold the we were lucky I mean we put the house oh in the Bay Area you just the house and after like you know within like few days I mean same thing happened even to our Santa Clara home within like we just put the day the post was planted we got an offer got so that was the that was the the do days and you know the web development and all that then then copertino we put it I think within like you know couple of weeks we had like it took us a while because it was a million

45:00 Dollar plusform quite some time but but you know once we get we said 2003 March coalo you know we have a green card what is the thing will happen yeah we had put a lot of for me it's all about ifs and buts and everything so I do all that and I'm very detailed right as nag nages will think in his mind ah okay I will be like I will have an Excel sheet I will basically pull up the things and I'm a very detailed person so I was like okay even if we go then and you know we plan to come back sometime you know in whatever time it is and I was like okay I will look at my company you know whether I can come back from their side because I will have to actually give some KY you know do something like that so you know in hindsight did all that and then luckily we went to India and then within like six months we got an by August we were called for citizenship citizenship oath ceremony oath ceremony and that's when we came back and then U that's when we took that was a very interesting because when we came you know when we got out of India we were Indian citizens okay on a green card but

46:03 When we we came here we took the citizenship we were no longer Indian citizens but we had to fly back as American citizens but the question was it hurt us a lot emotionally it hurt yeah it was like oh my God so now it's like you cannot do things in India the way you could have done things I mean it's like you know a lot of things go back and forth right and with that I I remember very clearly you know today things are very streamlined right like your oci or your Pio and thanks to you know how things have actually come up but that day that time there was a lot of confusion you know to be very honest clear we were not very clear especially for a person who is in this transition mode see it was very different if you had gotten your citizenship and you were there for a longer time right but we had to get it and we had to return back to India as ameran Citizens and work in India no longer as Indian citizens but

47:03 With a different it is no Visa because you are actually born in India I sometimes I keep telling oh our use case it's a different use case all together right you know you have to do it but interesting we made it I remember early morning 3:30 3:00 we were in the embassy in San Francisco with you know two kids sitting there in the line and to get our Pio and we went through the whole process yeah interesting days yeah yeah 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 update and engaging discussions as well as connecting with fellow Thea wrers thank you once again and until next time may your Thea journey be filled with joy

48:04 Growth and endless possibilities