Watch: Why We Left Our Comfortable Life in the US to Start Over in India

3:33 Typically around Christmas for a couple of weeks for you know when my son had vacation or when we had vacation from or good time to take you know leave from work right. but a couple of weeks a year started feeling very short very soon. we didn't want sort of Indian family to be something that we just experienced in vacation. especially you know for my child you know my parents were getting older we wanted to be more present for them as well. we just want to go from being in India for a couple weeks to saying what if we spend more of our time in India maybe even all of our time in India. right. And so that sort of was the genesis of of the of the of the real part of us moving to to India a few months back. Got it. And was there some

4:16 Situation that changed or something that happened where this possibility seems like realistic, right? >> Yeah. I think I think we were fairly well established in our careers. Obviously having worked in the US you know we were able to save a bit as well that you know from a financial perspective you know obviously the change to you know coming from the US to India we have basically stopped our careers and we're going to restart it back in India. So you know that financial backing gave us a little bit of a little bit of time to pause and say hey let's let's reassess our new life in India. Let's give it you know some time for us to really get settled here. That gave us that that luxury I would say. It is a luxury to be honest of of being able to to take that pause in our in our life. Over the last year it become a little bit more concrete where we said yes we're going to make this decision.

5:03 We can't just keep talking about it. We're actually going to move. and that's when the actual planning for this entire decision took place right was over the last I would say 9 to 12 months is when the planning really really found out. >> Okay. Was there any incident or an event where you just like we have to make a decision instead of talking about it? I yeah you know I think in an ideal situation some people might have that very strong tipping point for us it wasn't one tipping point it was just a series of events of us you know moving coming to India every every year like I said you know experiencing that two weeks experience that my son was

5:37 Really enjoying being with family there is always sad to leave and then we felt the same as well right and it was just all of that sort of just adding to one to another and then seeing my parents getting older every single year was saying that hey you know we if you don't do it now. We'll just keep talking about it for years and years and years. So a year ago, we just said, "Okay, you know what? Rather than just talking, let's actually make the decision. Let's just let's just take the step." We also decided that it would be sort of an approach that we would we would look at for 2 years and we'd see if it worked and if it didn't, we would we could always pull back. Got it. so thinking about the decision process, right? you mentioned about I think you know your kid young I've been enjoying the time like how old was your kid and yeah >> yeah so my kid u you know is 8 years old now u you know when during co obviously he was 2 to 3 years old at that point in time but you know that's that was actually one of the biggest part of our decision process that we were stressed about in some ways

6:39 There's another part as well but this was this was definitely one of the biggest stress points for us is understanding you know what his life in India would look like? Would he be able to adapt? you know are we are we way too dramatically changing his life at this point in time is he going to you know question us for it constantly. So that was something that we grappled with but we said you know let's try and plan for as much as we can. he was largely just speaking English in the US but you know coming to India he's got exposed to a whole bunch of different languages not just in terms of what he experiences on a day-to-day life but also what he has to learn and use in school right he went from largely one language English with a little bit of Gujarati at home to now having to learn Hindi marathi and French in school so it's four you know it's one to four languages instantly and and that to you know him being immersed in the third grade level at those for those languages. So, that's been a harder challenge. We obviously try to help him, you know, having a tutor at home to bring him up to speed with Hindi.

7:39 Unfortunately, my wife and I, we 95% of the time, I would say we speak English at home. So, it's not easy. It's not natural for us to to speak to him in

7:47 These languages either. We've tried to make that effort as well. U so that's been another adjustment for him. It's funny enough, you know, if you think about from a kids perspective and even adults as well, food has been a difficult adjustment for him, right? We ate a lot of different cuisines. We actually ate very little Indian cuisine in the US. That was just the kind of food that my wife and I gravitated towards. and so he was brought up in that sort of a background. And so moving to India as even a relatively international city like Mumbai has been challenging because everything out here is relatively speaking Indianized, right? It's different. It's just it's not not the same as what you would get in the US. And so for a kid you know eating that eating this kind of food for a couple of weeks in a year is one thing. Eating it constantly you know now for let's say for 3 months is has been a little bit of a challenge. He does you know quite often say hey can we go to this restaurant one of his favorite restaurants in Denmark for example and I'm like nobody we are more than a day's travel away. It's not just so easy to say we're going to go to this restaurant tonight for dinner. one thing that I

8:49 Wanted to confirm so you know 25 years is a long time right? I think when you're making this decision to move, you kind of touched about some of the things that you're concerned about. Was there anything that you that's holding you off for making this decision? so you know the so you know obviously we had a very we had sort of a realistic view of what life in Mumbai would be like, right? It's it's a lot of chaos. It's a lot of noise. Obviously things are not as clean as things are in the US. Access to certain services are not just not possible in Mumbai that you know we're used to in the US. So obviously we had you know we had an inkling of what and and and a sense of having lived in Mumbai before our move what things look like you know obviously we come here every couple of you know we come here for a couple of weeks every year so we we know what things are like in Mumbai but you know experiencing that through vacation and then actually planning for it and actually living through it are completely different things right so that was obviously in the back of my mind saying can we as adults also can we can we adjust to this different way of living can we you know is the is the is

9:50 The reason for what we're moving big enough to [snorts] make it worth it in many ways. Right? I'm not going to sugarcoat it and say, "Oh, everything is great in Mumbai." It it isn't, right? there are many things that are negatives out here, but at the end of the day, we knew our strong calling for why are we moving back? We want to move back because we want to be with family. I want to I want my son to experience u I wouldn't say necessarily the Indian culture, but just the family culture that we have out here. and being able to visit grandparents, extended family, siblings, cousins, whatever it might be. right. experiencing that on a day-to-day basis rather than on a yearly basis. And we knew what our our calling was and what the reason we're moving for. And again, like I said, we said it's it's another chapter in our life. We're going to take it for one or two years at a time. And for whatever reason, if we just feel like it's not for us, we are keeping that window or an option open, then we might do something else after 2 years, right? So, we're going to take this two years at a time and then we'll we'll reevaluate.

10:46 >> Got it. So how did you plan the move accordingly like in terms of your housing like financial side anything that you can talk on that? >> yeah so you know this was probably the part where it started becoming very real for us as I started it it involved a whole bunch of different things. I started you know I started with looking at reading Reddit forums. I started going into every different source on the internet I could find of people that have done something similar. What are all the things that they had to plan for? what are some of the challenges that they had? and then I came across your channel as well. I mean Ash, which was a big part of my education process in this front, right? I joined your WhatsApp groups. I started connecting with people that were planning things at that point in time. and just started understanding what are all the different categories of things I really need to to understand and plan for before we make this move.

11:34 So the like you said what is it going to cost for us to live in Mumbai? What kind of housing can we expect? Where which parts of Bombay do we need to live live in? And again that part was a little bit simpler because I already knew where my parents live, my wife's parents live, where some of our siblings live. So we were restricted in some ways which made it easier to plan but we were restricted to a certain part of the geography that would make sense for us so that we could access the real reason for for moving to India right being able to visit our family on a day-to-day basis. and then understanding the tax tax implications that we are US citizens so understanding that hey you know we have to pay taxes in the US as well as if we move to India and we have sources of income in India we still have to pay taxes on that and then the Indian tax implications of of moving to India as well even through the first 3 years of being an eligible for RNR for example right understanding what it would take to move

12:26 Things from from the US to India we have a dog understanding what that process would look like is Is it possible to move a dog from the US to India? you know then understanding you know what schools like I mentioned earlier what schools are appropriate for my son? What career options we might have when we move to Mumbai. what should we bring to Mumbai given you know the apartment sizes that we have in Mumbai versus the house that we were living in in the US. and what makes sense to to to make that happen and a whole bunch of different things. I just went through it step by step. I started to make notes on everything. and started just researching everything to a point where I got comfortable with with what is needed and then just started I started I sort of worked backwards. I said this is where we landed on what needs to happen and then just work backwards to understanding what these things take in terms of time to process like you know shutting down whatever bank accounts we needed to but keeping what we needed to shutting down credit cards keeping some alive you know going through that process you know changing of addresses creating a virtual mailbox in the US there's just so many

13:28 Things to do so I just started executing on every one of those things to make our move as easy as possible >> got it so let's take I think one step at a time I think you know you were very clear that you want to be in Mumbai. how did the career part like you know how did you go through this evaluation like the opportunities for you like someone who has the successful career in US what kind of opportunities are there in Mumbai and how did you go through that? >> Yeah. So I'd spent a lot of my time you know in the tech space and in marketing and sales enablement but over the past few years I pivoted to being an entrepreneur running my own small rental management business. Now that was completely focused in the US right so it's not something I could just take and and shift to to Mumbai at the same time I'd learned a lot during my career and running a business so I said I can use these skill sets this understanding of how things work this challenges of working with clients with with tenants for example just real life experiences that I could use and translate to an opportunity that I

14:30 Would I would drive in Bombay you know so that's sort of my thinking of how it was for me how My wife, she was working again for a while in a company that does not really have presence in

14:41 India unfortunately. So she couldn't just say, you know, is it possible for her to continue with the same company? It wasn't. and so she had to stop her career in that sense. Again, you know, she's got a a very strong background and skill set in the HR space for example. So you know she we just said that we we we take a pause we we'd settle down in Bombay first get my kids settled figure all that pieces we understand the career market and opportunities for the kind of things that you know we both are looking for get an understanding of that and then start really looking for jobs so we wanted to use the first couple of months so we've actually just started transitioning into figure out what that career aspect of our opportunity of a of a work in in Mumbai is going to look like right now I'm exploring some entrepreneurial opportunities potentially starting a new business again in Mumbai as well.

15:27 >> Got it. Makes sense. I know you mentioned about consolidating these bank accounts, credit cards, opening a virtual mailbox. Is there anything that you wanted to highlight that people needs to be aware you know from a financial aspects and the logistics side? yeah so let's talk about the so obviously know when you've lived in the US for 25 years you obviously you have a lot of sort of things that you've settled on in terms of how you run your either be it your business your your your assets your you know your savings you know in terms of 401k whatever else right so just understanding what are the implications as especially now that we were US citizens understanding what are the implications as a US citizen living in India Yes, with OCI cards, but living in India, what what what can I keep open?

16:15 What do I need to close? How do I consolidate? So, it makes it easy for me to manage my things in the US without, you know, having to shut everything down. you know, again, we wanted, you know, we were also coming from the perspective that potentially we may move back to the US in a few years. Maybe, maybe not. But at the same time, we did not want to just move all of our financial assets to India, right? We said you know we just came to a conclusion of of of of keeping most of our assets in the US and then gradually as we felt more comfortable and we settled down in India shifting things over with time again my situation could

16:47 Be more unique compared to what other people's might be thinking about or experiencing their situations especially if they're planning a long-term move in India might be very different right so from that perspective you know we wanted to keep an address active for example to keep our bank accounts so that's where the virtual mailbox came in right we wanted to keep an address we we we actually went through the process process of selling our home. So we don't have a home anymore. We went through the process of selling our car. We we started selling most of our assets, physical assets. but we wanted to keep you know our monetary assets alive in the US. So we we started taking steps towards what it meant to make it easy to manage consolidated some bank accounts like I mentioned consolidated credit cards kept a couple of international credit cards. It's always a good idea cuz India does not especially you know in our situation we didn't have Aadhaar cards. So understanding that you could not we could not just come into the country and and get a credit card that easily there are some workarounds but it's not as easy. So we kept our international credit cards still alive so then we can still continue to use them especially when we travel abroad and then you know as and when we get to a point where we are eligible to apply for our cards

17:48 More options become open to us in India for that front as well from similarly from an investment perspective. >> Got it. So let's talk about relocating your dog. I know you mentioned about some of the challenges there. So you know even if whether you can move like how did you move and you know any any specific details that you can share. I know there are some families who are considering moving their pets also. >> Yeah. So honestly along with you know the thing I talked about you know the planning for my kid moving which is obviously a stressful part for us and whether he'd adjust the you know the other probably the other most stressful part for us beyond everything else beyond the financial stuff and the assets and whether how our careers would look like in Bombay right the biggest stressful piece for us was definitely moving my dog my dog is over 12 years old so relatively you know a senior dog so the first part of it was not even figuring out the process and the paperwork involved was just is she healthy enough for the move. Right?

18:47 We're putting an older dog through a long journey from Denver to Mumbai when she's never ever been on a plane before. and she has no idea what she's getting into, right? To a human, you can explain this. How do you explain this to a dog? and so we were nervous from that aspect as well. Then when you started looking into the process, I quickly understood that moving a pet in many ways is far more complicated than moving a human being across countries and continents. She was too big of a size to travel in the cabin like many people might with a smaller dog. and so she had to travel as a with as commercial cargo. Booking commercial cargo is very different and and not the same process as booking a ticket for yourself. You can't just go ahead and book commercial. Only certain companies can. So it meant you know ended up that we had to we had to use a battery location company. very very expensive. But even putting that aside, there was a lot of things that I I needed to do and I couldn't have managed this process without them.

19:41 So we booked a pet relocation company. and the route was because Denver didn't have a direct flight to Mumbai. The route was Denver to Germany to Mumbai. and so we had to deal with US paperwork, we had to deal with Germany paperwork, India paperwork, health certificates, wet checks, very specific timing windows u that were all condensed towards just the few days of travel before my dog the few days right before my dog's travel. Right? couldn't book and plan all of the stuff months in advance like you can for humans traveling. so you know some of the certificates that we had to process were just in time certificates and when you're dealing with government authorities in the US and in India for example it doesn't always work as planned right they you may need things in a couple of days but it might take four or five days or even more or sometimes getting certific so that changes and and and and that actually affected us in many ways. and then the other complication was that Germany changed things for us last minute. they changed laws not just for us but for everyone. and that threw everything off. We had to change

20:39 Flights. we had to redo paperwork. We had to coordinate between our agents, our vets, you know, a whole bunch of different authorities to make it all happen. It was very stressful during the last week before she actually traveled. and you know, regardless, all of it all worked out. we worked through it. she's reached safely. She's fine and healthy. she's adjusting well. and to be honest, all the time, stress, money that we spent was all worth it. But it, you know, it's a process. and if anyone is watching this, especially if they're looking to move with a pet, and especially in older dog, I completely understand. you know, the stress that it takes and what they might be going through and the planning that it might takes. I'm happy to share in more details what we went through especially you know if someone is having to explain the pitfalls or someone having to explain pitfalls to someone makes it a little less overwhelming and lets them plan better more than happy to help on that front.

21:29 >> Got it. And then also you mentioned about the rules changed just one week before. So there is no like a transition period like you know when these new rules come into >> you would think right they actually they actually gave a transition they gave zero days transition period and only after a little bit of push back they gave 2 days transition period and unfortunately our travel time was not within those two days. So we didn't we had to basically change everything and how the paperwork how my wife flew her flight had to be changed my dog's flight had to be changed multiple times. was going a lot of back and forth and especially like I said because her ticket was on commercial we couldn't book it ourselves we had to go through our agent so every time a change happened you have to involve multiple people to make changes it was not easy >> also I'm assuming like does the pet also have to travel with you in the same cargo but the booking will be done by the agent is that right or >> typically if your dog is traveling through cargo no there's just a restriction that the dog has to travel within a certain amount of days of your travel and you have to be in the in India for example before your dog arrives But in this situation because it was via Germany, Germany instituted a

22:29 Specific rule for flights entering in and out of Germany. So this is a Germany specific rule. Have you been traveling through the UK or some other country? Again, every country has their own rules. I haven't researched every country, but a lot of the other countries did not have this requirement. Germany changed this requirement that my wife had to be on the same flight. Now, this is not a cargo flight. My dog was flying through the same you know passenger plane that my wife was flying through. But in in in previous previously my wife was on a different flight. We had to change a flight so that it ended up matching the exact same flight and and having to coordinate between passenger you know availability of of of [snorts] seats on a flight and then cargo availability of it all with two completely different system although it's the same airline was a was not easy let me put it this way.

23:16 >> Got it. And then also like what about like some immigration like I know you mentioned about the paperwork has to be done in few days and all that stuff like you know when you're receiving the dog in India like you have to be there in person and some of these paperwork requirements when receiving it. >> Yeah. So surprisingly enough the Indian paperwork and certificates were actually the easiest part of the process much easier than the US and German side of things. and in terms of receiving my dog, my wife actually was she came to India before we did, before me and my son did. And so she was here to receive my dog. and yeah, she had to go in the middle of the night when her flight landed. There was a few hours of processing work that was that happened at the Indian Customs Authority in Mumbai. it was a little painful. She was obviously anxious wondering what is happening cuz she couldn't enter the building. She had to wait outside. while our agent, our Indian agent actually did most of the work. and but you know again it all worked out. My dog arrived fine. we were not as privy to what was happening internally

24:17 Within the customs but you know the agent handled most of the work with us. So my recommendation would be hire or if you're doing something like this make sure you you work with the right agent who's going to who has a very good understanding of the process and will

24:30 Work through all the requirements within the US or any other country that you're traveling from. and in India as well. >> Got it. No glad to know that. I think she's doing fine and all healthy and after the relocation I know you mentioned about like I think you and your wife move and he moved at a different times you know when moving back to India. Any reason just curious. Yeah, >> just it was just a couple of weeks apart. My son had not finished his school year yet. So I stayed back for him to finish his his school year in the US which was in towards the the end of May and we waited for that to finish and then we traveled. So my wife came in a little bit earlier just so that we could start setting up things in Mumbai from the flat perspective and and get some of those thing things settled in so that it would make it easier for me and my son and especially my son and then my daughter as well right traveling into the country make that part easier.

25:20 >> Got it. Makes sense. So how has been how has the life been here in India so far? So it's been it's been an adjustment right it's been an interesting adjustment a tough adjustment in some cases for my son and then for us as well right you know I mentioned some of the things right you know my son you know obviously language challenges different culture Mumbai is a very chaotic city very noisy city it's not always easy going in from an environment that we're used to especially my kid was used to in the US even though he'd been to Mumbai many many times before just in eight years he's been to Mumbai like six times before I right you know every year that he has grown up you know his memories are not as as as formed as especially at his age so he forgets but then he also remembers every time he comes back but but now living in India you know has been has been challenging for him it's he was a very social child in the US so he had a lot of friends so giving up and moving away from friends was tough for him right it's not a decision that he made it's a decision that my wife and me made so explaining things to him getting

26:20 Him ready for the move is one aspect and then actually experiencing the move and being in India is another aspect right so you know we we tried to make things easy but again you know he's going through his own transition path I think in some ways he's very settled he's he's completely u in tune with and made a lot of friends in the building that we live in as well as in the school that he goes to right so he's made a lot of friends there he likes visiting family all the time right so that part is is great but otherwise you know it's it's it's it's it's you know he's going through his own moving pains I would say and then my wife and I we have similar sort of u experiences, right? We can plan and we can anticipate as much as possible, but the reality is very different, right? When you come here for a vacation, you're just meeting people. You're just going to your favorite restaurants.

27:07 You're doing the things that you like. Living is a completely different a different aspect, right? You're starting to deal with the government on things. You're start, for example, me having to apply and go and get a driver's license in Mumbai. completely different ordeal in some ways. You you see yes the you know people are sitting with computers now that they were not using 25 years ago but in many other ways the process is exactly the same things always changed right so it still takes a long time it still takes a ton of a lot of paperwork just moving back and forth similarly

27:36 Dealing with banks setting up accounts not always very easy yeah you get to experience some amazing advances that are in India and not in the US like UPI for example right being able to to transact using UPI in seconds anywhere with anyone almost on the street to big restaurants or big businesses. It makes it so easy, right? but and and then you know even things like buy being able to buy things and online and get them delivered within

28:03 Literally within 10 minutes. right, Blinket Zeppto, you name it, right? Those conveniences are just fantastic. but then you know there are a lot of other things that just don't live up to what our experiences have been in the US and what we might want expect and that's that's again part of the compromises that everyone makes when they when they make life decisions like this right my my you know my dad had a healthcare a couple of weeks ago Mumbai and luckily he's recovering from it but at the same time I was able to be here for him when that happened. So that crystallized in many ways for me that moving back was the right decision. and and it made it all sort of very real and and made it like we were talking about this now I'm actually experiencing it. and I'm living through it and it makes the decision to move back you know kind of almost feel like yeah there's compromise but at the same time I understand why I moved back and and and it makes sense now.

29:05 >> Yeah. Was there any day or a time point like where you felt like why did you move, you know? >> Oh, I think 10 times a day. I wouldn't say this one time, right? We question this all the time. And that's that's I think that's natural, right? When you make a big life change after having been in at a at a place in 25 years, regardless of good or the bad, right? You will question it and it's I think it's only natural, right? And we keep coming back to the the reason of why have we moved here, right? and then it's also a step at a time, right? It's as we understand how to navigate challenges in India, we also start looking at what are the positives that we're experiencing here and not constantly demanding us let's not just focus on the on the things that we don't like. let's focus on what we actually do. Like let's focus on building a life for us out here. and seeing how things change. And again, you know, we've been here for 3 months. It's not that long of a time. so, you know, it's a day at a time. That's the way I would think about it. but yeah, you know, we question it 10 times a day and and you know, with every day, I'm hoping that goes to nine times and eight times and very soon we're not really

30:06 Questioning it. We we understand why we moved it. Got it. So, you are someone who plans right? I think you know, you think through like what the reality of the life could be. Are there any surprises on a positive way as well as on the negative way like of the life in India in the last 3 months? The things that you didn't expect like you know even though you have thought about quite a few things. yeah so you know one of the things maybe I was a little little you know I'm I'm an optimistic and I was I think I was optimistically delusion on how also just you know getting assistance and services for making different aspects of our life easier has been very easy there been a lot of people have been very supportive a lot of our neighbors people living in our building have been very supportive you know finding a Hindi tutor I thought that would be a little bit of a a tough process. I was able to interview and find three or four people within literally within a day of reaching out and getting recommendations, people

31:06 Coming and interviewing us, finding a a really good Hindi turo for my for myself, for example, right? That was a very easy seamless process. and then and similarly, there are other examples, right? Us getting assistance on so many different fronts. reaching out to family members to get connections for different aspects of what we're trying to do in our life was also a big positive for us. you know I'm I'm still discovering new things every other day of of things that I'm saying yeah this you know I don't know if I could have really done this in US as easily as as I am in in India and so you know it's it's you ask me this question in another few weeks I'll give you a couple more examples for sure yeah >> I think one of the biggest you know concern is about the kids adjustment I know it's been only 3 months I think you kind of gave an indication how did you prepare for it >> yeah so one thing is you know, we started having a lot of conversations with him around and explaining to him, not treating him like a child, but also, you know, just having very adult type conversations with him about why are my wife and I moving, looking to

32:07 Move back, explain to him the situation with my parents, his grandparents, and and what that would look like, right? And why we're doing this. So, really sitting him down in multiple, not just like one 30-minute conversation. every few days is a constant reminder of what are we trying to do, how are we planning for it, what are we trying to achieve by moving to India, what his life might look like. So giving him some positives of what he's going to look forward to. also giving him some real realistic expectations of hey certain things are not going to be to what you're liking is it's going to take you some time to adjust. We know this and we're just going to have to all all three of us are going to struggle through it and making him understand that it's not just him going through this. It's my wife and I are going through similar aspects as well. So that was, you know, just getting him sort of sort of set for the idea of moving. And obviously he's an 8-year-old, so there's only so much he's going to really grasp from that and that's that's understandable. but just setting setting up the sort of the the reasoning and why we're doing what we're doing and constant communications with my son. and then in terms of you know, we researched a lot of schools. We interviewed a lot of schools. We found

33:07 The right school that had the right size of of of students in the class. We kept it relatively smaller school. We felt that that would make it an easier adjustment for him. so that he wouldn't just be thrown into a very big school with a lot of classes with a lot of students, right? More personalized attention. they were there also talked to us about making the language transition for him a lot easier, giving him extra resources, gave him time to catch up for example to a third grade

33:31 Level. So we we took a lot of deliberate time in figuring out the right school for him. Then it came to where we were living, right? We wanted to make sure that he had some positives to look forward. So we we chose a community nowadays luckily in in in cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad I'm sure and other places in in India as well there are newer communities being being developed that offer access to things like u you know swimming pool a garden a play area multi-purpose courts things where you know kids can go and play with other kids without having to to deal with bombay traffic they can be you know safety was obviously very important for us especially given the life that we were used to in the US but we also wanted him to be able to access these these things and you know bringing that up to him as well as as as having him experience it and having him make friends as a result and and and spend time with friends every single day has made the transition for him a lot better. So he's he's he's looking he's he's experiencing some of the positives we talked him about as well.

34:26 >> Got it. what would be the advice for someone who is considering moving to India like you know someone who lived there for decade or two decades and thinking about moving to India. >> I think you know I think some of I've seen this mentioned in some of your previous interviews as well. have a very strong understanding of why you're moving to to why you're moving back to India, right? don't worry about things that I'm saying or what other people are saying. Figure it out for yourself. What is the reason that you really want to go? It might be family, it might be something else, right? But but figure out exactly what you want to move to India for. Really think through it. Have a lot of debates with you, your spouse, with other family members. and and really think through and make sure that that's the the decision for for you and and and also make sure the timing is right. and you know one you know one learning I would say is that don't just keep talking about it. At some point you have to make a decision. and sometimes it's you know it's not a decision that can't be reversed. in our situation

35:28 You know we do have the luxury potentially of of of of moving back after a few years but at the same time you know I don't go into everything half out halfed right I want to make sure that we really put everything into this move into this way of living in Bombay and to really making this work out for us the goal is not to move back the goal is to try and establish a life for us longterm in India but having options available to us is also maybe a little bit of a a fall back I not a plan B but just something that you say you know what if things don't work out we can make a change again change doesn't have to just be once right and so having that thinking having that approach has really made it a little bit easier for us but you have your reason very solid and then plan you know for me at least planning was a go-to right it's my way of making things more comfortable for me I spent a lot of time planning and every single aspect of this really thinking things through now obviously my wife had her own ways of of approaching this and what made it comfortable for her, right? So, everyone thinks of these these things differently

36:29 And I would I would I would you know tell your audience that they should really figure that out for themselves but it's you know change is is scary but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't change we should always be willing to try new things. Got it. No, very well said. So, thanks a lot for us for taking the time and for sharing your journey. so really appreciate it. I know your initiative of giving back to the community where you got some inputs while you are going through this journey. So really really appreciate the thought behind it and then you know sharing your story with us today. >> Absolutely. Thanks Adash. >> [music]