Watch: Why Naveen Left a High-Paying Job to Return to India from Europe and USA

4:28 An opportunity to work in Google in a consultant or a vendor environment and that is how I ended up getting into operations business analysis compliance incident managements program management product management various different profiles that I ended up doing in the Google environment and there I have spent about good seven seven and a half years and then is when I so then is when I ended up getting an opportunity from Amazon for which I relocated to Bangalore from Hyderabad and yeah once I got into Amazon before you get into any big companies you think okay those companies are really perfect you they have many good things and there will not be any fla but in Google I did see things part to some extent but when I moved into Amazon I saw okay the company is really big but there are so many small things so many things that have been aged for maybe 7

5:30 Years 10 years 15 years those have not been solved it is just that it a prioritization exercise so it's not a priority nobody solved it but then over a period of time when things go on and on and on then the impact of it increases then it becomes a priority so it's a typical cycle in any mcy that you see or in any business that you see so that's where I ended up solving some of the critical problems within the first six to nine months once I joined Amazon and that gave me visibility across the global stakeholders and that actually brought in opportunities to me so I did not go and look after the opportunity from there so I ended up getting opportunities to move to Luxemburg Luxembourg in Europe an opportunity to move to Sydney an opportunity to work in another team within Bangalore and I chose Luxemburg and at every point in time when we got that opportunity our thinking was all right so from a family standpoint where are parents how is their health

6:30 Condition how are they doing they are doing all okay and from a kid standpoint as a family are they young if they are and then that is the right time to move across yeah as long as both these things were balancing out we were okay to move so that's how we ended up taking up the Luxemburg opportunity now people may have question as to okay why did you not choose Sydney versus why did you go to Luxemburg at least at that point in time financially Luxembourg made sense security wise safety security Luxemburg felt safer even though Luxemburg did not have English as a primary language we were okay to take that move and my daughter was about three years old at that time so we moved and yeah things went well in Luxemburg and then we were looking to move again after spending about three years or so in Luxemburg and gladly again an opportunity came up internally in the teams that I was working itself to come over to Seattle so that's how I ended up

7:31 Moving over to Seattle United States now I think we can go into more detail as to why we were looking to move and all of that stuff as we go into the conversation but yeah at a high level we spent about seven eight years across these and with the current job market situation and with how the companies are looking at handling different portfolios different budgets Etc I did not see much value in continuing in us anymore in terms of the job plus also from a kid standpoint as well we felt it is the right time for us to come back because my I have we have a couple of kids one is 10 year old another one is close to five years so we felt if we have to move this is the right time if we delay it any further maybe maximum another one year is what we could probably have taken a chance but beyond that if we don't then we are stuck to the us so that was hard process and we

8:33 Just took the move so that's yeah thanks a lot yeah thanks a lot for such a high level overview so himabindu I mean is there anything that you want to add like you know your background like what your thought process when moving to Luxembourg or even planning to move to other like maybe us right for example to the Seattle any other thoughts that you you want to add on yeah it's the same like what nain said but I did my ma MSE from gity is and I wanted I wanted to be a homaker after my first CH I wanted to support her all the moves I have been the backbone I would say so our first move to Luxemburg was we didn't plan to go out of the country initially but the opportunity came up we thought okay life is throwing something more on us let's take it and we wanted to explore it so the in luxur the thing that more challenging part was the

9:33 Language so even for grocery for everything we used to use Google translator so it was initially very challenging and we got some help from the friends with that after one year or so it got better so in Seattle actually it was better and it was more lively obviously it was English right we had a good time in Seattle and this move is this is also unexpected and we considered like you know this is a short window generally with kids age we get only very short short window right 10 years or 11 years after 12 years it is very difficult so we made our and we are actually happy here that's great so sounds like I think yeah maybe let's dive into this I think nain you kind of were indicating so how was life in Luxemburg I know you mentioned about some challenges from the language but other than that for my kids adjustment from the I don't know Indian Community there or the ACT activities how is the life there and why the thought of moving to some other place after 3 years just a

10:35 Curious on that aspect if you can double click or can shed some light on that language is the first challenge

10:41 Like my wife was already mentioning they have three languages luxemburgish German and French now luxemburgish is their own language which is a mix of three different languages so it is German Dutch and French now as my daughter got into the school once we moved there she was taught luxemburgish to begin with and as she progressed in her schooling she was also taught with German and she was also taught with French so by default kids will become trilingual there in the schooling system which is good from an international context perspective yeah and she picked up quite quickly normally we have a lot of apprehensions on how will kids get adjusted this is an entirely different language entirely different culture of course she took a little bit of time to adjust to the culture but language wise I think she picked up really well yeah yeah that that's the typical journey and in terms of the daily life you need to use

11:42 Translator at every single place whether it's a shampoo that you want to purchase whether it's a soap you want to purchase whether it's a grocery you want to purchase okay some things which are very obvious you'll figure out but if you need to ask somebody even in the storekeeper they'll not really know English yeah unless that person has studied some English they won't now some of them they won't speak in English even if they know because of whatever their own reason but yeah we have encountered those pieces also yeah but yeah that's how the life was initially the first 6 months to one year and then we moved along we were able to pick up few things there and that helped us navigate English language was not so very prevalent across government schools at all now it has changed I think over the last three or four years English language also has come in government schools that's in addition to the local language so people can also have English language so that way at least for immigrants who are not from the European

12:44 Side it will help yeah so what was the reason like why you are thinking about moving to other place outside of Luxembourg after three years yeah so one of the main reason was

13:01 Culture we were again personally we are very heavily rooted into Indian culture Indian tradition not that you do all three times Puja or something like that but you you want some level of ethics and morals of the way how we have been brought up not that Europe does not have it but we did not want our to be there for longer duration with the way how the culture is exp it's a pretty free culture right so that free culture is something we felt is not so good for kids at the age where they are and one of the important factor is also about the education system in Luxemburg once kids enter the Middle School right at the beginning of the middle school I think around sixth grade or so based on all the assessments that have

14:01 Happened until then for the kids when I say until then it's like from the time they have started school till the time of they completing fifth grade or until the middle of sixth grade teachers take a call as to whether the kid will go into a technical field or a entry of middle school so which was like a little bit scary part I I don't exactly know the reason why their system is like that but yeah that was something which every kid now as a parent you have an opportunity to go talk to the teacher and see if there is a let's say if they are putting the kid into a non-technical stream and you want your kid to be going into a technical stream for example you will need to talk to the teacher and see if there is any way you can work that out with the teacher if there is not a way that you can work out with the teacher then you as a parent have an opportunity to apply

15:02 Into the schools for technical courses but then they will have their own assessment plus they will also take into account the teachers feedback and so at least from what we know more than 90 95% of the cases once the teacher decides what it is you are largely into that so yeah that was something we didn't want to go into yeah and second it's a tiny Country and you don't have much of an Indian culture as such not much of Indians as such at the time when we were I think it was 15500 Indians probably or 2,000 Indians in terms of count yeah now it has grown heavily now Indian presence has increased probably it'll be much more better but yeah that's how it was so your Social Circle will be very limited we had a few family friends but it's going to be very limited and things are going to shut down over the weekends and in most European countries the

16:04 Schedule is very different the customer is King that concept which you see in the Asian side you won't see that in Europe it's like it's Monopoly in most Fields whether it's Telecom or whether it is businesses in terms of groceries supermarkets you'll see only one or two options there and you are stuck with that so yeah that's how okay so sounds got his he was actually he got an opportunity from seatt yes so that opportunity made us think like why can't we take this move maybe it is more helpful for the for my daughter and it is more obviously it is you know in Luxemburg it is gray kind of like you know it is a little bit depressing because you feel little lonely especially for a homaker after my goes to school and after he leaves to office sometimes I used to feel why to stay here yeah I'm

17:06 Missing so much of color life in India yes that actually all this has cled up and we made that move so sounds like I think it's not like you're looking for moving out it's like when the opportunity came came in and then you evaluated the pros and cons of each place and it kind of made sense to make that move so yeah yeah I would say it's a mix of yeah it's a mix of both so with regards to the move to Seattle we were starting to think about it actually opportunity came by but we were slowly starting to think about my daughter as to okay how were the cultural impact that slowly happening to her across and our observation was that with kids if you stay in one place for 3 to 5 years they will slowly get integrated to the local country and once they get integrated to the local culture it's hard for you to pull out or even if you move to a different place the transition is going to be difficult or hard at least that's how our observation

18:07 Is and we were about to hit that kind of a point and in fact many people asked us why are you moving now like in Europe if you stay for five years you'll get a permanent residency okay so why are you moving out now you could have hold it for another six months or another one year and we would have got our PR but we were never with the intent to settle down in Europe same with the us but yeah we were never with the mindset of wanting to settle down so we are like okay when you are not with the intent to settle down it doesn't really matter and financially this as soon as we moved to Luxembourg one other thing which we did is within the first year we started looking out for properties purchase a flat and at that point in time the financial policies that Luxemburg had those were very helpful so it's like if you want to purchase a house zero down payment you don't have to put any down payment whatsoever you will get 100% loan all you have to worry about is

19:09 The notary costs and that's it so at the time the financial situation was that whether you pay for rent or you pay Emi those was exactly the same and interest rates were quite low at the time in Europe it was like 1.2% yeah so we did not waste time we ended up going ahead purchasing a property and like in most Western countries you purchase a property you hold on that for two years and after two years you sell it you don't on the profit that you make you don't have a capital gain so that also helped does so one there were personal reasons in terms of daughter cultural impact and all these things we were looking to move plus financially as well given that I moved into the direction of taking a property quickly as soon as we went there that also helped us get a property and complete the two years period also and therefore you have the money as well given the profit that you make with the property sale so that way country wise

20:11 It is really good it actually Pampers you usually when somebody goes to Luxemburg with family and they stay there they don't want to get out yeah because financially and quality of life you'll find it really good work life balance all of that will be good but then yeah again everybody has their own requirement so we took our call and we went ahead with Mo no thanks a lot for sharing that I mean it's very rare to find people when they're so close to the pr right I think they say like okay let me have that backup plan or let me have that option so you're very clear in your mind that you don't want to settle in Europe or any other place so even though you are close to that it's like yeah I don't want to do that that's one aspect I think which is very unique you know because typically if you're 6 months or one year close to it like why not right I think you know have that flexibilities the thought process to a lot of people so sounds like I think you know the newborn would have been like maybe what like one and a half year By the time of the move and it's a big move from a country to Country right so

21:13 How are the things with like you know a lot of things that you have to take care of like selling home packing stuff shipping things around so I know there's a lot going on with the newborn the family and then relocating during the covid time is going to be tough like how did you guys manage

21:31 That yeah so one as it is like we were saying originally there was not much Social Circle in Luxemburg we had couple close family friends but it so happened that they too were down with covid at the time so they couldn't really come and help so it was all by ourself so we Tred to sell things whatever we can now that is another unfortunate thing in Luxemburg that since you don't have much population and also covid time we couldn't sell many stuff yeah so we literally probably dumped I don't know rest all went into recycl recycling center I made about 25 trips or 30 trips in my car to the recycling center fully bagged dumped a lot of stuff there so we didn't sleep for two days continuously we packed up everything we closed down everything and we car it we have come to Seattle only with four suitcases that's

22:31 What so it's like you you move usually with your four suitcases and we moved with the suitcase so one thing we were clear that company was giving the option to relocate all of our luggage everything of the house but then given covid situation when I noticed the experience from my friends who were also in that relocation move I noticed that a lot of luggage was getting stuck in customs in the ship and normally it used to take what two months or three months for everything to arrive but then the covid situation it was taking what N9 months one year or even more and people don't even know when their luggage was going to arrive okay so I had a my friend in Luxembourg who took the similar move from Luxemburg to Seattle and they took the option of company moving their luggage now they waited for what 10 months or even almost close to a year and it is like like in Hindi they say tarar so the date was going on and on that date never comes up

23:33 Their luggage never comes up so they ended up purchasing everything and finally after they purchased the luggage maybe after two or three months then the actual luggage arrived from Luxburg so they just have to dump everything or sell it at that point in time so noticing all that situation we were like we don't want to have all that luggage plus second we were also with the thinking that you don't know how big the house is there now here you are your own house so you know how big the house is and accordingly you'll take your furniture and everything else but now if you take along all the items with you including the furniture and everything then it's like now it's not for living you will take the house but rather you'll have to take the house for all the luggage he's like I don't want to be in that situation so let's just get rid of everything and yeah we just moved so that's great how was the life in US after the in 2021 and also I think during our conversation you mentioned that I think

24:33 Move to India was a bit unexpected right I think you know in early 2024 and you also mentioned about 3 to five years is the right time before anybody can adjust it to get you know into that culture or environment so I'm curious about these two aspects like what was the the decision of the thought process on the timing side and also like how was the life in us after this big move across the country during the covid time and able to adjust right in the new place during the covid times is a tough so if we can share some insights and then the timing of the move that would be very helpful yeah so as we moved to Seattle in August

25:12 2021 one we initially stayed in a hotel for a good 75 days so normally when you move with the companies with an international relocation they do provide that stay and normally it used to be what 45 days or something and then you'll have to find your own accommodation and all of that stuff each company will have different policies so with Amazon and given the covid situation at the time we were given an extended window of almost 75 days because even finding a rental house will not be easy given the covid situation but yeah once we got there weatherwise life was much more pleasant in comparison to Luxburg now people who are within us consider Seattle as a very gray weather of SS but then for us it's like Luxembourg was even more great so Seattle was Lot Pleasant and we got to understand that okay Seattle is also known as Evergreen City so then we realized that okay it has all 12 months all trees all

26:15 Around all green you'll have all the time so that was a very good thing for us considering the place from where we are coming but yeah people were really good we were able to find accommodation given that language was not an issue at all here so we were able to move pretty smoothly and even here we had the mindset initially itself that we want to purchase our own house so in fact some of our friends purchased the house even before moving to Seattle they already started working with the realtor they were already narrowing down the options and you land into Seattle into the company accommodation and from the accommodation you straight go into your own house so there are people who worked that as well yeah we didn't want to do that we were like okay let's get into a rental first let's figure out which areas are better which one will we like which one will we not let's not rush through this but we will want to move fast as well so it's like you want to move fast but at the same time also be a bit slow so that

27:17 You are taking into consideration the things you want yeah so yeah that way we got into an area called redmund which is where the Microsoft campus is and lots of Indians so in Luxembourg where we did not have much of an Indian population to moving to Seattle into the redmund area and the apartments which we were in was right opposite Microsoft Office yeah so it was like we didn't feel like we are in a foreign country so it's like in fact finding the local people was an anomaly that's how the community in which we were was yeah so it was really good and we found things to be really Lively with kids being able to go out and play with all the other kids around you as a parent you don't have to worry they're secure they're inside within the community promises and you also have a lot of circle and probably I'll let my wife add given a lot of company that she has got

28:17 There so more chit chatting and good opportunities we were thinking about it was good yeah especially I think there in this communities right when you have lot of Indian families I think it's easy to get you know like-minded people and able to find those people and gel with them what about like the timing of the move like what happened and you know how did you guys decide about 2024 as the time to move to India our thought process was that before my

28:48 Daughter gets to middle school we wanted to take a decision on should we move or not yeah and like I said earlier also our thought process was that 3 to 5 years of time frame our experience tells us that kids will get integrated to the local culture and then it'll be hard to pull out and and by the time my daughter gets to middle school it would have been close to four years in Seattle if we had continued there and my daughter completed fourth grade as of beginning of 2024 and if we continued in Seattle she would have got into fifth grade there now she has got into fifth grade here and the reason we took a call Early is because one instead of next year we took that call now primarily for one in terms of my professional activity I have not been seeing much promising activity in the portfolio

29:50 That I am in or in the teams that I have known of and I have spent in Amazon about 8 years and across all the teams and all the network that I see there is heavy cost cost cutting that was happening although you don't see much of layoffs as such outside in a newspaper ad or something of that sort but there are a lot of many layoffs or micro layoffs that have been happening now what that will essentially do is in 2023 the layoffs that happened were Mass layoffs by that what I mean is the entire portfolio of work is also scrapped along with the entire team so that work is not going ahead and falling on anybody else but now in 2024 across the year what I am noticing is a lot of mini layoffs micro layoffs where people are laid off and then there is no backfill and every person is already over subscribed with work and now you have this additional work as well coming on top to this existing people itself and you don't see any end in sight for

30:51 That and things were pretty clear that companies will move more in a very frugal approach itself what that means is even in 2025 there is not going to be much change so as you know many companies do that operational planning a year in advance and you do have decent enough insight into how the year is going to pan out and I am in a decent enough leadership position where I could have that visibility and across the teams the situation has been the same and you may have noticed probably couple of weeks ago maybe Amazon CEO has made an announcement that it'll be 5 days back in office plus they will also cut down all managerial positions they will put in more IC Workforce and all of that stuff and there's a lot of bureaucracy that has crept into the company so they'll do all that cleanups and everything else so I think they're doing except for the rops rest of the things I think they are doing all the right things but then what that means is as this churn keeps

31:51 Happening the people in the middle layer or the leadership layer everybody will get impacted heavily it will be extremely pressure situation so unless somebody is in a mandatory situation that you have to continue working then yeah you'll keep up with it but we were not gladly in terms of financially or family wise we were not really bound to be stuck there like that so that is where now sometimes many won't even realize that you'll be fully into that now gladly we were like wanting to take a step back we realized our situation and we said okay I am not going to get situation is this really necessary I don't think it is necessary now another thing was I was on l1a Visa in US and my green card was also close to getting processed I would say probably if I had waited another six months or one year green card would have got through but

32:51 Then again even here it was a similar decision like in Luxemburg we were like I cannot any move into any different company now given the Visa that I am in but then what different is it going to be even if I move into a different company now given that any company when you look at it from a financials perspective it's not going great so people want to do more with less that is the mindset with which everybody are right now normally only Amazon is considered to be like that very frugal whereas in comparison Google or Microsoft or others are considered to be a little bit luxury in terms of work culture but then yeah now every company is pretty much thinking like that so therefore this is not the time to move to a different company nor move to a different team because one in terms of my career growth as well the position which I was holding I was in that for about two and a half three years and I know that another two three years no growth is going to come I'm like no point really just doing it's like a bonded labor of such so I didn't want to go through that luckily my personal

33:54 Situation family situation financial situation everything supported that call so we took that call quite quickly actually so this year beginning January is when I got that thought of okay is this time to move based on how things were going in the office I anyway had my kids specific reason which I mentioned yeah so it is just that things came together so from January till about April or May I have been observing how things were going and then we are like okay let's just take that call so I took the call probably miday or end of May and then then we started moving quite quickly and by July 31st we are here in India so I think in one and a half month or two months we were able to sell the house sell the stuff complete all the financial transactions and then move I do have a independent house here and there is no loan or anything on that one

34:46 So that is one big Advantage because typically one would have a loan or something and that would cost easily depending on the cost and the loan 40,000 50,000 one lakh Whatever may be the Emi so that will be one another big calculation to consider but for me that's not there so all I have to worry about is the monthly expenses back in India and if you don't have any Financial requirement on the house itself then all that you are looking at is monthly groceries or your internet bills phone bills that's all is what you looking at and of course life based on the lifestyle that each of us have costs will also f vary but in my opinion at least for the lifestyle that we are into for a month including grocery all of those it will come down to about 35 40,000 I think you should be more than good and now on top of that you'll need to consider your kids education and those expenses now those are onetime

35:46 Expenses in a year so that is a separate amount that I have considered now all put together let's say depending on the school again you send now most of the people who are returning back to India there's a lot of anxiousness or nervousness about how will kids adjust and depending on the age of the kids which school do we put them into do we put them in an international school do we put them in a cbsc do we put them in an IC which one it is and based on that selection as well the school costs very hugely now and for example the icsc school I have put my kids into an icsc school and it's costing about two and a half to three lakhs per year for two of my kids together oh together yes together for both the kids it's costing two and a half to three lakhs now which possibly also because of the area where I am living in now let's say I am living on the east side of Hyderabad now if I'm on the west side of the Hyderabad

36:47 Possibly the same icsc school the same thing May cost five or six lakhs instead of three lakhs while the standard of the education or the quality is all good and in fact my mother has been an educator for the last 35 years so her inputs also helped quite a bit and we were consciously taking a call of wanting to stay on the east side itself which is where my parents have been now that's another call which everybody wants to take as well that okay because all of our jobs mostly are on the West Side closer to Hightech City madapur and so on so let's stay closer to that area but for us since I wanted to take a career break number one and two I am looking at wanting to set up something by myself that is the initial thought now I am still in that planning phase but I will be deciding on a clear timelines as to okay within six months time frame or a one year time frame you try and take steps towards that direction of wanting to come up with something by yourself if it works great if it doesn't seem to be going in the

37:47 Right direction then probably pivot from there get into some job opportunity you have the experience you can always get back into the job that's not really an issue and as far as financial plan planning is concerned I have planned things in such a way that even if I don't end up getting back into a job or something you are still okay there are passive income sources that I have invested into different places whether it may be real estate whether it may be a land whether it may be farming whether it may be a few other companies as angel investor you have put some money so there are different places where you can put money into and it could even be mutual funds now there are lots of diversification that we can do to the extent possible I tried doing it and that can help me sustain for as long as possible even with the passive income that we get we are good that said given that age is on my side I would obviously not want to sit idle so therefore I will be definitely getting into something so that that's essentially where I am on the financial planning side and with

38:47 The move itself it hardly took two

38:50 Months like gladly I had a friend in Seattle who is a realtor who has his own company he's a real estate agent as well so all I did was once I took the decision that okay we will move I got back to him what is the fastest time in which we can put the house for sale is the first question that I asked him and gladly in a typical project planning fashion he ended up giving me that okay these these These are the steps that you need to do and these are the timelines within which these need to happen you need to contact these these folks and as long as you are able to do all those things in these timelines then within two weeks we can list the house for sale so we pushed ourselves a little bit in terms of execution there in about two 2 and a half days we emptied an entire four bedroom 2.5 bath house into the garage we put everything into the garage and then handed over the house to the staging folks or the repair folks Etc so all that's taken care and then the hous is put for sale within exactly the two weeks time frame and in terms of buyers

39:52 As well when it comes to sale there is that Panic as well that okay in fact that is another decision making do you want to really put the house for sale or do you want to give it for rent that's also a question which many have now my thought process has been that unless and until there is an easy way for me to go back to us and there is an opportunity to regularly monitor things I would not want to keep a property somewhere far remote okay there is Visa you can take a ticket you can go but when you look into the numbers with what you get from the rent versus what is the cost that you are going to put and all of that stuff Plus on top of that there is global taxation hassle which I'm like it didn't feel like it's worth it so and I did not really expect too much profit as well I was only looking for no profit no loss situation whatever anything I get on top of that that's a bonus that's how I was looking at it and gladly were able to get the house for sale with no profit no loss situation so that was that way

40:53 It was all okay yeah no thanks a lot for sharing such a details and sounds like I think once you make a decision you move forward with fast speed execution you know clearing it out in two and a half days is not an easy task I I I you know I know families who have gone through we have gone through it is not at all easy like which one to discard which one to keep which one to donate and I think two and a half days is just like an hectic I think you might have like worked long hours and I think after that I can feel the feeling that you would have I mean I know that's a lot of work that's fantastic so now let's talk about the kids adjustment right I think especially your Elder one you know who moved to Luxemburg you know different language how she cope up with the language after that I think moving to us I think you know different culture different environment different schooling system I believe like you know I don't know about Luxemburg and then now moving to India you know with the language adjustment with the culture adjustment how has she adapted how is

41:56 She doing and yeah any insights I think that would be okay so with with kids

42:03 When we were in Luxemburg I think as we were originally mentioning they did not have English language at all and therefore it was all different languages but we were always conscious that we were not going to stay in that place so therefore we did put her into English language coaching over the weekends when we were in Europe okay so that helped us transitioning into Seattle so that language wise okay she understands the language already okay she may not be able to pick up the pace at which people in us speak or the slang of the language but it was not too hard in terms of the language and second once we moved to us because she was young she picked it up quite quickly actually it took six seven months for her to pick up mathematics that there is a difference right from us to from Europe to us the standard of subject so it took a good six months for her six to seven months okay and had

43:04 Younger one also I couldn't focus much on her but somehow the time you know you can't do like full 100% Justice you cannot do but we did what we can yeah and the good thing she got good friends there she was playing and that helped her she was happy so academically push her much but I gave her enough time yeah I think given the kid given that kid was young in age it is not like they were into middle school or something like that so our thought process always was that given the age where they are you don't really need to push them like okay they need to get 100% always or 98% always as long as they are having decent enough academic Performance Plus also social mental balance as well you're good and even now when we moved to India we are thinking in the same lines that okay you know that in India here there's a lot of societal pressure or competition and so

44:04 Many different things that okay you only got 50 out of 100 or you only got 60 out of 100 or something like that we are absolutely not wanting to go based on those numbers we like okay as long as she's understanding what she's able to grasp from the school or from the projects that she is doing we are good and more important thing is for giving them the time to adjust given the new culture new people new environment everything is new for them so we personally kept a timeline of one year or even two years we are okay yeah let her take her time let her get adjusted to it and kids will naturally pick up that competition as they go to school because they will see their peer kids and they will see how they're doing and I don't think there is there will be any kid who does not want to go and say okay all other kids are doing I won't want to do I will sit ID I don't think any kid will say that so I think they will pick it up we should just give them the time they need got it so if you can

45:07 Talk a little bit about the language situation in India right like the first language second language and third language especially on Telugu like you know she moved around like maybe when she's in a fourth grade or fifth grade right I think the Elder one so how how she was able to cope up this is a very common question you know for a lot of people I think that would be very helpful yeah

45:28 Right so while in Seattle itself because we have this anticipation that we will move back we did put her into a Telugu coaching in Seattle organization is there telu bti yeah so she used to go to T classes on weekends she has all the latest from to B and before coming here I have taught her gal like have shown her and that helped her to read at least without thatu she is able to read read sentences one two line sentences and after coming here I I just gave her inputs on wulu and all these things she's slowly picking it up now I wonder like you know she's able to write one paragraph oh she's so so quickly yeah yeah yeah then remaining subjects it was shocking for me like she got good score in t

46:29 Reciting padams and all yeah so yeah it's going so very nice maybe it's a kudos to you like I think you know maybe some special training that you are doing that helped her to get a good score on Telugu yeah another most important thing is the language that you speak at home so most times kids at in US you end up speaking an English language with the thinking that okay only if I speak English then my kids will be able to pick up the language better and they will manage outside better whereas for us because of we being in Europe and we don't know the local language no matter whatever language she was speaking outside at home it was always table Yeah so that the language base remained with her like that so at least that way reading wise or comprehending wise when somebody speaks she has been okay with that yeah so and then of course these padas and slokas all of that also help so that way overall so I think intrinsically it gives the skill of grasping something picking up things the way to speak the

47:31 Way to pronounce different words she got trained you know the first challenge for her was from moving India to Luxemburg yes that was challenge for her because she cannot understand anything and she went to school there it was hard for her initially she used to cry a lot oh yeah but we took the decision right so we can't step back immediately yeah so with her slowly we were adapting to the culture there it not the cultural adaptation but the situations we adapting to it to take her to the park somehow we we tried our best to make her happy every weekend we used to go out yeah that period was really challenging maybe her brain got used to it like she can now she is in a position to adapt to anything yeah I I can imagine and from to Seattle also it got trained actually I she became so resilient with you

48:33 Know these changes and especially like early on at Luxembourg right without knowing the language and how she would communicate with her teachers or classmates it would have been definitely different I mean you know when you are telling even when you go to the grocery store you have to show the picture to tell like you know what you need right think about the kid I mean I know they can grasp much more quickly but at least the first few months the struggle that they might have to communicate how they were feeling to teachers or for the kids which would be very hard you know where they could make friends or anything this move I I was all I mean I was confident enough like she will definitely maybe it might take just three three to four months because it is her own country right yes she can see the similarities yes all her friends and all it they look the same yes that period was difficult for her yes from India to Luxemburg all friends they look different she was just three and a half and the teachers they speak differently and fing from toilets she got used to Indian toilets here and going there like

49:34 It's a silly thing but yes that matters and the food also we were pure vegetarians used to like the smells there yeah for sure there were many challenges at that time so that hard face has H her and now I'm yeah I would say it is all her credit yeah so glad I think she's able to to you know do well and able to pick and I think you have been very cognizant that you have plans the relocation in the future and you put her in these different language program so that she can pick it up and all that stuff so now let's talk about how is life in India you know it's been few months since you moved anything that you missed especially like living for 7 to eight years abroad you know a different culture different aspects Dynamics so anything that you miss and how is like going so

50:28 Far I think one the first thing that healthare and when I say healthare I wouldn't go into the details of okay whether you have insurance or not or what is covered what is not covered which hospital but now in Europe given that it's a socialist country everything will be mostly in the free so you end up going to the hospital in fact I have a very specific example to share actually so I think it was in the first year that we were in Luxembourg that my daughter ended up getting ear pain which led to her having a fever of about 13 104 we ended up getting to the hospital in around 8:00 in the night and we had to wait until good 12:30 or 1:00 for the doctor to come up look at her only to say okay this is the is take the medicine and go now another friend of

51:31 Mine who who was going into skating classes somebody fell onto her unfortunately while the skating was happening and her hand broke now she ended up going to the doctor around 6:00 in the evening and they had to wait until 2:00 in the night just for the duty to come through and check that okay this is a fracture just to confirm and then they give you an orthopedic appointment after about two weeks or so so all along two weeks the young kid is waiting with the hand strapped and she's like that and after two weeks is when you get the appointment and then that's taken care so that was in Europe now as we move to us here Urgent Care was a little better definitely comparatively but still you can't beat India in that no matter what check that you need to have at what point in time you can just go get that done whether you put money or not it's a secondary thing but the first important thing is the care is given so that's a big difference second digital payments is

52:34 I can see the digital Revolution wow this is simply amazing I I just don't have to carry my for Mobile Wallet just phone you're good so like yeah that's one thing which was really good and now the development that I'm seeing at least in Hyderabad here and I'm sure it's the similar situation across many states here but yeah the city has changed quite a bit and last when I have visited Hyderabad was in 2018 and then now with this full move back so it's been good six plus years that we haven't been here and I can see huge change across and the change is for good I don't see any of the change to be impacting our lives so yeah at a very high level those are the things that I see and for us personally transition back we were conscious of the months and the timings as well like many people have a question as to what time of the year should you move like let's say because Academic Year in India starts in June then you would want to get be

53:37 Here by April or May so that you give time for kids to settle down but then that being the entire summer season and with the weather in us and you move here and put them into that full summer it's going to be hectic so we were conscious that even if kids lose a couple of months of schooling that's okay we may be mid year that is fine we will try figure out schooling somehow but let's not put them through a health hazle by getting them here directly in summer let's get them when it is a little bit cooler so that you have all rest of the year for them to settle down and by the time the next summer comes up they would have built some immunity and they would have got adjusted to the local place and they'll be fine so that was what our thinking was and so far everything is yeah actually you know many other things that we are missing is Parks obviously so kids play area and these things we are definitely missing yeah and like you know it's a it was a very good telu community and kids used to play a lot outside yeah and those things maybe

54:38 Because we are living in an independent house we are missing those things yeah I think there is a slight difference I think in an independent house you have to go to the neighbor's house or you know who is there in that street like that's how we grew up right but now I think with these gated communities it kind of opens up a little bit because the amenities because of some of the facil that are there within the community even though the access to Parks is a bit limited but there is more flexibility because it's much more secured it's much more you know easy for the kids to spend time yeah but definitely each has its own way of lifestyle we taking this move we should come with an open mind otherwise it is very difficult yes butar we are in that situation we are thinking we are taking things positively yes yeah we yet to explore many things say yeah and in terms of planning as well we knew that we have an independent house here so you can't leave kids freely to go out and play the way how you do it within a community so in the financial planning

55:39 Itself we also plann for moving into a gated community of sorts so that way which has all the ameni so those are all some things which are part of the financial planning so that you make things easier and give them the security and you have a community to go with so yeah completely makes sense so is there any topic that we haven't covered or any advice that you want to give to Future aspirants from your

56:08 Perspective yeah I think Financial advice is what I would give which I think is what most people will look for I would say don't overthink it there are so many calculators out there online or there are many experts out there who will tell you that okay you may need eight crores you may need 10 crores you may need 15 crores and you may not have that money right now and it may take some time for you to build that Corpus but in all honesty there is no one number that will make you happy okay it may give you a feeling of cushion and I think everybody will have different levels of sensitivities as to okay what is good for them so go with your gut but don't overthink it as long as you have a constant source of income even after after you come back here and you have a decent enough amount you're good to get going go deeper into your monthly expenses whatever are your oneoff expenses for the whole year and when I

57:09 Say oneoff I mean let's say school fees now I I take it as a yearly on expense of such it's not like a monthly expense of course you can make monthly payments but that is a onetime expense just get done with it over and then rest of the things are all definitely monthly basis or recurring ones so get to that minute level detail and depending upon whether one has any Financial commitments here in India in terms of emis or any policies that people may have put money into or anything else that they may have go to that of planning and see if you have good two threee amount and then do you have a regular constant source of income like are you coming back here on a job if so and you have a two threee pushing plus you also have a job so therefore you are getting your monthly salary in which case I don't see any reason to hold because if you go into 8 CR 10 CR 15 CR whatever that number by the time that number comes up I think you may miss the bus and you will never make it so be practical in terms of that

58:12 Financial planning is what I would guide and in terms of kids as well of course every parent knows their kid better but kids will surprise us they will adjust much better than what we think so therefore trust the kids don't think that they will face trouble yes will be meltdowns all the things are there but still they just give a time you know to three six months yeah don't yeah I think bottom line would be do not overthink like because in the process of planning it is completely right and intuitive that okay you want to have a fail safe plan so therefore you will make a plan there is a backup there is a backup and so on like that backup never ends so it's like if you are stuck to a plan try and stick to it try and make it work and in a positive way to the maximum extent possible and it should definitely work worst case yes you have one plan

59:14 Which should be okay but at least from what I have seen there are very very few cases where something has gone wrong and people had to really completely change the plan and go back again to the US outs but again it really depends on family situation what are the kids ages after how much time have they spent in the US are they moving here depending on that it will vary so yeah no definitely agree about the timing you know there is only certain time period where you can make the move before you know kids are grown up or it becomes very hard and it's not fair for them to move at the time and there is no end for like how much Corpus you need right I mean you know even it can go it's a neverend leing process I think it's just looking at the high level and see practically what's required and then you know make a decision so thank you very much naen and himabindu for taking the time and sharing your Journey with us and lot of insights you know life in Luxembourg the transition to us what made you to move there and you know the financial

1:00:16 Planning to relocate back to India and why things change so quickly and then made the move in 2024 itself and you know advis for the future aspirent so really appreciate you taking the time and sharing your insights with us on the show today thank you AI for the opportunity yeah thank you thanks hope this helps many aspirants who are coming back to India yeah