Watch: Non-IT Family Returned to India After 21 Years in the US

3:17 Went for my masters in 2002 to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. so in 2002 I started my masters I continued I finished my masters in 2004 and after my PhD I've been with two companies. First company for a short time and then with my current company for almost 14 years now. yeah. so I joined the cycle 2008 born and raised in Titi Tamil Nadu and then went to Bits Pilani for my undergraduate. I did my master of management studies there. Worked in Guram for a couple of years and I knew masters was the next logical step for me. Got married in the interim. So then I also landed at Oklahoma State University. They have a really good quantitative finance program. I knew that's where my interests were. Graduated in 2010 and because we were in Oklahoma, oil and gas, Texas is the bread and butter.

4:20 Oil and gas is the bread and butter for most of us out there. Started with Sitgo Petroleum. worked there for almost most of our time that I was in Texas. So almost 15 years with the oil and gas industry. And we did move around a little bit. We were in Baltimore for a brief period of time. But Texas was the place that we liked. We were not really very happy with East Coast. So moved back to Texas, continued in oil and gas. He was where that was the same company that he is in right now. But deep inside we always knew India is where we want to be. India is where we want to spend the rest of our lives in. So it was then deciding that time frame that we wanted to get back here. Yeah, makes sense. So thanks a lot for that nice overview.

5:10 Sounds like I think both of you have a nice long careers you know being at a one company for 14 years you know the same industry it's a long time so I think sounds like you are enjoying it and you're having you know good time so

5:23 I think you as you kind of teed it in like you know when did this thought of moving to India has it been always there for a long time and if not when did this thought occurred and what was some of the planning that was done beforehand I jokingly say to Diva that when when we were getting married one of the conditions I put her for marriage was that we have to come back to India eventually. Yeah. So but jokes aside the moment I went to do for masters I I I knew I wanted to come back to India. it could be many many reasons but family mainly and for me culturally personally being close to India was culturally was something that I wanted to do. so yeah it has been there for me from ever since and when I told Diva when we were getting married that eventually I want to come back to India she said that's fine. She she was

6:25 On board on board with that idea and she never she never questioned that but we never really put a realistic timeline at that point. I just I just said it's a condition but we never put a date we never talked about it in all our 20 years we never talked about coming back to India. So slowly started having the discussions sometime around 2017 2018 time frame it's like okay so we had the start when do we really want to do it? Are we still in this first question was are we still in the same boat? Do we still want to go back to ENT? Yeah. So I think Shanka was 100% on board. I was probably like 6040 at that time when the initial discussion started. Then we have this huge checklist of things. It's like okay we really want to do it at this time is a mine or when is the right time to do it.

7:14 Yeah. So that that is that was in 2018 but then life kept on going. We just we just talked about it and then COVID happened. So everything came to a grinding halt. We said like oh no is not going to happen now. We didn't even think about move co was taken everything about that. So we didn't even think about move or anything. And then when things started settling down in 2021 around August or September I just opened the discussion. I didn't know how Diva is going to react to that. because actually in 2021 when COVID hit we kind of mentally were prepared that we will never go back. Oh. so we have we haven't said that to each other but we kind of felt that this is not going to happen that move is not going to happen. Yeah. So with that in the mind, I knew if I put that idea, I I will get some resistance. But still I took up some courage and said okay

8:23 It it was a surprise for her but she didn't say no at that point. So that itself was a positive sign for me in she didn't say no. She just said why now? Why why did you ask me now? I said I mean you know we all we both want to go back. So and this is a time if you don't do it now it's never going to happen. So we have to do it in next 2 3 years otherwise it's never going to happen. That's it. I left it there. Actually I I didn't I didn't leave it there. once I once I put that idea and she she didn't say no then every day this this is this is funny for me but now looking back it's funny for me every day when I'm office and she's in the office I used to I would send some links or some Excel spreadsheet with some scenario notes and every every day I would sell one and by fourth or fifth day she was so mad at me she came back from the office and said you have to stop doing this you have you need to give me some

9:23 Time to think and process this because there's lot more because we had a house, we had a good career, everything like there's no problem at all, right? We had a good friend of circle of friends, amazing circle of friends that we we had. So she said, "You want to stop doing this? Give me time. You you asked me give me time. Let me think about it and I'll come back to you after." Yeah, it does seem very funny thinking back about it. But then we thought about it, discussed. One thing that probably co also taught us was our parents seemed to be aging way faster than we had originally anticipated, right? Probably that lockdown staying indoors and we were visibly able to see it. So that was the only motivation that I needed to really come back and but then we had to get through the mental process of trying to list down the pros and the cons, right? What exactly are we giving up?

10:22 What would we be gaining going back? Yeah, there are certain things to which you can never add a monetary value. You can never quantify it. It's more qualitative. So then back to the drawing board trying to decide the place. I kind of knew where I wanted to move but I left it up to him. He was like having a very broad view but I was bent upon Bangalore. I knew this is where Yeah. but then the other smaller details as to pretty much the things that we said we had a very set carrier out there. So what next? We knew that this job is pretty flexible. He would be able to move but I may have to end up giving up my job out there that entire career that I had built. Am I ready for that? We walked it down and we were like okay. We ran multiple models to see what could be the scenario. So talked to friends, family who are already settled here in Bangalore to figure out Okay. So do you want to step back and

11:24 See why Bangalore was the choice? Yeah, sure. So I said I from Kerala, right? So but

11:32 Kerala doesn't have good opportunities at at this point, right? But Diva's parents are from Bangalore. So once they retired they moved back to Bangalore. So we knew that we have to be closer to one set of parents and logic choice was Bangalore. The other city that we considered was Coyatur because it will be close to my hometown in in Kerala but then we thought okay cobat is there but Bangalore will be very close to one of one set of parents and so that was why Bangalore was chosen but also because of job opportunities there is much many many more opportunities in Bangalore than Coinb and also the fact that we had invested in real estate in Bangalore. We had an apartment already over here. Yeah. So yes, if Kimur was a choice, we would have worked it out. But because things were kind of set over here, it was logical enough to choose Bangalore at that time. Yes. No, thanks a lot for walking through that. I

12:32 Think I might have want to just zoom in and cut certain points like you know the one you mentioned 2018 is the initial spark of this discussion, right? is that like you know maybe you had kids like what happened in 2018 to just have that initial discussion? Just curious on that. Yeah. So 2018. So we our daughter was 4 years old by that time. She was growing. The one thing that was really good is we would visit India at least once every other year and we would have parents coming to visit us the alternate year that we are not in. So at least with immediate family like our both sets of parents our daughter was very much gelled with them and she was not missing her grandparents that immediate conversation would hit off no hesitation but we felt like I have a brother he has a sister and a brother those siblings are the ones that she interacts with only virtually most of the time right or whenever we visit

13:34 India and we felt Even in those periods of time that connection was not really there. Yes, she knew this was her mama, this was her whatever and she will interact with them but looking back at how we grew up that's not how our family relationships were. So probably that's what started that initial spark back in 2018. We were like I think we had come for a wedding. Mhm. Yeah. It was my brother's wedding. We had come over here and like Disha was just overwhelmed looking at the amount of relatives that we had and she was not able to connect with anyone but she still enjoyed spending time with them. Yes. Probably that's what was the initial sparks. Got

14:17 It. And then I think the serious planning happened between 2021 to 2023 before the move, right? I think all the planning and I know you kind of touched a little bit about these sheets you know the pros and cons like you can't put value like is there any like u a factor that kind of I think you kind of mentioned about the parents there is nothing like you know you can't do like monetary value like anything so is there certain things that you want to guide I think you know the traational thinking process anything that you want to highlight you know specifically like for someone who might be in a similar boat who are thinking about this hey this is what you should consider or any anything which is not typical right I mean I think people all know about careers finance maybe things but there could be certain small things that you might have considered that you think that this could be a valuable or something that they might have to think through anything that you can share any anything from your own analysis yeah so I mean there are many assumptions that we go with when we are planning the move which for myself has been I found out

15:19 That those assumptions are not right So so I have been I mean we have been doing all this right and I have been talking to one of one of my other friend who moved back and I was asking him what should I do what should I look forward what should I think about and he I mean we talked about but one thing he said which stuck me and is that shankar the only thing you can really objectively think about is finance. Okay, that is the only thing you can objectively think and tell to someone that this is what you need to have. This is what you everything else is subjective. My experiences is not going to be the same as someone else's experience. So he can tell that moving to India was such a great thing.

16:04 Everything worked out because of this this this this but you might have the same situation but when you come back things will be totally different for you. the only thing that can transfer between people is finance. So I would say that actually that you make if you have a good reason to move just don't move just because you want to move to India for there are there are things like reasons like okay in 2019 I had this thought about fire okay which is yeah financial independence early yeah and I worked through various models of it how I can do And I found out that I I could achieve it in US maybe at a later age than I could but if I mean that's not the main motive for me but I'm saying that if if that is one of the motive then moving to India would be a very good reason for you to move because you can achieve that

17:06 Here much faster with the savings that you have from US. So that's that's a that's a dimension that people can think if you want to do fire then moving to India would be a good option. the parents is good very good but you should be in a position where you can find financially support yourself and if need be your parents in-laws whoever it is right and yeah one thing I would say if you're planning move is that you should have a real estate paid off in India that I think is absolutely important because that is a make or break in your financial calculation if you have a monthly EMI monthly EMI or a rent that really puts a wrench on your your way and you're also stuck for that for a long time whereas in India what I find I mean I have been lucky for my job I shouldn't complain because my job is not that demanding I mean it

18:08 Is demanding in the sense every job is demanding but it's I don't have to work like 20 hours a day I have a lot of flexibility but that doesn't happen very often in India So if you're moving to India and you have this big commitment that you have for 30 years that is then you are not going to enjoy the move as much. So I would encourage anyone who is thinking who are in the in that right age group if you're thinking the move in India make sure you buy a property and pay it off as much as you can before you make the move that will really help you in in your move. I think in a nice segue right to the discussion that we are having

18:44 Maybe you can talk a little bit about your financial planning right anything that you have done and you are willing to share like you know with your 401k funds assets the houses so anything that you can talk about from a financial planning with the move I think that would be also very helpful. Yeah sure. So I mean we both were employed so we both had our 401ks through our through our employer and we used to as I said even though the move was there in the back of our mind we never we never thought about moving. So we just we just led our lives as if we are living in the going to live in the US right. So we we maxed out our 401ks. we we had the company match we so we maxed out for tax purpose how muchever we can. Then we put in IRAs. we put in HSAs every every tax savings opportunity we could. Yes we did have a house so we were building equity on it.

19:39 Yes. And we also tried to pay off the house as much as we can. We didn't have much mortgage mortgage left when we were leaving. So but the lifestyle that we had is we can consider it's it's not a I wouldn't say micely living but it's not it's not it's not over it's just like regular living. So we could save quite a bit of money in our 15 years of career there. and at the same time we did buy a a house in Bangalore and we made sure we paid off as much as we can. So it was under construction property. So we didn't have to pay everything at one time. So we had stages. So it was a benefit. That was the benefit. So based payment we we paid every every year 15 months or 18 months there was a payment coming up and we could we had that money saved up. So we never felt that pinch of paying off the house here. And I think 22 is when we registered. Yeah. So

20:40 By 2020 or middle of 20 we paid off. There was only a small amount remaining for registration which we did when we came in 2022. We came here we did the registration of the house. Yeah. And then we we did not put any money in savings in India or FD maybe just some amount. I think we had one or two FDs but pretty nominal amounts but more all of all all of our savings 401ks were all residing in the US. Right. So when we've decided for good that by 2022 that we are moving that's when we started consolidating all of our accounts we knew for a fact that we would definitely keep one active bank account in the US. Yeah, we currently have that with Fidelity because that's where all of our 401ks were. So then all of our accounts were consolidated. We decided to use Fidelity's investment management services for this. It is a

21:41 Small commission that you end up paying. It's more of a personal choice I think. But we just felt more than the day-to-day managing. It's like having the phys being there physically in the US would just make it easier. So that was one of the considerations that we took into place. We consolidated 401ks into an into IRA. there is a bank account as such but with a minimal funding. Yeah. And then but we we haven't we did not move any of our funds still. It's still residing in US. We did we did bring some cash to him for our initial needs and stuff but most of our savings are still residing in the US proceeds from the sales of the house etc still sits in the US. Okay. No thanks a lot. Yeah please go ahead. Actually I I just want to come back and talk a little bit about our decision making process. Right. So I was lucky

22:42 That I I have I have a PhD in mechanical engineering and I was working in a very prestigious project which is a department of energy project. So that helped me in get my EB1B green card pretty fast. So I I applied in 2013 and then in 2014 summer or October I got I got my green card. So eight eight months I got my green card. So and then in 2019 the citizenship also came. Okay. So that was kind of 2019 we were eligible for citizenship. So we apply for citizenship. So that is also one of the reason why we started in 20189. Yeah. This when he said all those check boxes getting ticked asks like an ideal scenario right we had there are no visa dependencies per se compared to where majority even of our friends are in the port where they're not able to make the decision we have a citizenship so fingers crossed if things don't work out there's always an exit plan for us to go back

23:44 So so I I was telling all my friends who are things that typically I I think I think most of the audience that hear your channel or even those who doesn't hear you but are in US I'm pretty sure most 70% of the people want to come back okay at least they were thought about coming back to India I think it's definitely a discussion during the weekends right in the parties that you know things but I think on the Monday they come back to the regular work and then they're busy with their own I think the discussion to action is where I think the critical part is and then sticking to that and then there should strong driving factor. it's just not so and so went and so maybe it might be nice to be back versus hey I want to do this and I want to do that right so out of 70% normal discussion to really happening maybe yes it's a very very small upset but still kind of so so 70% the reason I saying is that everyone but everyone thinks of various requirements

24:44 Yes and some requirements are like okay what is the age of my kid do I have a do will I have a job back. Do I have enough savings to move? are my parents at the right age group? You also don't want to go when your parents are way young and they can take care of themselves because then you're just wasting your potential to earn, right? Or you also don't want to go when they're too old and they cannot do anything. Then your life is you're not going to enjoy when you move. So I know that part is may not maybe not everyone agrees but it's it's true. But when they are old at like 85 when they cannot even move you're just going to hate your I mean hate is a strong word but you're not going to like the move right? Yes. So your parents have to be at the right age window. Your kid has to be at the right age window. Your citizenship was good. So for us thankfully then I told that we are fortunate that every Tik Tok was so at least we should give it a try. Yes. not

25:45 Come back later saying that oh we didn't try and this happened so I said let's give it a try why not makes sense makes sense so how is the try and how is the

25:55 Life in India like you know it's been 2 years the idea it's almost two years we celebrating our anniversary very soon of going back and I think with yes it had its fair amount of challenges I wouldn't lie about it but despite all the challenges we are loving every bit of it best part is my parents live next door to me. So they have their own independence but at the same time they just we are just a call away. They are just a call away. His parents come stay with us for an extended period of time or we can visit Kerala. It's just an overnight train journey. lots of family around. So what Shanka was originally alluding to when he said we had a it's excellent friend circle but our social circle was awesome. That's like friends who are no less than family. That's the only missing part for us over here. We haven't probably been able to make such really good friends.

26:51 But of course, my brothers here, we have lots of family members just a phone call away. So family has actually replaced that social circle of friends that we So I I totally agree with you. Friends we have not been able to replace. couple of things because I mean we also have not ventured out for that because we have been with with family all the weekends and everything and also when you are after about like 354 it's really really difficult to make friends one of my one of my argument to Diva when we thought about moving is that on she asked what about friends we are losing we are going to lose our friends and I said this is just to make my argument Right. Right. I now I think that's a wrong argument. But I said see in US you have if you are talking about Indian friends you'll have 100 families out of which you can make maybe five friends but if you go to India you have thousand 10,000 families where the

27:53 Pool is much bigger to make friends. So it's easy to make friends. But now I look back that's not that's not the right argument. It won't happen. It it could happen if you're in early 30s but at 40s that that that would be very very difficult because your your thought process are set your way of life is set. So it is very difficult to find someone who will match that wavelength and also you have to take that action they are not I mean no one is going to come and tell oh be my friend right at this you have to go you have to make new friends. So that's tough. Okay, what the part? Let's stick with the good part like things that we have enjoyed, right? For sure. I mean, I think these are things I think again as you said like you're busy with your own family event. So, you might not have enough time to venture out and also the same mindset, right? I think when you're in 30s without kids, it's a different story, right? When you're mingling and then the time you can spend gel, you know, it's a different thing once you are in like, you know, early 40s or something, you know, because it's a different priorities and you need to find the like-minded people around. It's not like whether you have 10,000 people. It's

28:54 Just the like-minded 10 people is sufficient to find the the right pool doesn't really matter. How big the pool doesn't really matter. Yeah. The good things is like we are enjoying being close to family which is exactly the reason why we moved back. pleasure of having a maid who comes in every day that was something that we have never experienced. But even now we have kept it to a minimal. There are skills that we learned the hard way living in the US. Utensils ourselves. So we need only does sweeping and mopping. So everything else the the laundry, the washing of vessels, everything we do. Yeah, we are the dishwashers and the laundry people. So that's fine. This is interesting because people you don't want to give up that skill like I know even though like a lot of people wants to do that but yeah. No it took it took you know we used to get that skill and enjoy that skill not just learn the skill enjoy we do it as a family task everyone has their part so yes and the one thing that

29:55 We were always concerned about was how will the kids do well right will adjust but I know that we have heard it from multiple people but to really see it with our own eyes my daughter was nine right she was nine when we moved here she gelled so well so we landed in India June 5th. Her school was actually reoping on June 7th. So we had requested if we can take that week off since it's middle of the week and we'll start on Monday. So overcome her jet lag. I think she didn't go on 7th but on 8th she was ready to go to school. So we did drop her off and she we were literally waiting at 3 p.m. when the school was done and she back as to how the reaction would be and she was all smiles all smiles. She's like the school is awesome. people talk a lot. They are so friendly. And we like thank God that's it. That made it for us. And she immediately made friends at the apartment. Yes, she's because of the close circle that we had, bonds were really tight. So, she still misses a lot

30:56 Of her friends out there. But adapting to this environment was very easy, was extremely easy for her. So one thing that I would want to say to all your viewers is we at times as parents we end up overthinking putting ourselves in our kids shoes but they are so malleable they so malleable and they adjust and adapt so well that it would hardly take them any time to adjust in this environment. So I mean if I if I want I mean I don't want to be straight on this but this is my opinion just my opinion is that sometimes we put our insecurities we project it on our kids saying that kids will not be able to adjust which I think is what it's it's basically our insecurity whether we will adjust or not we will find the right job or not but that's just my opinion keep it to what kids are so flexible I think we underestimate how yeah how how flexible they would be how easy they would adapt. It's amazing. so along the same lines like which curriculum did she join? So she

31:58 Joined the IC curriculum. so she goes to NAFFL National Academy for learning at Basra. So the key difference that we noticed in the syllabus is it still follows an ICE stream but probably the mode of teaching the delivery of the teaching is a little more like the American style that she has been used to which so she went to a proper public education system in the US. So the teaching style is pretty similar. yes there is a little more writing to be done as compared to what she has been previously exposed to but I think this is something that we saw in most of the school tours that we did or people that we have talked to the teachers and the system as such are they're really good in helping the kid transition in that initial 3 months 4 months or however long it takes so one one thing I would suggest to the to your viewers is that I mean they they

32:59 Probably know the school is important but I would again want to stress it is a school that will make or break the kids transition. Yeah. So it is always I'm not I'm not advocating that they have to go to international schools or big schools cuz we ourselves we didn't want to send our daughter to a like a very expensive school even though we could afford or that's not the point but we did not want to send to a eight lakh or 10 lakh school interest school. but that is just our our valuable that's okay but if if you can find a school where there have been students who have returned from abroad those kind of schools know how to handle them kids will also have the company to gel with similar people if they want they have something to talk about when they were in US. So I think I think that would be a good good school to look for instead of putting them in a general school. I mean not that I mean every gen school here like there are many many schools DPS NPS there are a

33:59 Lot of good schools here but they might not have the the students that have returned from abroad who have the same kind of thoughts or perspective so I that is what I would encourage if you're looking for a school please look for a school where there have been some at least a few students every year who come back return yeah makes sense definitely

34:19 So one other dimension that I want to look at was on a career right because you are someone from a nonIT you are a mechanical like you know core you know doing something on a department of energy and you know it's a different domain so how easy is it for you from a career transition because a lot of people have this hesitation or concern from a nonIT background and you I think you know quantitative finance so maybe you can talk about from a career transition and how it would yeah how it evolved yeah so when I graduated from engineering in India there There was absolutely nothing for mechanical engineers. Okay. I remember Hindustan Motors came to our college for campus recruitment and they would hire students but they would not give salary. They were they were passed for like six or eight months of areas in salary. That is how the mechanical engineering situation was. So everyone in my batch was almost in it. There is very few people. I don't even know anyone in the core field. so but now things have changed

35:22 Dramatically in India. You have mechanical engineering u all GCCs that you have things like Boeing my own company Danfos carrier train these are all air conditioning companies I'm talking about but Airbus for aviation all these companies have their GCC's in India and they do pay pretty well. Okay. but the thing I would I would say is that not keeping my situation my situation is a little unique but you might not find the right kind of work that you do in the US or Europe. You you might not find it here. Even though it's a GCC for mechanical engineering the GCC is still doing more of a backend job. It's a good job.

36:14 I'm not saying pay is well but you don't have the free hand of a lot of new new projects that you are you are always supporting a project that is globally done somewhere else. Yeah. Okay. but I think things are changing. I know in my own field air conditioning now there are companies who are moving all the design to India. So even though the product will be sold in US the complete management of the project will be done here. So that is from the concept to the delivery will be done in India. So that is a very big change and I think I think that's good from my own perspective it is very good because I'm doing the same job my role is like a subject matter expert in Danforce looking into data center cooling. So it's a very niche very I mean like now everyone is talking about AI and everything there are all these data centers that need schooling. So it's a it's a huge and upcoming field which has lot of potential. I I'm enjoying my job

37:16 Here. I don't have anyone like me in India in my company if you so but but our company has lot of investment same kinds of investment that is happening in India that they are developing teams in India which can take projects from start to finish. So I would say next 5 years or so there will be lot of mechanical engineering companies who does advanced level of work but at this point I wouldn't say it's there yet. but it it is it is going in the direction which is very good and also with as more and more manufacturing comes to India that would be that that would just accelerate the change. Yeah, makes sense. That's like a fresh you know air to for like a nonIT is especially looking at this and then I think where the trajectory is right I think doing not like a backend work but actually designing my concept and then putting everything together and driving it. I think that's interesting to know. So thanks. so

38:13 Any other advice or anything that we haven't covered that you wanted to you know tell our audience about who are thinking about moving to India? So one thing I would say is I mean this this is I I don't know if it worked for us but looks like Diksha our daughter she fit in rightly well right and one thing I would say is that orient them when orient them is that we never told that her that we were moving back okay but we would always say whenever there's a discussion we would always say oh if we were in India this is how it is so we never told her directly that we are ever going to move ahead until the decision was made like the 2019 20 time we like hypothetically if we were in India this is how things would be so kind of mentally nourish them mentally kind of prepare them for this possible scenario and then once your

39:14 Decision is finalized too try to talk it out with them so that they don't feel they put in a spot as soon as we move here you you can't prepare them for anything and everything but at least the broader scope of things that you can orient them way in advance keep them prepared that's pretty much it very very very very good point very valid point and I think you know it's kind of prepping them right especially in that young age for them to visualize and then feel like they are like you know part of that journey and then the discussion so so one thing that helped us is that because of the nature of my job whenever we came here for vacation she she had to go back in 3 weeks which I think everyone who is living in US would know we don't get too much vacation but so she had to go but my kind of job is that I could stay here for like 7 weeks longer so I would keep our daughter here with me she would be with my sister her grandparents and everything while I was I would be traveling for work here so so she got made it her independent in

40:15 The fact that she can survive even without us being with her grandparents of was getting pampered or with her aunt and uncle. So, so that that worked for us. I'm not sure it will work for everyone. But if you can do that, try doing that so that they know that it's not a shock. Complete shock for if you don't bring your kid to India at all for 9 years and suddenly you bring her after 9 years move. That's going to be shock shock. We like to accept it or not that is. Yes. That's fantastic. So maybe a couple of quick questions. It's more like a rapid

40:50 Fire kind of questions. So what's one thing you wish you knew before moving to India? wow that you can live in any any income level that you want in India. People people always India is expensive, India is expensive, India is expensive but I find that India is not necessarily expensive. You can live in any any level of thing you want what you choose to do choose to do. I think that's the beauty of it. The range is so huge. I mean I think if you're living in abroad like US right there is a minimum standard I think the starting point itself is so high it's kind of set right your waist level is still there like you know in India like you can get 20 rupees chai all the way to like 200 500 rupees chai also like it's up to you how you so that that was not clear to us everyone would say India is very very expensive very expensive the only thing that is expensive is education I would say and and housing housing if those are the main big components that drives your

41:50 Cost of living. I think once you are clear like you have a paid house and you're clear with the education remaining very manageable. I think very manageable that's why you standards. I mean I would say we are not living not skimping at all. We lavishly live. I think we have the same standard of life that we had in the US. We more than 50,000 rupees per month with I don't know. So if you don't mind like I think you know like I think you kind of mentioned like you know standard of living is similar and all that stuff. So what's your like you know monthly expense you know a range or something. So assuming so without including housing and school fees because we pay it off annually right I think we spend around 50 50 50 at the max 60 if we end up traveling on a monthly basis but 50,000 a month this is not the travel budget right so this is just monthly monthly we we do eat out like with sides of eating okay like local dash style as well as a high-end

42:52 Restaurant either ways okay so I would say 60 is a lot. 60 is a lot. 50 is what we have. We have been trying to average that much. Yeah. No, I think thanks for giving the actual data points because again everybody's experience is different depending on the lifestyle, depending on weight, you know, all that stuff. But I think having these actual data points help. Yes, this is feasible. We don't travel a lot too. I think what we never skimp on is as a family, we love traveling. We travel India, we travel internationally too. We just finished a trip to Norway for the summer holiday break. Yeah. So despite that is what I'm saying. You can still have a very luxurial life in India. Now one thing I would say is that the what India gives you is that if you have enough savings provided you have enough savings only thing that you have to worry in India is day-to-day life. Okay. And that anyone with the 15 years of experience in US can easily get more than that. And if you have if you're in a habit of saving, you will

43:53 Save from whatever you get also, right? It's it's not like something that you lose. It's it becomes part of you. So, and life be so easy. Now, you just have to earn for what you want and everything is same. Just leave it for your retirement. Don't touch. Don't think that you're going to live off of that. That would be tough. Oh, one other thing that we would add is when you previously question about 401ks etc. We also did have a 529 plan for our daughter. So we tried to save as much as possible in that account and it is still sitting out there. In the future if she decides to go back to the US to do her undergrad that is always there for her. So that's another thing. Yeah, for sure. So thank you very much for taking the time sharing your journey insights and being very honest with you know the conversation like you know providing the actual data. So really really appreciate and thanks again. No problem. Hopefully it was something fresh. I don't know but hopefully it was useful. Hopefully

44:55 It is useful for someone eight of your viewers out there. For sure. Yes. I think you know even like it helps like three or four people that's still worth I think the time and everything. So I really appreciate you taking the time and talking to us.