Watch: 🌍 Raised in 4 Countries — Why This PIO Chose India Over Others

3:38 Be mentioned which is not really negative or positive thing just a description of what Germany is it's just not a it's not like California where you have 50% 60% immigrants or something so you have a so yeah it's a bit more tough to kind of mix in and then you also have very very few Indians a very very few Indians who are like us or South Indians very highly educated the only few Indians who are there are actually came very recently for it purposes in it companies they have internal transfers or people who came back came to Germany maybe 50 60 years ago for labor for example but Indians living in Germany is it's a very short phenomenon which happened like just few year 10 five to 10 years it happened I think for some time with the it boom ET but even now it's already falling so if you now already search on YouTube it's already declining so that's when I realized it doesn't really work out this life is not really working out here so I tried to

4:40 Apply for Exchange program in my university in UK okay youngster so and I got through because of it's very tough to get through but I got through for a variety of reasons of Co Etc I got through and I went to University of leads and I got an opportunity to say discover what is the life of Indians in UK diaspora as well as immigrants and again I I think I arrived in UK with a very idealistic I thought this is you know like this is like kab or I thought this is very beautiful we land up there the first I think first day or two days I was like you know where the hell I up in because UK actually has a lower level of development than Germany so the roads are much wor was the crime is much higher in UK the it just looks like you reached hell to be really honest because the weather is also worse so Germany Germany has much more sunnier days Al

5:42 For example so I had this Idis view of UK and I arrived there and it an absolute disaster the first week I think the Airbnb lady she stole some 500 pounds from me then it was so it was like scam I landed up in a Ab absolutely wrong neighborhood because UK unlike Germany has very div divided neighborhoods it's a very anglosphere kind of phenomenon us and America and I had no clue about that I I thought like you know K anywh City book a Airbnb be fine but I booked in airb the worst kind of areas crime then I call up my University please can you save me can arrange some room for me somewhere and then they said yes come over we have a room for you and I literally just ran away I didn't even tell the owner so there was an absolute disaster and then obviously there again started discover how the diaspora and also it was very weird because

6:43 The diaspora community in the in in UK kind of has the I mean the the pass which gives you an entry into that kind of social groups is your British English accent MH so if you have an Indian accent English accent you are kind of considered a a lower a lower person lower hierarchy person and you're considered you're from India but I obviously wasn't that I obviously have barely lived in India I my passport is much more powerful than the British passport but because of my accent because I did not speak English in my school I was not considered as one so that's when I I start think like my brain started of what is going on here because I mean our ancestors came went out of India for economic opportunities right we went out for building up a Better Lives because we had such lack of opportunities in our own country but now it's about cultural factors with accents and and on the other hand an Irish accent or a Scottish accent is like

7:44 A you know positive things like an attractiveness kind of you know so I bit weird so then I came back to India during Co and then I started my masters in Scotland from England to Scotland I was in leads before in Yorkshire and then I Shed from Masters to Scotland that was a much better time I had a lot of fun traveling and traveling around so traveling very beautiful and also people are very sweet in Scotland they're very down to earth and they don't have any Colonial past Al they don't have that mindset but the Indian Community there still had that thing that you know don't Gove back to India going back to India is like for losers people who have lost in life we have know Choice decided I just want to go back India going back to India was like a had a kind of stereotype had a taboo so and I obviously had other opportunities so I had thought that UK

8:44 Is not working out because of the economy and Etc so I thought let's go to Australia I had book my tickets I had book My Flights I had booked everything accommodation got the Visa done at the Australian Embassy everything and and there obviously very fancy to tell my friends also it's very fancy thing the status is higher if you're telling I'm going back to India it's like you look down upon you so but then when I came on the way going to Australia obviously I stopped in India for one or two weeks and obviously my family members con saying why Australia suddenly they also had this questions why exactly Australia I didn't really have an answer to that question cuz there wasn't really answer that question and then I took the flight finally and I landed in Singapore and I met a friend there old friend of mine from he origin from maau and we had to spend the entire after the spending the entire day with him I kind

9:46 Of in Singapore I kind of I just called up my my family members and just told them book a flight back to India please can you book the next Indigo flight back to Bombay because Indigo still flies to Singapore yeah so it's not too far away I was like I call up Singapore Airlines please deboard my baggage and I collected them they're very helpful Etc and I think in Singapore I realized that Singapore being a tropical country being country very culturally also very similar they eat also very similar kinds of food they have very similar kinds of habits they they don't wear fancy shoes and go into the Metro they they they sometimes come in ches or flipflops but that doesn't mean they're poor it just me it's very hot and very tropical and and I just saw this very tropical country being so successful and I just saw why can't India be this you know why AR we just working towards making this possible rather than running away all the time what's the and then obviously saw the Australian crowd in the flight because

10:49 The Singapore Alliance crowd is mostly Australians and or Indian Australians and they're very U snobbish very brattish you know very it's as if they think this and they not at all if you look at them there's nothing you would feel jealous about them for you know it's like so I think that's changed my mind and I just let's come back you know no thanks a lot for sharing such a detail and this is like a like a cinematic decision right I mean you know it's almost like as in movie on the way almost like heading there everything sorted everything planned to Australia and then you just made a decision and came back so we get to that that specific point but I just want to touch on I think you know several things that you kind of mentioned right I know people have this you know stereotype of moving back to India is in a is a step backward or maybe you know it's kind of look down but I think it it needs to be changed I think you know in

11:49 Terms of like the opportunities maybe it's people are not aware of what's going on India I think you know when was

11:54 The last time when they have been to India to see some of the development before they can come to I mean I think that that's one thing that we has to educate or communicate it just not anything as a looking down but it's more of having the facts and then make a decision instead of having The Stereotype of like you know 20 years back of what the image they Happ very hilarious example you know I used to the way it was communicated to me abroad was like you know India is this very dangerous kind of country especially for women at night like after 700 p.m. it's like if a girl goes on the road she's going to get raped that I literally thought that like it was not like that's the way it was communicated to me yeah so I used to be so Heavenly scared going out at night or even I think that you know I should not sit next to women in a public transport or in an auto or something because it's that gender division are so large in India Etc that cannot come close to man

12:56 That the way it was communicated to me in Europe and and you and in Hyder there was once a lady who actually SC me why are you sitting so far away why in Tel she's called me know why come closer you save some space for someone else sit there you know so and then I realized after sometime you know in Mumbai servants come at 4:00 a.m. to clean the houses like they come come alone at 4: a.m. in Hyderabad ESP in the it Hub of Hyderabad you have have couples women young women young men roaming around till 1 2 a.m. nothing happens I mean it's there are places in UK that have had much worse experiences in UK I was once followed by a man I think at 12 at night or something he wanted money and he's not even a immigrant or something was a white local so he he wanted money from me and he kind of followed me for half a kilometer so I have never experienced

13:56 Anything like that in India until now so those are all things which are being spread abroad I don't know why something political or something maybe also I mean Indians are very powerful abroad especially in US be very important for the economy I would say the startup industry The Innovation and Entrepreneurship is very much steadfast led by specifically Telus tamils in that regard and there's maybe an in kind of a ideological industry to make sure that they stay where they are like if they all come back to Hyderabad or Bangalore it'll become Silicon Valley overnight because of the talent is amazing and the knowledge they have will be just a brain drain for us probably or for UK yeah so I don't know but that's what these things I realized when I came back it's just very hilarious it's it's a bit old yeah so

14:57 Just curious like I know you mentioned about after doing the Masters you have decided to go to Australia so I I think is there any reason you pick that country just compared to any other countries you know you kind of mentioned a little bit about UK and Germany but why not other countries just curious about that yeah

15:18 Because I lived in Australia before it just like a very I would say romantic approach kind of you know what sunniest country what the country with the best economy etc those kind of things ESP with the German European passport you have pretty much a free choice to go anywhere you have the Visa is so easy obtainable for pretty much any country I think except us it's a bit more tough but compared with what Indians have to go through when they want to go to Canada pay 30 lakhs give your kidney go to the I'm over exaggerating obviously go to the Embassy get a very good certificate going to I'm flying to Australia I don't even need a visa I literally for tourist I just need to upload it online and 24 hours it's there and the reason why I why I realize that is the case is because Germans don't leave their country as much oh okay they very self-confident about their own country they focus on their own economy even if a few people leave

16:21 It already becomes like a national topic why are these people leaving you know why is this company leaving Germany they're very very focused on National interest whereas in India it's just like a common thing for until now I think last now it's changing few years but it's that's what it is and cool so I want to touch about this you know Revelation or maybe this mov where you realize this is what you want to do and then just made the decision I know you kind of touched a little bit about like you know seeing the people in Singapore you know some of the aspects U but you also mentioned about meeting your old friends I don't know if there are some conversations that you had with this old friend or something that what like is there any triggering point or a flicker like you just like this is what I'm going to do because that's a big change it's a big decision on the on the fly so just wondering what's your thought process what's going on in your mind and

17:22 How you went making into the decision so I think it was a mix of many things I

17:27 Had a lot of conversation before with a lot of U people from Germany as well on this topic like how because actually I come from geography background my bachelor is in geography so we had these conversations very naturally okay but the economic geography so my focus I love economic geography I still love it so we had this conversation about how why Australia is so rich and in Germany a lot of people emphasize that the mining industry plays a big role so the land from the aboriginals plays a big role in the wealth of the government there and if you look at the data actually does prove there actually a lot of the exports are mining because they really valuable kind of assets like uranium I think lithium coal as well so you have a lot of natural assets which Australia has which it doesn't

18:27 Deserve it hasn't worked hard for it just got it because just came there you killed the natives and you got that land right so and that is something which Germans used to stress a lot because they used to stress that we are not like them yeah you know we are not like the Australians Americans we have worked hard for our own country because our country is an Asian kind of culture so that's that is when I has to have some thought process like w okay this is interesting and I I picked it up later on but and in Singapore I think largely was just the fact that Singapore is just very similar to India actually that way if you look culturally and kind of geographically it's just very similar because actually there is a theory in geography called the geod determinism Theory okay so there's a theory in geography which says that tropical countries or hot countries are naturally poor H they are in in inherently poor

19:31 Because their climate is bad that's a theory which is still vely practiced abroad and it's implemented also a lot of Articles and journalist so you you have this thing that look the more south you are the poorer you are naturally so a country like India can never develop because it's hot so blaming it on the weather rather than on colonialism rather than on Yeahs or rather than anything else just p on the weather yeah if you go to Singapore it doesn't make any sense anymore because it's it's a very tropical country it's more tropical than India in fact okay and I think Hyderabad gets more cold than Singapore ever gets so that's when my brain started working doesn't make any sense this theory has some other intentions I so yeah these are things I think in in and these are spread very softly silently across the world you want you want realize it actually it'll just it'll be there in school in in UK and us

20:34 That I'm not sure about us but I'm even though I'm pretty sure they must be able to doing something similar but in UK I'm very sure they teach these things in fact many the British are had created many theories of individualism collectivism the theories also that Pagan religions are inherently violent those come from a Christian background for example that if you pray to many gods you are savagery or you you have more violence in your community or Society so you need order so those things are very softly it's not very direct but you you get those influences yeah got it so sounds like I think you have this assumption based on like you know your interactions or the you know the the thought process but this revelation of like in Singapore seeing a country which is a tropical but economically so Advanced kind of triggered like were even assumption and then you know maybe thought about yeah moving and the same Hyderabad was already Hyderabad is already going on a

21:36 Role and so it was it was very inviting already I think that's yeah so I know it's been about an year that you've been living in India I mean when I look at your you know Journey right you spend most of your time abroad I mean you know 17 out of 24 years that's like a lot of time abroad yeah so with that like how is the life here you know you had this some Western World or abroad but since you've been living here can you share how it's been going and the things Pros cons that would be very helpful

22:24 Yeah so it's I initially started off doing internships at Urban Design firms and urban planning firms and that is my field basically my field is urban planning Urban Design and I really first of all got easily through because yeah foreign degrees you you really preferred you're really taken much easily you get the best salaries so so I got through in many places I realized that that urban planning Urban Design sector is a bit poor and weak in India for a variety of reasons which is you can have another podcast that se separately but so I realized you have to have some you have to have some jard adapt your career a little bit and change the stream a little bit so I I'm now focusing on academic urban planning so I'm trying to go to the academic sector to contribute more with with journals articles papers research in the field and yeah rather than going in the practice because the practice is still very poor and it's still disorganized in

23:26 Many ways it's not very hyping as well yeah the government sector has not opened up yet there's still of U the colonial structures are still in place the is Officer Administration R exams and all there's still a bit in Germany for example you can get in directly in the government job without any exam for example even many countries abroad but in India it's not possible so so yeah I changed my stream I use my skills my German language skills to now get a job in a school so it's it's not been like a a cake walk but it's it's been a a a beautiful struggle you can say like a a beautiful Journey throughout and the the assumptions of India I think India just rapid rapidly changing so already the present is not as bad as it's portrayed abroad if you go to Mumbai Mumbai is culturally I would say the best city in India was very open-minded whatever cultur back come

24:29 From or where you come from you very open in Mumbai it's a very safe City it's very cosmopol also and it's getting good infrastructure now as well Metro is getting finished and I think next two weeks it's going to be opened up and the coastal Road transhub link airport Etc a lot of things are coming up there Bangalore has a lot of things that Mumbai has but it has very bad infrastructure and that's what it's working on right now and it's it has a little bit of a safety issue at night in some areas so Bangalore has some issues H is actually has very good infrastructure but it doesn't have the talent yet which bangal has like so every city in India is like working on a specific thing and indor for example small towns are very very clean very well organized like I it's say better than many American cities when it comes to cleaniness and garbage management so every city India is slightly different

25:30 But they're nowhere close to as bad as as it foot trade that's for sure yeah for sure I mean I think you know definitely to some of the examples that you have given right I mean you know the safety or you know you can't sit next to you know a girl I mean those are all like very stereotype and it's not a joke it's it's very serious I really portrayed that way it's really portrayed that way that you know India is so dangerous that don't even go close and and then obviously in Bombay I think what shook my mind is in Bombay like 2: a.m. you see young school girls and boys going for ice cream at night so it's it's a bit unfair I think portrayal is unfair I would say just cool so I know I think you kind of touched about your experience in the last one year so how do you see the future shaping up you know it's still one step at a time time but just wondering how do you see yourself

26:32 Like either working or you know living in India or you know exploring some other place so just curious on that I been doing PhD in Urban Design and urban planning nice I've been contributing through research and and

26:47 Because I have a international passport you have a lot of privileges in the quota you don't have to do any exams in one of the top institutions of IIT you don't requireing exams you can just apply and you might even get in so that's it's going on right now but I hope to get into any decent University in India and start my work and then I yeah I become academic so I became like my parents assistant assistant professor associate and then Professor got it and you can always help practitioners also on ground like the government officers who require a lot of knowledge and Theory on Indian urban planning because they don't have a lot of theoretical and research based support for an Indian context like they have a lot of material for British cities or American cities but for Indian cities how you should design a good sustainable Indian cities which are clean well managed which have a good

27:48 Reaction time to open flooding those those research is very limited and that limits their ability to improve the quality of life in India kind of of urban citizens especially in this case so any bit of research any bit of data analysis is so helpful to them and they so happy to have someone who can bring in a foreign con foreign mindset into India and give it an Indian paint basically like which I'm be I'll be focusing on nature based Solutions which is a Urban flood management concept which focuses on using nature biological systems as support yeah no thank you for doing that I mean again you know this is not a common field and this is such an important one especially where we are in India right I think in terms of the development in in terms of the infrastructure in terms of the growth these kind of planning and

28:49 Making sure everything is done in a right way would definitely go a long way so thanks for doing that so one question I have on this I know you kind of touched about it is you know especially for getting admissions in these universities there is no need for any exams I know this is a common question that people have especially who have studied let's say till 11th grade or 12th grade abroad and then who are considering about doing their Bachelors or Masters or you know something in India do you have any like insights or information on how that works for someon I was under the impression that there is like this quota called NRI quota you know only like a limited you know number of seats available for in each institution and especially for popular colleges it's just going to be very competitive very expensive and all that stuff that's the information that I have but if you have any insights you know especially in

29:40 This use case where somebody did their you know education like till 11th grade and 12th grade but they want to do bachelor's here in India how does that work what's the process if you have any information that would be very helpful yeah n qua is quite easy to get in every University is different also a little bit like every private and public University is slightly different but anal for those who have an Indian passport and it's already easy for them so I can already say it's very easy to get into private colleges good ones also public ones it's it's not too hard as well because because nris are still I would say minority isn't it that aren't as many NIS as Indians are there even the upper middle class Indian population is massive almost 10 CR so we are nothing we are a very small minority and then you have the international qua which is super privilege you have absolutely no requirements no competition as well I think it's extremely easy and you have

30:43 Universities in India which are ranked somewhere 150 100 in the world like not not as good as I would say Cambridge or anything but you have you know climbing up the ladder as ISC Bangalore IIT in Mumbai there very high ranked universities which already do worldclass research and it's it's much easier than what it's thought it's a little bit paperwork okay because it's not a mass phenomenon yet and sure even if it becomes a mass phenomenon it will still be a phenomenon of minority because so just to sorry so just to confirm like so even when you talk about like IC or IIT institutions right so when you're talking on the international port is the requirement to have a non-indian passport or is it like someone who did their education abroad along with an international passport so somebody might be already be moving here with an international passport when they're still young they might have done their

31:43 Entire education here do they also qualify in that bucket or they have to do their education outside India yes it's it's easier if you

31:54 Have a foreign degree and a foreign passport it's easier but there are universities where there's exceptions for example so there are every university has a different approach as well because the iits and ISC have a lot of free freedom to do choose what they want to do how they want to conduct that missions Etc so for for me it's quite easy I would say foreign degree foreign passport it's really easy and it's very cheap as well and so anything on the fees I think you kind of touched on the like is there a differentiation in terms of the fees that someone with an Indian passport pay versus someone with an international passport pay just two there is there is a difference the fees is considerably higher but not more than I would say even the most expensive private ones have not more than eight to N9 lakhs like the I think it mbay is 1.5 for

32:55 Example 1.5 lakhs per year yeah yeah and it's one of the highest rank universities in the world it's ium Bangalore has I think round about the same maybe ups and downs might be there sure some of the private ones have I think eight to nine lakhs so it's yeah I mean compared to what we pay abroad it's okay cool so thanks a lot on that so is there anything that we haven't covered or anything that you want to mention to you know people who are considering to moving to India or giving it a try anything that you want to share from your

33:35 Perspective yeah I would say come to India like spend some time in India and try to understand the Indian perspective or the Indian school of thought and try to look things from an Indian perspective because it's it helps you shape your idea of of India in a more accurate Manner and second factor I just just just come I was it's the best time to come as a geographer as an economist we as a geographer especially we we analyze the data and I think since last 20 years and the best the data right now is the best we have right now we have low inflation high growth low population growth so the natural population growth is also very low I think Telangana and South India have a fertility of 1.6 1.5 which is very similar to what's their abroad you have low inflation as well as high growth whereas in 2010s we had a high growth but we also had a lot of inflation for example which

34:35 Kind of annual the high economic GDP growth so the conditions are really absolutely perfect I would say just come and it's just going to get better no thanks for sharing that with the factual data right I think you know from but I I don't know some people might think like I don't know if we still in low inflation people are feeling the heat of increased price after covid right I mean across the world but when you look at in a relative fashion especially for a developing country I think India is doing better than the rest of other countries in terms of inflation but the things have changed so much but thanks for sharing the thoughts from a actual quantitative data right you know in terms of like how you know the country is doing and we also have a lot of infrastructure projects which are under construction right now which will have spillover effects which are largely going to be positive and it's it's going to be hard to calculate those fover effects as well because the our roads was so bad like if you wanted to travel from Mumbai to Delhi took you almost two three days for

35:37 Any truck driver any car it was so bad like it was people used to make fun of us but there's an Express on a construction which is going to shorten that time into 12 hours for example and that's going to have spill over effects which we don't even know right now because we're so much used to that bad infrastructure for so many decades that we don't even know when we have the good roads so yeah yeah cool no thank you very much for sharing your thoughts your journey especially the decision to move back to India is just you know like a cinematic and and really appreciate you contributing to the you know the urban planning the development right I think especially which is very important to where India is right now and there is lot of infrastructures lot of you know growth in these big metros definitely I think that planning would be a big big help so thank you for that and wish you all the best I think you know with whatever you do and everything yeah thanks a lot

36:39 Thanks a lot sir and also thank you for giving this platform and thank you for doing keeping on doing this platform for to share the stories yeah sure definitely thanks and have a great day thanks bye thank you all for joining us on this insightful Journey of Desi Return if you enjoyed this episode and want to explore more stories and expert advice make sure to subscribe and hit the notification Bell don't forget to leave a comment below with your thoughts and experiences by the way check out the links in the description below for our Facebook group and social media for updates and engaging discussions as well as connecting with fellow the wrers thank you once again and until next time may your the journey be filled with joy growth and endless possibilities