Watch: After 16 Years in US, He Walked Away From the American Dream for This One Reason | NRI

3:11 >> Got it. So it was mainly the opportunity to expose and like the career opportunities and so on. so when you moved was there any plan to move back to India at that time that you want to return sometime later? >> Oh undoubtedly. I mean just to give a backstory my mom's name is Bharati and I'm a in fact when I was started in engineering I was always a passionate to become a public service guy UPSC was never intended to be even leave the India never very much related to the culturally but when we went there you know just a typical NRA example like okay let's just do a few years and leave it right in fact I I was so hard to be honest because I worked with the delight for a few years and then even I had an opportunity even to get a green card still I was pushed it so hard that okay oh every company which want me to get a green card I'm like okay let's not do it I'm like okay I was denying it like till the last minute so with the

4:12 Idea that yes absolutely there were never a plan okay spend 3 to 5 years and just come back >> got it so >> that was it all began with >> and how did that evolve to 16 years so you know that's a quite a change. So what got changed and how life went on for 16 years in US then? Well, in every life when you are a bachelor, you always have a different kind of a dreams and then when you get married and the kids, okay, certain choices will start weighing it and then you'll start putting down a different thought. Obviously, I think it's not I'm going to put a blame as such but are partially responsible too. So, it's a more like my wife and my when we got the even the bigger kid, we started seeing a dream and in fact the initial dream start very interestingly. My wife asked for was like she get excited by seeing the accent of the other kids the other Indians who are out there like she dreamt that okay hey let's give us a few

5:13 More years here where the kids at least get the elementary out there so that's where it it got started little extension and a cut short we got another kid in 2014 I think that's almost cemented the place like oh you know what there's no point so we'll just let's just settle down here I would say that again the short the short answer is is just the

5:35 Wife and the boys. >> Got it. So what changed to you know from that comfortable life you know kids, boys enjoying the life of you know the US? What changed where you have to think about moving to India? >> Well, so the journey my personal journey was throughout my career I always had an autonomy in the workplace. So I was really enjoying it very well and things were really going well even till 2022. a couple of personal setbacks also happened. mother got passed away in 2021. that gave me a different kind of thinking process to be honest. But during the same time I was also some of the autonomy is getting weakened due to the way the organizations are merges are happening and some of the work work related to it gave me started thinking about okay how why not we become a more entrepreneur but that was still not an

6:37 Opportunity for me to leave us I was still thinking like okay let's do something out there but probably working some base out of India but it was never a stronger case during the same phase my big one who who was a 12-year-old. He just got passion so much into the cars and he asked me with a simple request that okay dad I want to become a formula racer and for a guy who come from an ID background and from a country like India and for a people who really are like born and brought up in a middle class that was never like a dream that can be anywhere supported. So frankly speaking I took my own time like almost one and a half year to test the cater to see how how good you can do. So we spent few years in the carding and then there was a moment I felt like though the results are not necessarily aligned to his way but his grit and commitment and attitude everything was like perfectly working. I'm like okay as a father what else we can do just let's just support

7:39 What whatever he wants it and in order for me to do that journey definitely the current path of employment would not work entrepreneurship is the only path and that also not a regular service agency would work and of obviously during the same period again thanks to you guys too I heard both sides of the stories both employees but I also heard a couple of stories where people came and were doing the business in India and the opportunities were definitely abundant. I know it might not be as rosy as I was visualized but I still see like being in India there's so many opportunities out here and where we could really build and come up with a couple of entrepreneurship rather than sitting in India and running another sorry sitting in US and running another agency that's when like we took our own sweet time from 2023 onwards we were thinking to leave the country I think finally the moment came in October 2024 >> thanks a lot for sharing that. I want to

8:39 Touch about this. I think you mentioned about your mom passed away and you're very close. and you said in 2021 it's a co time like were you able to travel? like just want to understand some of

8:50 The damage because it's a big thing. So that's why I want to spend a moment there. >> Oh that was a nightmare on its own. I mean of course my mother passing away has nothing to do with the co but unfortunately she got affected with cancer in Jan 2021. during that time frame yes there was a little bit of a the initial phase was a little bit of hurdle were there like how do we travel there was some hiccups unfortunately when she had to go through a treatment in her the second I think the first month she was able to get that the I'm sorry the blood cancer which is a level four I do not know the exact name that acute lucamia something right yeah so something like that >> first phase was fine in the second phase she couldn't be able to get it and she passed away in March. So still things were okay and the the real trauma happened after that personally to me. So the trauma was like after my mother passed away I came back to

9:51 Sorry I went by the way I came into India in Jan and left to US again and after she passed away I came back the travel wasn't a hurdle as I said because I already came in Jan it was not a big deal but then we were there for the the subsequent religious things that we have to honor so I we stayed here till I think end of March or so I believe And unfortunately we were about to leave the the India and to head back to US. the very day where we are about to go to the flight and my wife and my big boy they got co so because they got covid positive so they were not allowed to travel so they need to take the 14 days of >> quarantine >> taking so they quarantined and I I'm the only one who came to states and the little one is also with the mom and so with my wife she was they were there the twist in the tale was like the moment

10:52 Like I actually landed in back in US some phase in India happen suddenly like you see like a blast of COVID cases in April 2021 that almost made my wife's flight flights were cancelled and there was no travel in fact there was a period there was a flight ban was also there >> so of course my >> other the residents were also not allowed unless you are an American citizen so residents were also constrained in that brief period so some sort of rules were not clear right like okay even if you're an American resident okay you can go no it's not the rules were very strict only for citizens so myself in a big house for almost for one month that is when the trauma the real trauma happened because my mother I was very emotionally close to my mother and during the daytime and usually like imagine like boys are with me so you go to work and in the evening like you get the day you're okay with it right so you have some people to be

11:52 Relaxed Yes, >> but for me like okay the kids again due to the they were able to they were hitting bed by the time I'm really getting on to my work and they were not really awake till I really sleep. So you have the lonely face and again the twist is like by the time I actually landed in in US I realized that I was also covid positive. It is just that the test did not get through here >> when I landed back in US within the two days itself I become covid positive. I'm pretty sure that has more to do here only. It has nothing to do on the travel. I was confident too. It is just that somehow the result did not come through that way. So I spent 30 days without like much of the access to the people and the mental trauma was still playing. I mean no when one is alone everything like keep on okay >> and another backstory like it's not just my mother my father was passed away like almost 11 10 years back 11 years back

12:52 In 2011 so and we were like really grew up in Vishakartner with mom and dad the they actually moved out of from a nearby village so my our relation like very very high with the parents I mean we are one of the few kids who you can say the only world they know is their parents and their siblings. That's the kind of people we are again myself and my siblings. So your father wasn't there and obviously mom wasn't there. Suddenly you feel like the house of course is empty because they're not there but then you can feel that the dramatic silence right it played out a lot of emotional and even in fact the love towards India was also picked up more like okay yeah life would have been better had the things been in it yeah that's the story on the co time >> yeah just trying to understand the impact of that especially living abroad and with the covid so many I think you know incidents happened thanks for sharing that I think this is something that you mentioned for your

13:53 Kid and I mean it's great for you to be supportive of his interest and encouraging that you made this comment that I think you need to be an entrepreneur maybe you can expand on that like is it from the flexibility from you know financial reasons or options maybe you can expand why you say

14:11 The corporate world might not be the right one to support your elder son's ambitions >> okay I And just to give a brief for the someone to be in a formula racing so the pathways are too simple. If you start your career like somewhere if your age between a 4 to 8 just to give an example let's say Naran Karthik son okay who start the career in very young age you would be able to get some success in somewhere in the age between 8 to 12 and you would be able to get some sponsorship backing you right but for the kids who actually start their career anywhere between 10 to 12 on the formula car racing the chances are that you would not be able to get any kind of sponsor sponsorships at least till the like you become to certain phase like where you become an F3 racer or something. So they [clears throat] have like a four different levels right so the formula racing is like very expensive sport just to even to give a background even when we were doing in

15:11 Carting in US also it was used to cost us $6,000 to $8,000 per month >> just like I mean just to give you >> it's more than like it takes more than like close like 60 to 80% of our income back then so the career was so demanding at a carting level but as you rise up in the different kind of racing level here the things was like sport demands like a lot and lot more money like to give you let's say tashwood I hope I would never need that but then if this path need to be sustained for a little more longer in the longer run you're you're shooting for like anywhere in like in a tens of millions of dollars that we're talking so there is no way such kind of funding can be done by simply holding on to the ambitions are not doing any entrepreneurs going to pick active. Of course nothing is needed immediately but then we have a few more years but that is also gives us an opportunity to run the path and second

16:11 As you pointed out it's not just the money as such because money could be done even through the other ways as well like by making a right investments and others but the second part is like giving you the freedom that okay the day where you wanted to work where you cannot work for example the formula racing happens like right now in the July to December season so I generally set my schedule more tightly packed in the first half in the second half it give me a liberty like okay while the boy was racing of course my wife is the one who actually more supports him for me like okay I try to be in there the practice events and doing some sort of man right so I need to make sure I'm available in every step of his process to guide him in a way right that I don't think so the liberty will be there when you stuck with an employment that was another Got it. And so how did your wife react like I think you know in while making this decision like you know

17:13 This is like for your son specifically like but you're giving up on so many things on a career youngest son wife the freedom you know everything that you built for 16 years

17:25 On a hilarious tone I'll tell you this when the first time when I said this my wife excited with the fact that she would be able to get two more helpers in the >> [laughter] >> Certainly those are not necessarily the privileges that one could get in in in US and obviously she also liked the fact that when she got married to me and she was just 22 when we moved out to the US she was just 23 and she also missed a significant part of her life and she she also enjoys India like and she likes everything here. So she was very keen. but yes there were a lot of questions were there in the mind in terms of saying okay how do we get survive and every time again your shows and other shows you always hear two different set of views but not to be disagree with any of the people some of the people who shared the

18:25 Negative views my answer was simple if we see the entire view centered around the living life in Bangalore hydrobat yes story was right crowded in fact we were no exception in fact we the first time when we choose I told my wife that before we go and try to be lead a life in Mishaka let's just go to city which has more urban culture or some sort of an international access like again the boys are like though I we raised as an Indian but then their food style is more aligned to the a bit of western style whether the breads cheese and everything so I told her that personally I've been in Bangalore in 2006 to 2007. So I suggested that okay let's just go to Bangalore. That's another story where I was surprised the Bangalore that I know 2006 to 2007 is certainly not the one. I was completely got shocked. So yes we made the I convinced her that Bangalore has something to give a right balance and there are enough communities in India.

19:24 Again that's not a I never made up. I did my due diligence. I checked on how much Bangalore has the international when I say international schools and to be honest there are some schools where actually some international teachers are there it's not like some fictionals and enough crowd were there so >> got that is the convincing thing >> got it and when did you first recognize that your elder son is into Formula 1 racing or that's his passion I know you mentioned there was some moment when you started thinking about it and it took one and a half year but what were those moments like when did you start thinking think this is serious and yeah this is something that you have to support. >> So u basically he I mean just like most of the boys I mean like you and me and we always love the cars right? So it's come from that. in 2022 again due to the covid theme there were not much of the external activities we're doing.

20:18 So I used to take him to a local a carting place thanks to another friend's birthday party he he saw in 2022 May and he liked that carting and when he went first time experience he said like okay dad shall we go to this place so we started going to the place and I noticed like he was enjoying it I'm so possessive and during one of the carting race there was a very a brutal incident happened like he literally got hit very hard So I'm a more a protective father. I was like okay really what happened? What happened? And that's the first thing and he was able to like no no it's fine dad everything is easy. So he was able to sort it out. And second on that track I noticed a different attitude in my boy. My boy is usually like is a quite accommodative kid. Let's say like you and him if we both try to race in a bike he let you win. And he doesn't have anything like a hard feeling that I need to win. So yes I don't mind that but then we are in a

21:19 Society where you need to find some sort of a winning spirits too but when he was driving in the carting I noticed him that the attitude what he generally have in an accommodative he never had that I felt like okay oh this kid is something different there but that did not convince me yet as I said because of more expensive sport in fact I took my own time for six more months because I'm concerned concerned driving the electrical cart which is like 40 mph is not a really big thing. Of course it's very big thing like even for me like when I'm driving I'm not able to drive you know 25 miles per hour cart it's very fast. So he was he was getting it but then I know that for go to professional I need to see anywhere between 60 to 100 see how he reacts. So one fine day I took him to Denver Colorado and there was a a cart open cart place. So I'm like okay let's just give him my time because he was behind me to buy a cart. The buying a cart requires a lot of money there. So I'm

22:20 Like okay before I commit to this path let's see what he can do. So we went for a training for two days. first day it was still the basics and was not picking up. The second day I saw that the kid was driving the cart at a like a dramatic pace of like 60 to 70 m per hour even while by being next to each other. absolutely no fear and that almost convinced me that okay oh there is a one sport that going to build him an attitude and character and let's be this and second we being an Indian and I'm sure you talked to enough NRIS you know it and we always try to associate with most of the Indians to there like the cultural wise and of course I'm not a being I'm a fan of Indian culture but I'd not really be but the moment we went to the states we want to feel the diversity and one thing I felt was my big big son name is Buhan when Buhan came to this we started

23:22 Going to this different circuit we started interacting with completely different I mean you can you can guess it yeah >> so out of the entire club we are the only Indian group at least for seven months and then there's another family who came from Singapore who joined so you got a difference crowd like when we come back to community we see this entire are Indian origin people and then when we go to this racing and we see it so as a personality I felt like the woman ease of talkers also increased very much like suddenly he become expressive suddenly he's like able to talk and communicate with each other his introvertness accommodating others like slowly like going bit away I like that character to be built I'm like okay you know what doesn't matter what happens okay this is the character okay attitude can help him and win in the long term.

24:14 We don't know what the path goes. I'm like okay let's put all and I'm sure my wife and very supportive and more importantly we took this most choices because of the little one. Initially our plan was sending the big the big boy and mom to India and we stay back and do something about it. spent few years put some sort of a a fund and backing up and then finally but the it's a little one's call he said okay he wanted to next to his brother and so whether it's Bangalore Shakatnam or US I think as a family if we are four or there we consider that is a home and there's no point in staying >> got >> so more than me I would say it's it's the boys is what made us life or choice it is Yeah, that's interesting.

25:03 So why India, right? I mean I know the key point is having an entrepreneur journey. having something to support the kids passion like you know why not some other country or some other place like why India. Interesting. This story has something to do with the 2021. Remember I said I want to do an entrepreneur. During the time of 2021 I noticed a pattern. There was a

25:27 Lot of moonlighting was happening in India. So at the time most people were doing jobs not only that suddenly in India in US we were flexible traditionally like we never gave like I mean I being an account manager and I was also a pre-sales guy in US we never let Indians play the roles of an architect or some business analyst those roles but during the covid maybe because of too much of demand of technology suddenly we were open with a lot of people that okay hey we don't mind you to drive the projects I'm not saying it's not there in the past the proportion was much smaller but in the co like we're welcoming the idea that okay you can run the projects and doing them from here right so the entire phase of 2021 or like late 22 sorry late 2022 almost mid 2022 I noticed this there's so much of work was able to get done through India and there's so much of expertise is there but again when we moved in 2022 when the return to office happened suddenly the culture went back

26:28 Suddenly We're asking the same guys who were able to do a brilliant job in solution architects facing the client. was saying that okay you know what you could start becoming a tech lead because you can't you're not right in the client place okay suddenly because nothing is remote the clients who are also prioritizing the people who are actually coming into the office not then my immediate thought was okay why not creating a virtual team around some of these experts because one thing I noticed is all the people who were able to do the job in 2022 surprisingly They were able to confine to the tech lead for one reason. They are not good at marketing their own stories like how great their words were and they struggle to get the new client base. So my idea was by sitting in the US again we all the NRS who've been here we build some sort of sales and marketing skills. I'm like okay if we bring this knowledge of sales and marketing to the India around

27:30 These experts and help him even to create a team for example imagine somebody sitting in Bangalore who has some 12 or 15 years of experience in in running an Oracle applications I could create a team around him having some consultant in US in case if you need a facetime some consultant based Mexico who can do some sort of nearshore and some consultant based out of India And this guy can we can create an infrastructure around that expert. So we can get these bigger projects done and it is a win-win ratio because because most of the talent is sitting out of India we don't need to charge a few price and similarly for the people like India they can easily get double up their premiums for it. Again being in India is it not the story in Argentina? Was it not the story in Mexico back then? You would say yes it is. But then I felt like okay you could say I'm I'm a bit biased towards Indians. I'm like okay you know what instead of empowering the team around those people why not go back to close to

28:32 These experts who have this and let's just create a team. >> Got it. >> That was the main reason to say that okay let's h create this base out of India. >> Got it. So it's the opportunity that you see and that you see as an option to build it here around in India. what about the opportunities in the F1 racing training right as you said you know you see less number of people from Indian diaspora like entering into this so how are those facilities or training programs in India there's a pros and cons definitely the pro pros is in India u no doubt about it the labor cost is lesser so in any kind of a sport the labor cost is significant contributor but when it comes to the formula the significant cost goes into the vehicle and unfortunately in India formula car race is considered as a entertainment not a sport. as a result everything goes expensive. but other than that you have wonderful coaches here the

29:33 People and there's a a lot of people here they don't do it for money. just like you know you can bet it India has the has a both dual mentality. There are commercial people but more importantly we have a good chunk of people who just do the things for the sake of passion especially in the racing and we come across a lot of people who are like that so their willingness to go to support though infrastructure isn't great right now our stories were centered around poor and Chennai we have the big tracks I think the Bangalore is coming up soon in fact when we came to Bangalore that was the one reason so we thought that okay we would use the the carting Speedway I think which is the located near the airport. We could use that as a consideration but the boy promoted to a single car quickly. So Kimu Chennai are our options. Yeah. that is an infrastructure but as I said definitely people are there and we have the RPPL who brings the four cars from other

30:33 Countries and they were able to get the project. >> As a process people consider the a bit of on infra and some of these vehicles.

30:41 >> Got it. So let's talk about the planning. I know once you made a decision it took about one and a half year and then you moved in 2024. was there some milestones that you trying to hit before making the move either from a financial perspective or other things before making the transition >> back in US? >> Yes. In 2020 like you made the decision and then when you're moving back to India you know you planned for one and a half year before you pull the trigger. So was there something that you're waiting for or some milestones that you're trying to hit? Yeah. before making the move. >> If I say again that is this is also another funny one. The only milestone back then was okay make sure the we spend a Friday in Disney Orlando and then one of the thing was really we could have done this done even in late October 2023 too but there was a bit of a housing slump happened as a result we were not able to sell the house as quickly as possible that we wanted to and definitely not the price that we need to

31:42 >> so we had to wait some time for that but more important importantly there was so much beautiful places out in US and as I said I'm a kind of a person I believe some things need to be explored at certain age so the little one is 10 year old he I was sure that okay I'm sure that I don't want him to like maybe at the 15 or 16 let's say if we go back and see that okay then we see experience Disney is different so few things we wanted to so visiting most of the places that we wanted to we spend that one and a half year plan for that exploring every part of the country that we definitely want to have it and in the in the parallel as I said one hurdle was to get the right value for the home.

32:28 >> Other than that nothing else. >> I know on the immigration side you mentioned like you never applied or moved forward with the green card. I know 16 years I know things have all things have changed like have you applied for green card or went into that process? anything that you can share on that side? >> We we did went into the process. so we have the some sort of an authorizations. Okay. again that was not a hard call that okay I I mean I'd be there be there for another year probably we could get but the intention was again the only path for us to head back is obviously the kids may go and for us the answer was personally I'm also allowed the Europe part and thanks to US US becoming it's a world in its own so I don't think so if I continue to be in US I will never be lived in other country for sure other than India so those are the opportunities ities and I have a great support team over there at any point of time if I need to get some sort of immigration work people would be able to

33:28 Do and more importantly it's not that hard too and I be I have the the the organization as such I can go through a completely different category there >> so not really that much worried as I said the path the time that we need to spend here is more and more I mean I was more worried about the immigration towards Europe is much higher than the concerns towards your side. >> Got it. Was there any like concern like while making the decision? I know there was reasons like why you want to move back to India but is there something that's holding off or that's causing you like yeah am I making a right decision like that's holding you up or like some concerns while making this finalizing this decision.

34:11 >> I think the best line I could use is I told my friends on the very last day when I was leaving like okay if I have to put in a one line what would that be? I told them that my emotion was like a toddler going from play school to mom. So yes, when you're moving from play school at the 4:00, you feel like you're missing the toys and everything. But nothing can make it special more than seeing mom and getting close to mom. >> Got it. Yeah. >> So what else I can say? >> Yeah. Very well said. let's talk on the planning side. you know what how did you plan on your financial assets like the 401ks the banks or any of these anything that you can share on that end?

34:57 >> Well as I said because we definitely have a needs in the future and the boy most of his spending need to come from to Europe and even now the mo some of the vendors that we work though they do racing in India so we need to make some payments because they are European firms too. So our funds still the significance stays there and there's we were able to bring some of 50 50% of the funds back in here. So we were used to have an NR account obviously now everything become residential. So we leave the funds so we're still in that from a status RN status. I still left the 401k. I don't think so I have any plans to draw that anytime soon and some funds are still there but as I said because this is more to facilitate the move when we have to make a move sometime next year to Europe the fund moving is would be a little easier so I still had to keep a significant portion of it >> I think let's cover that point I know you keep mentioning about moving back to Europe right let's understand what is

35:57 The reason like you know you moved about 2 years ago to India like why to Europe what was the plan so maybe the audience can understand the thought process behind it. >> Oh definitely. So for someone to go to for the people who are not familiar with the formula they formula has a four levels. Formula 1, formula 2, formula 3 and formula 4. So the pathway is like formula 1 is where you have 20 racers across the world and formula 2 is you have another 20 racers across the world and formula 3 like you have similar number but then I think they can add some additional numbers too. So the significant sport the entry pathway is the formula 4 till that point of time you have a single car races like in India you have F300600 like that but to get to the F4 so some of the F4 races are like for the people who come from academic background think like it's your IATG entrance test >> so for some to do that entrance test rather than doing the test in in India one needs to be the real I

36:59 Would say the team sponsors or the people who Identify the talent everybody is sitting in Europe or in a cricketing terms the easiest like now maybe due to the IPL everywhere it's spread think of like it's a cricket cricketing days in ' 90s or 2000 the only time the only way you'll get visibility is you play some match in Mumbai and if you play the cricket in Mumbai Wanka cricket stadium probably you will get the visibility into the selectors or some sort of an assessment right same way for banan to get to the path of formula 1 it definitely need to do some sort of an FO performance within the Europe Europe and similarly the formula 3 is some sort of regional championship everything is happening in Europe. So that is where we had to find a way to back there because ultimate performance everything whatever we do here it's only to back us to feel the confidence this guy the kid has in it but when it comes to getting the attention of selectors or teams or sponsors the performance in the Europe matters a lot so that is where we need to get back to >> and how does it works especially

37:59 With your anger as well as your entrepreneur journey like building the company so is it something that you will be remotely be able to run from Europe. Is that the idea behind it? >> Yeah. >> in fact as I said earlier the intention was always to set up a global firm the originally like we wanted to put a global firm agency based out of which operates from getting the talent from India, Egypt, Mexico and to support the US and European clients. So the intention was also like okay you set up you I need to set up an eventually European office. Of course, the only hurdle going to be for me is right now I have another venture in the health tech space but that is more centered around India. I may need to find a way that hopefully things will be stabilize our operations by the time we really make a move but the intention and idea was that absolutely however we have a like not to that hope but I also have a dream too.

38:53 So it's depends on how much our entrepreneurial journey going to be success. If it's a dramat it's a huge success definitely then the need for us to go to Europe maybe for a racing so we can go to weekends but then frankly speaking visiting every month flying every time in and out to Europe is not same going to be like Bangalore. So it depends on where we would be

39:15 Hitting on our financial position sometime later part of the next year. So let's talk about I think this comment you mentioned I think the original plan was to move to Bangalore to be close to the racing environment and you know where the startups are plenty but you mentioned there you had an experience this is not the same what you expected in 20 2006 2007 so how was your experience after moving to Bangalore what was your expectation what was the reality after the move >> I don't want to hurt any of the the Bangalore residents but I can tell you my feeling was I love the city when I was in 2006 2007 I used to work for Oracle India private limited they were based they have the office in the white field the I had spent even a few months in cord mangala when I was commuting it and then I stayed for some time in the munalu that I can't visualize now back then it was like more like a true place so my perception towards k mangla I remember donglur all these areas like we love to walk in the

40:17 Streets even in the middle of the afternoon you feel like wonderful there is no there is no greenery than anywhere else there's no peaceful city than anywhere else again I was I lived in Hyderabad prior to that and even being a hardcore Hyderabadi I still any day back then the Bangalore is the best place to live and with that kind of an impression and a green okay we and I again on the story I did not join first and I my wife came to Bangalore in October I joined them in sometime in late November or December, early December. So they had to choose an apartment and we pick an apartment in Hel and they were not really told me anything saying that okay what was it my first time I landed in Bangalore airport directly I didn't even went to Vishakubern because family was already took an apartment and I came to have I'm like the entire journey was like where the heck all this green is gone there's [laughter] nothing out there and not at all okay I never

41:20 Imagined the so much of dust and the pollution in Bangalore again again I'm not saying okay compared to other cities still Bangalore is still definitely a finest city but the city that I know that I felt my emotion with yeah it wasn't there so that is the the biggest surprise but again let me be honest are they not a pro yeah I love the fact that when we lived in heel we stayed 18th century ethos right next to us. I can't recolct that particular place. There were some places where you can get all sorts of international food. I'm sure that actually put me in a shock that how much internationalized actually the Bangalore become. In fact the apartment where we stayed our neighbor actually from one from Japan and other from Korea and my boys loved that the interracial culture and even when you go to some of the local school and he had that crowd at different even ages. Yes. undoubted a lot but

42:21 Definitely my most beautiful peaceful city was definitely gone forever. >> So for how long you stayed in Bangalore

42:29 Before making a decision to move to Vishaka Patnam? >> One year. >> Okay. So you were there for an year and what made you to move to Vishaka Patnam instead of continuing to live in Bangalore? Well, as I said, my the city that I'm born and brought up and I'm a big fan of, the beaches and, everything else is right there and obviously there was some hindrance to when I had to set up an office. again, my business model was more to operate out of tier 2 and tier three cities. So, I opened up office in Vishakapatna. I used to commute every month to travel from Bangalore to Vishaka. >> Okay. that wasn't really going as great I wanted to be. I felt like managing the office by sitting in Bangalore is terrible idea. So I I realized that okay I need to make a move and obviously I love the place and again the second thing is the Bangalore gave me enough reasons to even leave.

43:26 >> Okay. how did the kids adjust? I think you said like he was 14 when you guys moved. so he might be in the middle school like how did the kids adjust? which curriculum did you put in? yeah, how was that experience? >> So for B it's easy even in the US itself he studied till in the middle school 8th grade he completed for the ninth grade he was doing almost for 6 months no sorry I think four months or five months we were there and the rest of the year he complete from here he joined virtual school there itself. So he was doing a virtual school from the from the calendar year. So for the the little boy Rishan we had to get him into the one of the international school curriculum here. Curriculum wise they didn't have any problem because buman even after done the ninth grade there 10th grade he joined the bil goinga and the cambridge curriculum was able to completely align to his understanding in fact some of the subjects I'm impressed so they have a

44:28 Good one and it was not that hard part probably the CBS or SCS would have been a definitely a complicated course

44:35 >> got it >> so sticking to the Cambridge curriculum is actually made the path easy >> cool so how was the life it's been 2 years since you've been living in India. there were some expectations that you moved like for the entrepreneur journey for the kids passion and what's the reality like in living in India now? >> well when you see things from the p farther okay everything is green correct. So when you come closer and you can see those small hindrances. but I'm a optimistic guy. So things definitely not the way we wanted to be. But then I was able to learn a lot more. which is the reason I was just about to tell you like my original idea was never to walk into the health tech space. So we were able to walk into newer ventures based on how things are a bit slower the way we did not expect.

45:27 For example, my entire story of moonlighting did not work through thanks to AI. Now people instead of opting for entrepreneur route though we offer infra we trying to offer infrastructure there's a lot of fear for sort of people but instead of trying something new they were trying to be more protective and to see how well they can keep up their jobs. So as a result few setbacks happened and similarly on the tech side a big setback was my space where I was keen to operate was Salesforce and Oracle side but then we had to pivot to more towards EI because that is where some sort of an opportunity some sort of the risk appetite is there. So those were like some things that we had to move and secondly the one thing is be staying in tier 2 city for people the idea for me was I thought okay if I bring the opportunities closer to the cities where they are things could have been done better I would be able to keep up some talent but then I realized the people here sometimes they

46:28 Feel the opposite they're like okay we spent too much time in our my city let's head back to Hyderabad and Bangalore that made my access to the talent got a little harder in working in the city. So yeah, those were the areas were things are exactly going in the way that we we wanted to be or not necessarily. I think I would say were at least slowed down by somewhere time frame of 6 to 8 months but that gave me a lot of insights into the how Indian enterprise operate the decision makers operate and some of the like bureaucracy and even what do you call u not the bureaucracy I mean it's more of policy making too >> like some of them are actually even a

47:12 Setback like not that I want to but it's your choice when I keep it this particular line so So the line is like you know in US when I was setting up the company the main company out there it took half an hour to initiate the process one day to get the approval >> to get the name. >> But when I came to India it took for me like literally I'm not joking literally 3 months to get the process done and one of the terrible process was my mom's name is Barati. Yes, I was keen to put some name. I had to spend three or four times to go back and forth to convince the people that okay this is completely different name than others just to get even name approval. I had to spend probably like more than four or six weeks then finally even to lock in a name and similarly the approval process, registration process. I wish again this is the one of the green thing when I was there we still definitely we

48:12 Improved our business ranking but there is a one area where as an India we need to improve upon is the the pace at which how we need to let business approval should go should be faster similarly on the banking like for example for the first few months officially we still NRA right because we came in October November to convert the NRA account some of them were like we were not keen on yet but then even to put a funds to an Indian account there were like so much of questioning around that okay oh it is an NRA account it's fun I'm like no we already moved here into this country we're becoming resident make the path easy so but then the stringent policies tells you that okay you can't move easily the capital so the controls on the capital to set up a company and even this bureaucratic some of this slowness again I'm pretty sure it's not intentional [clears throat] definitely we have improved a lot. I agree. But this is nowhere to a pace where you can welcome an entrepreneurs from the other countries and just able to get things

49:14 Done like a again I have friends who are operating not to compare our own great country with other but then there are if you go to even a China or even the Vietnam or even Indonesia I have a friends who are there the entire setting of the companies can be done like a lot faster. >> Yeah. So an Indian who can set up the company in US lot faster than even a guy who actually an Indian origin guy can come to India and set up a company. So yeah, those were the things where a bit again I'm I don't have a problem as I

49:45 Said I'm still optimistic. we have a lot of talent, we have a lot of opportunities, something needs to be fixed. That's >> during those moments have you ever felt to India or why I'm trying to build something here? >> No, not at all. If we don't fix our house, who's going to do it? Yeah, that's a mindset. >> I mean like my treat my treatment like is in the house. If a cousins or siblings or anyone is doing something trouble or even kids and they make a mess, you just don't want to walk out of the house. You try to help them to see what they can. Again being a guy who's actually see the other part of the world for almost 17 years. Yeah, we'll try to tell the people what they can. Again, here it's not like here people don't listen. I I'll be honest. I had an opportunities to meet some people from the bureaucratic side, even some of the GST commissioners, everyone. They always welcome the inputs. But it's just that implementation is bit harder. Got

50:46 >> it is what it is. >> Yeah. So let's I say think think of someone who is 45 years old in US successful there thinking about moving to India. What would you say the question that they should ask themselves before making a decision of moving back to India? Like the one question they need to ask themselves is like do they really come here for some sort of an an entrepreneur journey or for to do a job. If you plan to do a job, my personal suggestion is don't do it because things are more expensive to live in the metro cities and you would definitely don't expect anything that what you have a beautiful calm weather everything there and the entrepreneur journeys are much easier like even my own story I'm able to afford to live 30 like sorry a 30-minut drive from Vishakapatna which has a beautiful green place I'm sure

51:47 There are such great place in my own experience in indoor or other places to go where you can see in tier two cities. So that's the one thing that you

51:54 Definitely have to ask yourself. Are we going to pursue the entrepreneur journey or you going to pursue the the other channel or the employer journey? >> Got it. And then the last question is what mistakes do you see people make when making these moves like a any common mistakes that you notice when people are making these kind of moves back to India? I'll attribute something back you guys I mean what were you helping you know we have this tendency we call though we we lived in states we understand there is information asymmetry that means not everyone knows everything but then instead of relying even to go with a proper advocate for example whether it comes to the banking whether it comes to some sort of legal services and everything even working with an agency we feel like okay oh it's India we know it okay we and work with something. So the jugard nature will also help you to think that okay I can make it less I strongly recommend people again in my own

52:54 Experience some of them too it's a better to go with a go with a person who are more have a knowledge pay for some sort of a consultation some service it's not expensive because frankly speaking the amount of things that that you are trying to put in it's not going to be like a one person even within that so just make your path easy try to work with a person who already been here do it at least get some legitimate information don't fall for some other information which just apparently available in a Google search and there are some blogs were written randomly like even to be honest this one video too it is just a oneperson experience like for example the way I liked your channel or even other people who are trying to aggregate the ideas right it's easier to come down to a conclusion based on one viewpoint but if you talk to a person who actually talked to like 40 odd people then you can see a better view and also more contextualize yourself saying that okay hey you may not be able to do it for example whether

53:54 It's from Abinach or from other people from your company or similar company similar group of yours right they can tell it that okay hey your story is related to X and YZ they have done it so don't think that okay we can judge it by ourself we know who story related to us sometimes it's better to get the third party view I think that is the one thing I would No. Yeah. >> Other than that, I think yeah, nothing is mistake. You know what? Everything is an experience. >> Yes, for sure. So, thanks a lot, Bonu. And good luck with everything with your

54:25 Entrepreneur journey, with your son's passion. and it's kudos to you for supporting his passion and doing all you can and you know [clears throat] making these big life decisions around it. So, good luck with everything and thanks a lot for taking the time and sharing your journey with us today. Thanks a again. Thanks for talking to well definitely we we'll try to do our best and definitely who else cannot help other than the mom. So I'm I'm at the right next to my mom. Good. Thank you.