Watch: Was Returning to India a Mistake After 24 Years in Canada?

4:02 Financial tax planning how to choose the best school for your kids and we also have several checklist that help you with the move from a financial Logistics and much more this isn't just an advice it's carefully crafted road map to save your time reduce stress and help you make better decisions ready to plan your move with the confidence click the link below in the description to join for free and start receiving actionable strategies rightly in your inbox yeah it's an interesting story you know it's I'm from New Delhi yeah and going abroad was never in my mind but you know coming from middle class family there were not many opportunities I got into my own transport business but my dad didn't like it so he was like you know we got to send you abroad and things moved at such a rapid Pace I thought it's never going to happen but within two months I got my Visa flew abroad you know to England from an

5:03 NBA huge culture shock you know like most of us you know it's just in India you're used to doing everything yourself and you know suddenly you get into a country where you know you buy your own groceries cooking your own food where you don't even have a clue how to do it so that kind of stuff you know did met degree over there didn't see many opportunities you know cuz you know once you start living abroad for a for a while initially you get homesick but once that phase is over you know then you got to make a decision okay you know what and again being from middle class is the goal was always to earn money get settled in life and I didn't see that happening in India so the first goal was you know somehow you know in UK but there was absolutely zero way to you know for that to happen at that time yeah so you know file a PR for Canada and and luckily that happened in few years so moved to

6:03 Canada and got into a job did well came back to India yeah that was about it and then went back again got it so yeah let's talk about the life in Canada right I think after your studies you have the opportunity to be in Canada sounds like

6:23 I think you have been working and life you know how is it and why the thought of moving back to India occurred hey so what happened was you know it's I was in a position where you know it's I'm going to go back to India and U well obviously my wife were with me and my kids were here as well so go back and just kind of relax well luckily I got you know I got into real estate and luckily I made it I ended up making way more than that so okay you have all this money you know what do you do I call my dad and he goes the leave building and industrial building let's invest into it yeah let's do that the would say you know the rent start to come in now certainly you're tempted a lot you know okay here I'm working my ass off even though I've got a very good position I'm in a management position you know but still it's you

7:24 Wake up early you go there you come back and even after hours you know cuz if you're in a senior position you cannot switch off your phone so lot of stress and so that was the primary reason I think to enjoy life being close to family is India is such a huge Temptation you know so there was nothing negative it was all good about going over there we were very excited got it and if you can set a stage like you know to understand it right how old were

7:57 The kids so you know at the time of the move and maybe some of the planning I think that would help like to understand I think the main motivation is to have the Comfort life or like you know have a little bit less stressful and so on so just help that a little bit in terms of the background at the time of the Moon my kids at the time were five and four years old yeah very young okay as far as planning goes me and my spouse we are absolutely opposite she loves to plan she's very or organized I'm on the other hand this I'm a very disorganized person I don't plan at all but things happen so to me it is you know it's one day I sat down with it I'm like you know what are your thoughts about going back home and she wasn't very sure about it you know an hour later I convinced her I'm like know this is the best thing that you know we got to get rental income first of every month you know is close to family you know

8:58 Close to every every every function everything that's happening over there India you know all the festivals and all that kind of stuff and you know see she said yes well within 15 days we had our house rented out W my brother was my brother also lives in Canada okay so I rented my house out we put all the furniture we had a decent sized house you know was a walk out basement so we put all of furniture in one room in the basement and just locked it and parked my cars in my brother's place and within 3 weeks of that discussion we were flying back to India One Way Ticket wow that's so quick yeah yeah that's very interesting so sounds like I think you had this idea and able to convince your wife and you executed on it and then but the plan was always to have some kind of a backup I think you didn't sell your vehicles or the you know the things right I think you wanted to move back and give it a shot or and see how it goes maybe is that the thought process or like you

9:59 Pretty much decided we are moving for good but you know you might want to come back and then sell these later just curious on that I think you know the approach on how you you took in terms of moving back yeah yeah I think you're absolutely right you know like even though we didn't realize it at that time I think back of the Mind there still was always this thought what if things didn't work out so we always wanted to have that cushion because you know we could always sell the house we could always sell the vehicles but it was all like you know let's go in there test it out and see how it goes understood so that's that's what pretty much it was great okay so how was the life in India I think you

10:40 Had set an expectation you know in terms of being close to the family having a comfortable life you know relying on the income from the commercial building and so on so how did it go and what happened and yeah tell us the experience there well you know it's U it was a very mixed experience The Good the Bad the Ugly yeah and lot of good some bad some ugly as well you know it's so if you were to dwell on the good part first it life was awesome freaking zero stress I didn't have to work the only thing I had to do was collect rent and I kind of didn't like that aspect a lot because you know what what happens being overseas all these years plus I always have this gentle personality I'm not I'm not a guy who get in confrontation and that kind of stuff

11:41 Unless someone's being a complete idiot you know I won't even argue so to me it is you know but in India to get that rent if you're soft people you know they they use you and I had to change my personality a little bit and that bothered me yeah I felt like I was becoming angry like you know thousands of other people in Delhi I was was getting that kind of personality but that was M you know was it was nothing major so the rent part was awesome like when you don't have to work the only job that you have to do is go to the office wake up at 10: you know freaking flip few TV channels read newspaper you know talk to some AB over here another guy over there and you know come back and you know then you know me and my M my kids we literally eating out every day you go on long drives you know you wake up okay we're going to Nepal today we're going to Singapore tomorrow or you know another next month you off to Thailand or Malaysia is

12:43 Like we were traveling so much it was Unreal yeah so workwise the only work I had was till the 15th of the month I had to collect that rent you start asking people rent there rent there and you know what it it take them takes them a while but you get it and after 15 I had to spend it because in Delhi the biggest expense is your house yeah and I was living with my dad so we didn't have that plus you know I didn't have to contribute much to our household anyway you know he was doing good and so that was the only thing that we were doing so that was really awesome that's one thing we really miss you know the traveling part the eating out part the food culture is so awesome in India so those little things you know not five stars you know but average restaurants and that kind of stuff you know was was awesome yeah when you get to the bad part is Road

13:44 Rage that's horrible in in Delhi especially in North India I would say Punjab and those places they are still better but New Delhi is freaking awful parking issues people were splitting each other's head open on that I got into a very ugly scene where my driver got attacked by four people I had to rescue him you know I got Fu blows myself too you know it's it was very ugly and that's the day well this is right before I came back one of the rods hit me right over here and when we were to at the hospital the doctor told us if it was like half an inch up you'll be dead and those are the kind of things you know that kind of makes you think you know okay is is it really worth it out so I think that that was a big part of it pollution my wife she has asthma so the first nine or 10 months were awesome but close to Diwali like right right after Diwali the pollution

14:46 Level got so unreal she was in hospital every second day wow like every evening she would get attack and it was horrible so you know doctor told me you know what either look for a new place to live or look for a new wife I'm like that's an easy Choice man so you know we came back to Canada very soon after that knan wood we've been here for 14 years now she has she hasn't gotten with one asthma attack very so I think health and safety were two major concerns which made us move back yeah I mean those are very very important you know at the end of the day no thanks a lot for sharing that but

15:29 In terms of the kids I think how how did it go with them just curious on that you know they were really too young so they didn't even know what was happening they were just traveling with us you know it's one thing which I noticed was my younger son he hated going to school okay and he used to start crying the moment you know we were it was just pre- Nursery School that we used to drop him off at every morning and what we found out over here when we came back a year later the teacher used to beat him up every day W really yeah sad but that's that's the reality than that you there's nothing that stands out you know it's they were too young and basically anywhere we would go we would take them with us so it's pretty much about it got it so sounds like I think you pretty much moved about an

16:21 Year after the transition like so what was your planning about wring back like you know how did you approach it just curious on that it was was very easy I know you know it's the field that I was in I was very much in demand so I know the moment I would come back I would have my job and everything you know whatever I did I didn't doubt it so you know once the doctor told me that you know we had to have change of environment it was not even an option yeah so I came back first had a meeting with the owner of the company and he was more than happy you know to take me back yeah so I just want I'm thinking about coming back and he says you know we would love to have you back so I was at my same position and you know the lease was up for the tenants so we had our house back as well yeah so it was a very smooth transition back our furniture was in the basement so just had to call the movers to get it back up yeah so I within two or three days you know we was was well settled

17:21 The way we used to be yeah that makes sense yeah just a curious have you

17:27 Considered about any other City or any other place I mean I think you know trying to balance it out right I think you kind of mentioned about the reason what we we are at that stage in life like after that I quit my job and you know we started cop company me and my brother and in the last 14 years we've made it to one of the largest count of fabricat invest in Canada so it's you know life's been good but we at that stage where looking at semi- retirement and again India is calling like you might want to say but we wouldn't want to move back to India so we're looking at options Dubai Singapore we might make those countries a base yeah or you know look at some plac in Europe as well but let's see what happens but I think you know it's U it's going to be either Dubai or Singapore

18:28 That we end up in okay and just a curious in terms of thought process right I think moving from Canada to like Dubai or Singapore is it just the proximity or the services just curious in terms of thought process of why these places then living in Canada you know because that you're very familiar you have been there just wondering on that well it's you know Canada is awesome but there are a couple of things that that are tough to deal with the first one is obviously weather is it gets extremely cold like today was it's going to be minus 20 which is still not bad you know like you know end of December early January it's going to be minus 40 minus 45 mind you the weather's gone a little bit better over the years you know but it's still still pretty tough second is taxation the taxes over here are so high it's it's almost time okay we got to look at other options so one thing that goes in uae's favor is zero tax yeah and lower taxes

19:28 Singapore so I think those are two key things for us right now makes sense and

19:34 Just curious I think in terms of the kids so I would assume they are in their 20s or 19s right I think you know based on what you have mentioned so are they like you know in college right now like the transition just curious you know when you say about semi retirement and you know traveling back and forth any any anything that you can share yeah yeah my both my you know both of my sons they in University right now so my Elder one he's already moved out and you know he's studying nuclear physics in Ontario so he's going to keep on doing that regardless what are we do my younger son he's going to come into business with me so he's definitely going to move with us you know wherever we go but again if he doesn't likes it and you know our kids are their circle is way more than ours and right now is all about them so if he comes back man we are packing our bags and we falling back again yeah yeah I I personally feel I think it's becoming such a global place I think people travel around spend time in different countries and so on so yeah

20:35 It's just becoming so you know looking back

20:40 Right I think you know someone who has tried living in India and you know some of the challenges that you have faced is there something that you would suggest or recommend or advice for people who are considering about moving back to India hey you know watch out for these things or be mindful you know so that they can make an informed decision yeah I think it all depends on what part of country a person is from and every part has its own challenges and I personally think you know is before you make that decision live there for three months don't be like a tourist you know like when we go in December and come back in January don't do that live there for three four months immerse yourself because the amount of time that we spend in the Western World making that adjustment is not going to be easy and secondly do look at these other

21:41 Options like Dubai is only three hours away it's almost having Best of Both Worlds from Delhi to Bombay Delhi to Bangalore is three hours it seems like you know with the Indian diaspora and there it seems like just an extension of India over there so that's all I would say you know is don't just jump into it you know get your feet wet first and see how it goes from there yeah completely agree I mean if you have the flexibility to live for you know couple of months living is different versus visiting you know this is where you deal with day-to-day stuff you know some of the things and that can help you in solidifying your decision process yeah for sure yeah is there any topic that we haven't covered that you would like to bring up in our discussion not really you know what I

22:35 Think the only other thing was corruption that was a tough one to deal with is it's funny you know how you grow up in a place and you know everything about how the system works but all these years overseas you know kind of make you Rusty you're not even used to it and you don't even realize that person's asking for a bribe and suddenly everything changes if you if you don't offter that so that's another thing but I think you could for the most part okay that's

23:01 Cool maybe just a curious from my perspective if I remember I heard correctly like you were in business before moving to UK for your MBA yeah okay so just curious on that experience right I mean someone I would expect you know who has been in business so they might know how to deal with the people or you know get things done in India which is different than like somebody doing a professional job and so just wondering in terms of your experience right I think when you were in business like 13 years before you tried to return back is there a difference is there a change in terms of this interaction or getting things done in terms of you know with the with the people in India just curious on that you know what have is one thing which I realized is when I was doing business in India let's recap on it a little bit my dad had a young business but he is old school and I was a troublemaker so you know how our old school parents are you know if you're a

24:02 Troublemaker you'll always get so I never used to go to this office because I know D so I started my own transport business like here he's got a very sophisticated business now I'm starting dealing with truckers so think about it just I shouldn't say that you know but it's a pretty rough business got into that CU I had zero Capital at that time and all I had was was Dad had a shop that was empty so that's all I had yeah but what I realized was the reason I got successful in there was in this industry everyone's foul mouth everyone was swearing and I came in as a whff of fresh air a breath of fresh air everyone that I went to to ask for work it was absolutely awesome because I was polite I was respectful and people supported me left right and Center so even back then I just didn't I just don't have that bone in my body where you know you can

25:05 Manate things or do that kind of stuff and but I was I was doing pretty well yeah you know back in 99 I was making almost one lakh a month you know just you know a single guy which wasn't bad at all yeah and same thing is helped me in Canada as well you know do what you know whatever you promise make sure you do it if you cannot you know don't lie about it be totally upfront in fact we were thinking about opening up u a manufacturing plant in Hoster in South India at one time and we had a very bad experience in India the corruption and all that kind of stuff you know was it was almost like who not even worth it yeah so I just don't know how to deal with that system is my parents can but not me yeah that's true yeah yeah so that's

26:06 Great yeah thank you very much Mr Amar for sharing you know candid conversation with us right I think U especially this would be very helpful for people who have thoughts about moving to India or moving out from a western world right I mean they have options to go anywhere but at least this can give some perspective someone who has given it a try and how it went for them and you know this definitely helps in their decision- making process so thank you very much for taking your time and sharing your journey with us today thanks it was a nice talk with you yeah that's great thank you thank you