New Delhi Times

1/3rd of an year has passed since I R2Ied! And what a 1/3rd of an year this has been. Gadhadhari Bheem rightly comments that I am not marketing R2I enough. Well, its true I have been awfully busy of late. But I would not attribute that to being in India. I have been working on starting a new business – so I have been tied up with finding office space, hiring people, understanding finance and keeping my clients happy (not in that order…). But more on that in a seperate post.
In the past 4 months, I have not regretted R2I-ing even once. Of course, its been only 4 months but I feel more confident about being in India than I did back in November. To prospective R2Iers, I will like to give 2 pieces of completely un-asked for advice :-
1. Know why you want to R2I – Have a reason to R2I. If you have some vague ideas about why you want to come back, then its probably not the right time to return. Having a very specific reason is important because it keeps you focussed once you are back here. My reason was that I wanted to try out different things professionally – something that was not possible in US because of a slowing economy, lack of resources and visa issues. So when I came back, each time I wondered “What the hell am I doing in the 3rd most polluted city of the world sitting in a traffic jam in sweltering heat and earning 1/10th of what I made before?”, I had an answer. You can have a different reason – personal or professional – but it should be compelling enough to keep you motivated and excited about being in India.
2. Be a cool dude: This is important. Know that the India you are coming back to is way more developed than the India you left. BUT it is still not the US you are leaving now. There are differences and if you grew up in India then you are well aware of them. Nothing should surprise you. Remember you used to make fun of power cuts, corrupt politicians, our beaureaucracy, our cricket team etc. Unfortunately after spending a few years abroad, you will find it difficult to find all this funny anymore. You will instead be tempted to complain and whine. Well, dont! Be a cool dude! Have a “bindaas” attitude! Learn to love the system, learn to play the system. Take these things in your stride! This is the key to adjusting to life in India.
So that’s my 2 paisa worth of thoughts about R2I-ing. If you are thinking about returning (and which NRI isn’t?) then feel free to drop me a line (gauravbhatnagar at msn dot com). I will be glad to help in any way I can!

(sob alert! This is a long post and kind of serious in nature. Read at your own risk!)
I watched Swades last night. From the trailers it was obvious that the movie was about an NRI who comes back to India. So naturally I was eagerly awaiting this movie. I was curious to see how much I could connect with the movie.
The story is about Mohan Bhargava(Shahrukh Khan), an Indian working in NASA. After being in US for several years, he starts feeling guilty for having neglected to take care of his “daayi” back in India. So he decides to visit her and bring her back with him. However his trip to India proves to be life changing. He is disgusted by evils plaguing our society (casteism etc) and also moved by the plight of the villagers in India. He helps the village by constructing a dam to generate electricity. There is a love angle too (can a Bollywood movie be complete without a love angle?). The love interest along with his new found love for des make him come back for good.
The movie is certainly worth a watch. However, it is too long and the story moves painfully slowly in the first half. Director Ashutosh Gowarikar has ridden the script with stereotypes and excessive lecture-baazi. We all know that the caste system is evil and has no place in the society. So it is ho-hum to hear SK go on and on on this issue. The treatment of some of the issues that plague rural India is a little naive. For example, it is too simplistic to believe that a village deeply entrenched in caste system would accept change just because an NRI cajoled them into it.
The movie is based on a true story. Surprisingly this fact is not acknowledged in the movie. You can read more about the real heroes here.
As an R2Ier, I was able to connect with some of the emotions that Shahrukh goes through in India. The abject poverty that is so rampant in our society makes a very deep impact especially when you witness it after a long time. Seeing a little child work all day to earn a meager amount can drive you to despair. There are times when I feel shallow for working in the software industry. There are much bigger challenges that our society is facing today. All talk of mobile phones and internet and outsourcing is irrelevant to 99% of our people. We say India is changing (and I have said that many times myself on my blog). But the real India is still the same. What progress have our villages seen in the last 100 years? They didn’t have water and electricity then, and they still don’t have it. There was no healthcare available then and so is it now. The so called “untouchables” are still outcastes. Where else in this world do we have such disparities in a single nation? Sure, there are homeless and lesser privileged in the US too. But just once witness the condition of the poor in India and I challenge you that you will be moved to tears.
When I was in America, I was far away and detached from this sad reality. Yes I knew there is poverty and suffering in India, but it was not in my face. It was a statistic. But today, each time I stop at a red light, I see the face of a little kid peering into my car begging for a rupee or two. At such moments, I feel shallow and ashamed. All talk of cell phones and internet and wifi is crap. We can talk about affordable computing or bringing broadband to the cities or creating a multi-billion dollar outsourcing industry. But are those the big problems that we should be thinking of? As a country, we want to change the world. What change can we bring about when we haven’t even been able to provide water to all our people? We can’t assure that our kids can get basic education and we talk about our superior work force. In the movie, Shahrukh makes a great point that we love to claim superiority over the developed world based solely on our heritage and culture. I am sorry but that is no argument. India is not a great country. Not by a mile. Not by a light year. We have a very long way to go.
As a social animal, it is my duty to work for the betterment of my fellow human beings. On the other hand are my desires and aspirations which are more materialistic. How does one reconcile one’s duties with one’s desires. Does fulfillment of duty mean being devoid of any desires, or vice versa? Is there no middle path? How does one resolve this conflict? Have you ever felt this within you? What did you do?

Interesting article about the recent trend of many NRIs returning back to India. Makes a R2Ier like myself feel better about my decision

I landed in New Delhi on Monday morning. The IGI airport isn’t the cleanest but it is not the dirtiest too. More importantly immigration and customs are streamlined and it didn’t take me more than an hour to come out of the airport. The airport authorities are polite and helpful. I noticed an unattended piece of luggage lying near the
immigration counter. When I informed one of the officials about it, he pretended that he didn’t hear. I guess somethings never change!
I spent the first day indoors. There are over 70 channels available on cable all for Rs. 150 (< $3) per month. There are at least 5 new channels since I visited India last year. Cricket and US elections dominated the news channels (and there are quite a few of those). The catch phrase on NDTV seems to be that for Indians the “known devil
(Bush) is better than the unknown devil (Kerry)”. Interestingly, there is a plethora of religious channels now. There are channels offering prayers and teachings of Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity and Islam. So I guess India is still as secular as ever! On the other extreme, music videos on MTV and other music channels have redefined raunchiness. The square footage of skin shown on Indian television surely exceeeds that on American television. For R2Iers, all the popular American shows are available (Friends, Just Shoot Me, Will n Grace etc). Indian version of American Idol just started last week and as expected is getting wildly popular.
Today I finally ventured out of my home. I tried driving my dad’s Wagon R around the block. It is a nice car and drives surprisingly smooth for Indian roads. I was driving a stick shift after many years but it didn’t much time to get used to it. It wasn’t too hard to adjust to Delhi roads but I still haven’t dared to drive in the
crowded roads. I had forgotten some of the “unwritten rules” of Delhi roads (for example, you have to honk before you overtake and that there are no rules). Amazingly, Maruti 800 is not the most common car on the roads anymore. WagonR, Alto and Santro seem to be the most popular cars. Honda City, Skoda octavia and Hyundai Accent are popular bigger cars. I rented a Tata Indica for a day. The car comes with a driver and costs Rs 500 (~$10) for 8 hours and 80 kms. Delhi roads have changed a lot since my last visit. Almost every intersection on the ring road now has a flyover. The Safdarjung flyover is multi pronged and very impressive. Moolchand intersection has a Zee News electronic marquee displaying the latest news (“Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan turns 39 today”). Many traffic lights have a counter that displays how many seconds are left before the light turns green. Metro construction is going on at a very rapid pace. Apparently the first phase of construction was completed ahead of time and under budget. People have big hopes from the Metro. Riding the Metro is high on my list of things to do!
Cell phones have become omni present. Cab drivers carry cellphones, the colony sweeper carries a cell phone, the ande-waala (egg seller) on the road has a cell phone too. There are 4-5 different providers offering variety of services and plans. Apparently Hutch provides TV channels on cell phones. There is picture messaging, MMS, video on phone and much more. Compared to the US, mobile technology in India is leaps and bounds ahead. I can honestly say I found it easier to get a cell phone connection in Delhi than in Seattle. In Seattle I was denied once due to lack of credit history. Then I had to buy the phone and then call the Sprint customer service to get my phone activated. In Delhi, I walked to a cell phone service reseller (there are 3-4 on every corner), filled a form, showed my drivers license and got my phone activated. The whole process took less than 15 minutes.
I have been out of Delhi for only three years. And yet I felt like a stranger in the city. Today, very few cities in the world could be developing so fast. I doubt if I visited Seattle 3 years from now, I would see so much change. When they say that India is growing at 6% annually, this is what they mean. Delhi is changing for the better. And while it has a very very long way to go, it is heartening to see such visible progress in such a short time. The last century saw such progress in America and Europe. 21st century belongs to countries like China and India and I feel fortunate to be able to witness this change myself and even be a part of it!

Its been raining non-stop today. Cribbing about the weather was always a favorite pastime here. One summer in Delhi will make me realize how good I had it here Off to the airport now. Next post will be from India!

At this time tomorrow I will be at the airport. For the last few days I have been so busy packing that I haven’t had any time to sit down and reflect. I called Redmond home for 3 years and leaving this place, I feel as sad as i had felt leaving Delhi. It is a beautiful little town, almost like a hill station. There are so many Indians here that it almost seems like an addendum to India. A city plucked from somewhere in India and dropped into America. Redmond is prettiest at this time of the year. Fall colors make the occasional clear days (like today) especially beautiful. Having grown up in the mad rush of Delhi I enjoyed the quite small town life. I especially enjoyed the small commute (3 mins) to work. It is amazing how habits form and how easily you can slip into a comfort zone. When I came here, I never thought I could get so used to the American life like I did.
But for now, I feel the cheese has moved. And so must I!

Only 48 hours left and my packing is not even half done. It turns out it is fairly cheap to ship stuff to India via USPS. Shipping books costs about 1$/pound. It takes 4-6 weeks for the package to arrive in India. However, there are limitations on how large a box you can ship. I had boxed some clothes for shipping but I was told it was too big. Apparently, the maximum size allowed is length + width + height = 79 inches. Still, this is much cheaper than paying for additional baggage (Cathay Pacific charges $121 for an extra suitcase)

I have been researching different options for transferring money to India. Here is what I found (disclaimer: this is just what I have been told, please use any information here at your own risk and definitely don’t blame me for any screw ups!:) )
1. ICICI Money2India ACH (http://www.icicibank.com): This is by far the most convenient and cheapest option especially if you have an ICICI bank a/c. Everything can be done online and it takes about a week for the money to transfer. The service is free. Only limitation is that you can only transfer upto $5k in one transaction.
2. Wire transfer: Wire transfers don’t have any upper limits. If you use ICICI Money2India wire transfer then you only have to pay domestic wire transfer fee. It supposedly takes upto 3 days for the the money to reach India.
3. Bank drafts/checks: My bank manager in India suggested this option. However, as I understand it takes significant time (a few weeks) for the checks or drafts to clear.
4. Travellers checks: Sombody on the R2IClub suggested this option. You can get a much higher exchange rate if you sell to private agents. I have been told it is legal. The only issue I can see is that you will have to carry that much cash back to your bank.
Apparenty it is possible to negotiate the exchange rate with the banks in India. If you are bringing in a large amount of foreign currency, you can negotiate for a higher rate. I was not aware of that.

Yesterday was my last day at Microsoft. It was a mixed feeling. I felt truly sad leaving a great work place but excited too to face a new future. Each Microsoft full time employee (FTEs as they are called) gets a blue ID badge. That blue badge is your identity in Microsoft. When it was time to return the blue badge yesterday, I finally realized that things are really changing. My team mates and myself climbed over one of the famous Microsoft signs on the campus and took a pic.
Apart from the “why are you coming back” questions, I have also been asked the “how can you leave Microsoft” question a lot. It is a testament to Microsoft’s reputation as an employer here and especially in India that people find it hard to believe I am leaving. No matter how much ridicule the geeks lays onto Microsoft, for the average computer user Microsoft is the mecca of software engineering. Inspite of all the jokes about blue screens, hangs and bugs, it is still a company greatly admired across the world. Microsoft was my dream company fresh out of college and it mostly lived upto my expectations. The work culture, people, benefits all are a topic in themselves. But for now, it suffices to say, I will miss Microsoft!

There are a few resources available for those who are planning to return back to India:
1. The R2IClub at http://groups.msn.com/R2IClub is the single most useful resource. I really wish I had found this group before. The forum is very active and there are several people in this group who made well planned and well executed move to India. People are very open to sharing their experiences and helping out others. If you are even thinking of moving to India, you have to join this group.
2.http://www.nriol.com/resources/return2india/ is also a good resource of information
3. http://www.statebankofindia.com/nribanking/returnindian.asp
has information on banking services provided by SBI to returning Indians
4. RRK’s R2I website at http://rrkind.tripod.com/ has tons of useful information for financial planning.
I will add more here as I find more. If you know of any more resources, please leave a comment.