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By Rajkamal Rao
Go back to Housing
If you have made it this far, you probably have a good idea of which Indian city/town you want to move to.
Many families think of the city that they grew up in - and which contains the extended family infrastructure - as the first choice. But increasingly, work considerations largely dictate this decision. For example, a family may already have a job offer from the western firm it is working at. Or family members may decide to choose an Indian city based on employment and growth opportunities.
But where within the city do you want to move to? When you make your kids the anchor point, you would select your new India home to be close to the school your children would attend. Having an anchor point automatically resolves other vexing issues (your own career options, the kind of home you want to acquire, the car you want to drive, the friends you want to make).
Or if your kids are young, you may want to make yourself an anchor point. Perhaps you have been able to negotiate with your employer a role with your western company’s India operations. The benefit of not changing employers is huge - because you don’t have to deal with the cultural issues of a new employer, especially one that is based out of India. This is not trivial and should never be underestimated. Your network of western colleagues will be still active and you already know how most things in the company work. Since you are not yourself going through change quite as substantial as your spouse and children, you can then focus your efforts on getting them settled into their new lifestyle. Once they are settled, you can consider evaluating your own career options.
In some cases, your India location may have been preselected for you. Perhaps you have an ancestral home that you want to move in to. Or your parents may have expressed a desire that you move back in with them. Or you had invested in Indian real estate a few years ago, and you are ready to move in to your own property.
Successful returnees still consider the needs of children first. If kids don’t have a good school in the neighborhood, or they have to endure a long commute to go to a good school, the burden of change on them is disproportionately higher. To limit this, some families consider renting out their existing Indian property and using the rent to subsidize their own rent at a more viable location.
Go back to Housing
If you have made it this far, you probably have a good idea of which Indian city/town you want to move to.
Many families think of the city that they grew up in - and which contains the extended family infrastructure - as the first choice. But increasingly, work considerations largely dictate this decision. For example, a family may already have a job offer from the western firm it is working at. Or family members may decide to choose an Indian city based on employment and growth opportunities.
But where within the city do you want to move to? When you make your kids the anchor point, you would select your new India home to be close to the school your children would attend. Having an anchor point automatically resolves other vexing issues (your own career options, the kind of home you want to acquire, the car you want to drive, the friends you want to make).
Or if your kids are young, you may want to make yourself an anchor point. Perhaps you have been able to negotiate with your employer a role with your western company’s India operations. The benefit of not changing employers is huge - because you don’t have to deal with the cultural issues of a new employer, especially one that is based out of India. This is not trivial and should never be underestimated. Your network of western colleagues will be still active and you already know how most things in the company work. Since you are not yourself going through change quite as substantial as your spouse and children, you can then focus your efforts on getting them settled into their new lifestyle. Once they are settled, you can consider evaluating your own career options.
In some cases, your India location may have been preselected for you. Perhaps you have an ancestral home that you want to move in to. Or your parents may have expressed a desire that you move back in with them. Or you had invested in Indian real estate a few years ago, and you are ready to move in to your own property.
Successful returnees still consider the needs of children first. If kids don’t have a good school in the neighborhood, or they have to endure a long commute to go to a good school, the burden of change on them is disproportionately higher. To limit this, some families consider renting out their existing Indian property and using the rent to subsidize their own rent at a more viable location.
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