A woman who spent 11 years in the United States before returning to India has opened up about what she misses the most about living in the US, the transition to living in Hyderabad, and what advice she would give to returning NRIs.
Event Context
The woman spoke to DeshWaapsi, an Instagram account dedicated to documenting stories of US-based Indians who decided to move back to India.
Speaking to the host of the DeshWaapsi Instagram page, the woman said that she spent 11 years in the United States — specifically in Cupertino, California. Her husband, on the other hand, spent 16 years there.
The couple has two children — a 7-year-old and a 2-year-old. The primary reason behind their move back to India was to be closer to their family members. They chose Hyderabad because that is where their family is based.
“My in-laws are here,” the woman explained.
Asked the one thing she misses the most about life abroad, she said that it was the everyday friendliness of strangers.
“People are so kind there,” said the woman, adding that strangers would often greet them or say hello in passing.
In India, such friendliness is rare. “Here, no one cares!” she said, laughing, and added that her son was surprised by this lack of common courtesy. “Mummy, why is she not saying hi to me?” he would ask, the woman claimed.
She also spoke about missing her social circle, but was careful to point out that living in India has many advantages.
“I am seeing my parents more often,” she said.
When asked what advice she would give to NRIs planning their move back to India, the woman cautioned against pushing children into higher school grades without proper preparation, emphasizing how difficult finding the right school can be from abroad.
Drawing from her personal experience with her eldest child, she revealed that her daughter had just finished kindergarten in the US before their move. However, upon arriving in India, school officials bypassed any formal assessment and placed her straight into the second grade.
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“Here they were like, ‘It’s okay, she can put it in the second grade,’” she recounted, noting that the decision led to significant academic struggles for her young daughter.
“And she struggle a lot. They not even put her assessment,” she explained, adding that the school did not conduct an “assessment exam” to gauge her daughter’s readiness.
Although her daughter was initially kept in first grade after they pushed back, the woman eventually realized that skipping ahead was harming her child’s educational foundation.
“Frustrated, they pushed us. But now I realize, ‘No, it’s not good for her,’ and I put back her… back her in second grade,” she shared, advising parents to be mindful of grade placements during the transition.
She concluded by warning prospective returnees that selecting a school remotely from overseas is extremely challenging.
“Choosing school is very, very hard,” she warned, adding that relying solely on “video calls and reviews and feedback” while “staying from US” is not enough to navigate the Indian education system.
