Dealing with the reverse cultural shock

A lot has been written about the cultural shock that people face when they immigrate or live for an extended period of time especially in the western countries from India. A lot has also been written about the emotions or circumstances that lead people to come back to India. However, I haven't seen much written on the process of readjustment in India.

Yes, readjustment to India is a process and it does take a while to feel at home in India again.

Recently, during a conversation with an interesting person named Prashanth (who now happens to me my boss in the company I work :)), I came across some interesting facts. Prashanth asked m e if I realised how my expectations had changed after I had spent considerable time in the US. He then asked me that how to I plan to manage this changed expectations?

Yes, I went to the US as a student and after finishing my Masters degree, I set foot into the corporate world. Tech companies specially the ones in the Silicon Valley are known to pay well, and unknowingly I got used to a life of comfort and ' material luxury' (by Indian standards).
When I came back to India I never realised that my expectations had changed and a life or material comfort became the norm for me. Yes, I did face trouble, but I never realised that it was due to the conflict in expectations.

Add to that, I had changed a lot as a person. I refuse to accept fate or destiny unlike most people in India. My 'go-getter' attitude was in conflict with the society here.

Last but not the least, I had almost all of my close friends back in the US and though I have the family around me, the level of bonding and topics of conversation that I share with my friends, was hard to recreate in India. I think, forming a social circle with like minded people is the hardest. Prashanth found that by attending Indian School of Business, he found like-minded people (and his would-be wife) and from that point onwards the process of adjusting in India was easy. All of us may not go to the ISB, but yes there are several avenues to build a social life in India, some of them are : Joining clubs (Bombay has lots of them), social-organizations (there are a lot of them to choose from - Akanksha, CRY etc).

Once you have a good set of friends in India, a good home, a good job or your own company - it is every bit worth living in India.

Honda FCX Clarity

Finally, the impossible has manifested - Honda has rolled out the first edition of hydrogen fuel cell powered cars! Wow! What an achievement. These cells use oxygen and hydrogen from the atmosphere and release water and heat as the by-product. Heat is definitely not good in the context of global warming, but I am sure heat will be dealt with in due course. What a remarkable day for the environment and what a feat by Honda!

Read the complete article on New York Times :

Honda releases FCX Clarity