Moving back to India
Yep, we’re moving back to India; yea, it’s that time. Although this is not a technical article, I just wanted to share with you the time spent in the US of A. Below are some of the highlights:
- Year 2001: I came to US to pursue my Master’s degree from ASU, landed in Phoenix, AZ on Jul 31. Needless to say, Phoenix felt like a fireball at that time. I say ‘fireball’ because, the annual temperature range of the place I grew up in India varies between 60-90°F (15-32°C) throughout the year. As I got out of the terminal, I said ‘Wow’, mainly because I hadn’t yet known of the phrase - ‘Holy Cow’.
- Year 2002: Buried deep in courses; Almost forgot the term ‘recreation’; All I had time for was for assignments, projects and exams; Met my roommate once in 2-3 days; Also made my first visit back home in the winter break.. the best thing that happened in the year!!
- Year 2003: I graduated from the Master’s program (or should I say, ‘managed to graduate’?) in August. Despite the ‘post-911’ market conditions, I got myself a job in Phoenix area relatively quickly and I’ve been here since then, though I’ve changed jobs.
- Year 2004, I turned myself into a hobbyist Photographer. I have been updating my site: Photography & Eye with the shots I’ve taken.
- Year 2005 turned out to be a complete downhill for me and some of my friends. On a trip to Utah, the other car met with a fatal accident. I lost one of my dear friend in the mishap. I feel the impact of this incident even to this date.
- In May of 2006, I got married to Pallavi (pronounced: Pal-uh-we). This change turned out to be very good for me (I think she took a loss for marrying me!!). She underwent the HR Management course, completed it recently and has been interning at Fox Television Network. She loves what she’s doing there.
- In 2007, I invited my parents to visit the US. We visited quite a few places, from New York, to Los Angeles, to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. They absolutely enjoyed their stay here.
- 2008: We continued our ‘travelling-spree‘ and covered more places including Hawaii, Yellowstone, Florida and Niagara Falls, to name a few.
- Come 2009, the realization that my visa was ending here became more real than ever before. The result: Yes, we have to search for a new job (still searching for one!!!) and move back to India. We’ve always wanted to go back, it’s just that due to circumstances, this kept getting pushed further. We depart on the 28th of this month.
During these 8+ years of our stay here, we’ve have met some truly amazing people who have had a very profound impact on our lives. We have learned quite a bit from them and we have been with each other through trying and happy times. Both Pallavi and I are deeply thankful to each and everyone of you for everything.
Yes, it is, no doubt, really difficult to leave all this, go back to where we came from and start afresh. On the other side, we hope this change will help us advance to something bigger and better. We are really looking forward to returning HOME.