When Should we return back to India?

Hi Ladies,

I was born and brought up in Chennai, India. After marriage i was in Botswana for 6 years and now i am in dubai. So i dont know how long are we going to stay here. We need lot of savings for our future, child's education, future, their marriage, parents health and other expenses. It is the same for everyone. So the need never ends, so iam really confused. My daughter was born in african country and now here. I fear that she will not have the same sentiments, emotions, culture, fear that we have as indian ladies.

So when is the right time to go back? Some people said in botswana that you can be here till the kids are in 7 or 8 th standard then you should go back to india bcos education in india is anytime better. But here in Dubai you have all kinds of university and educational institution. But you can never bcom a citizen here.

So ladies who have been here for long, Can you tell me how do you feel here? How long are you going to stay? What you feel is the right time to go back to India? Or Should we never go back and instead bring our family here? Have you ever felt that if we were in india,may be my kid will be like thiss....

My hubby always says that i think too much about future and iam forgeting that i have to enjoy the present. Is it wrong to think about future?

Dear Bala

I do not stay in Dubai,but I have been there since my SIL stayed there.One thing I have noticed is Dubai is almost like India,there is almost no difference at all.Anywhere you turn and look,you find so many Indians.It is almost like home away from home. So,why are you worried?

My husband's cousins were born and raised in Dubai and now some of them are married too.I find no difference in their upbringing or attitudes at all.Infact,I find them to be more religious and spiritual than me!

Hi Bala

Sunitha is absolutely right. I haven't been to Dubai, but my elder sister has stayed in dubai for a long time and she has many relatives there also, now she is back to India... what all i've heard from her is that there are indians all around... even the apartment they used to stay was full of indians... and going to each others houses and sitting for an hour or two just like we do in india is a common thing...

definitely people are different in their attitudes... but still all the people i know of are very much like indians... they dont have any western influence... so you can stay as long as you want... but yeah in the end i would just say... there is nothing like India.

~Abha

Dear Bala, this is the state of every Indian living in gulf. when we come to this place we think that we should stay for some time say 5 years earn some money and get back to our motherland. But as the years go by the salary increases, our needs also increase and the expectations of our families too. Once we have a car, we want to buy a house in India and then one more and it goes on and we come to a stage when we start feeling that we may not fit into our country if we go back. Our children get used to the comforts of the place and they are scared to go back to India. They r scared abt the sanitary conditions there, mosquitoes etc. Then we decide to continue our stay here and accordingly we have to start earning more to fulfill all the requirements.

So it is we who have to make up our mind whether to be here or in India. Wherever we r, we r basically Indians and we should not forget that. We should teach our children abt our culture and tradition. Celebrate our festivals as they do traditionally and by these things we can make our children understand our culture. Somehow i feel we gulfites follow the religion and culture, observe our prayers better than our Indian residents. As we always feel that we should not give up our tradition we do everything systematically. As long as we continue this we can stay in this country and look for the betterment of lives.

One thing that I have noticed with the gulf children and maybe all expat children is that when they go to India, esp Mumbai, they complain of the dirt and mozzies, etc., but we have always been careful to be very clear to our daughter that home is India, whether Mumbai or elsewhere, she loves going to India and accepts all of it without any complaints i.e. Mumbai is so dirty, no yucks about anything!