从美国回来后在印度的生活怎么样?（下）

Rohit Nigam
I came back from Canada. I do have a visa for another two years, however I think it is going to be a little tough going back.
The major changes after coming back:
I don’t check the weather app on my phone everyday before going out.
Oh the breeze of Pune!
I go out a lot more.

我从加拿大回来了。尽管我手里的签证还能让我在那里待上两年，但我感觉再次回去可能会有些艰难。
回国后，我注意到了几个显著的变化：
我每天出门前不再需要检查手机里的天气应用了。
浦那的微风真是太美妙了！
我现在更频繁地外出。

The normal social life is back. My kid is loving it!
Dust. A lot of it. I need to dust my house everyday in the morning.
It’s better to avoid eating outside.
Fresh chicken and mutton!

已经恢复正常的社交生活了，我的孩子对此非常开心。
灰尘很多，我每天早上都需要打扫家里的灰尘。
尽量避免在外面吃饭。
能够享受到新鲜的鸡肉和羊肉！

Being highly picky about the projects.
Reverse conversion from INR to CAD makes everything look very cheap :-).
A lot and lot of working from home!
I just fit in very easily in India so going back to Canada isn’t going to be easy. However I don’t expect anyone born and brought up in Canada/USA to settle easily in India.

对接手的项目变得更加挑剔。
从用加元换成用印度卢比，让我觉得一切东西都很便宜。
有大量的可以在家完成的工作。
我发现自己很容易就融入了印度的生活，所以重新适应加拿大的生活可能不会太容易。同样，我也不认为那些在加拿大或美国长大的人能轻易适应印度的生活。

Samantha Kannan
I have a cycle of being in India.
The first couple of days are filled with wonderment - I love to see everyone's dresses. I want to try every food. I want to go see the latest releases so I can hear whistling in the theater. I want to go for a tour. I want to rescue every puppy.
Then I get frustrated - Is there even an inch without people or sounds! Why does everyone stare at me and charge me more for the same items! Why is it necessary to wear pants under a full length dress! Why is Tamil so difficult to understand! The floor hurts my ankles and knees when I sit for so long!

我对在印度的生活有着周期性的感受。
最初几天，我充满了好奇和惊喜——我喜欢观察每个人的服饰，想尝试各种食物，想去电影院看最新上映的电影，听听那里的口哨声，想去旅行，还想拯救每一只小狗。
但随后，我会感到一些沮丧——这里似乎没有一处地方是没有人或没有噪音的！为什么每个人都盯着我看，同样的商品还对向我索要更高的价格！为什么穿长裙时还必须穿长裤！泰米尔语为什么这么难懂！坐在地上太久的话，我的脚踝和膝盖都会感到疼痛！

Ameya Ajit Ranade
To add a background, I worked in USA at Google and Facebook for 6 years, It’s been 18 months since we came back. So I thought, I’d just write down some of the experiences I’ve had so far after coming back, and maybe that may help you in some ways.
To start with, you need a strong reason(s) to come back. In my case, it was 2 fold:
1. Staying closer with my parents for both me and my wife.
2. Having to keep working forever (because of GC situations for Indians), so that I can just stay in USA, was untenable for me.
Other reasons also exist, but then there are pros and cons on both sides. Many of you may have some different reasons for coming back or staying there. But, you do need some good reason to come back. Else, it ain’t happening.

我来介绍一下背景：我曾在美国谷歌和脸书工作了6年，从我们回国至今已经过去了18个月。因此，我想记录一下这段时间以来的一些体验，希望这些经验对你有所帮助。
回国需要有充分的理由。就我个人而言，有两个主要原因：
对我和我妻子来说，能够离父母更近一点。
因为印度人在美国的绿卡申请情况，我需要一直工作才能留在美国，这对我来说是难以忍受的。
当然，还有其他因素，每个选择都有其利弊。你们可能有自己回国或留下的理由。但无论如何，你需要有明确的回国动机。否则，你可能不会真的做出这个决定。

When me and my wife seriously started thinking about moving dates and all, there are things to consider from logistical point of view. “When will we move”, “Where we’ll live” and “Where we’ll work” are the basic ones. Smaller ones include taxation, savings, car, traffic etc. For “when”, both our VISAs were going to expire around same time by the end of 2018. So, we both decided not to apply for GC, and set that as a timefrx. As for "where", that was a straight forward decision for us. My wife works at Qualcomm and she was able to get a transfer here to Hyderabad office. I wanted to take a break after 9+ years, so was OK with finding a job later once in India. I had also worked in Hyderabad for 3 years at Microsoft before. So, for me, Hyderabad was a familiar place. After ~4 months, I decided to join back Microsoft and am currently working there. Reason for joining: As much as I was craving for a break, sitting at home and not working, wasn’t something I was cut-out for. Plus, I had many friends in Microsoft, so joining process was peaceful.

当我和我妻子开始认真考虑搬家的具体事宜时，我们从物流角度考虑了很多问题。比如“我们什么时候搬家”，“我们将住在哪里”，“我们将在哪里工作”等基本问题。还有一些较小的问题，比如税收、储蓄、汽车、交通等。关于“什么时候”，我们俩的签证都在2018年底到期，所以我们决定不续签绿卡，并以此作为我们回国的时间节点。至于“住在哪里”，对我们来说是一个简单的决定。我妻子在高通工作，并成功转到了海得拉巴的办公室。而我在经历了9年多的职业生涯后，想要休息一段时间，所以不介意回到印度后再找工作。我之前在微软海得拉巴工作过3年，所以海得拉巴对我来说是个熟悉的地方。大约4个月后，我决定重返微软，目前也在那里工作。尽管我渴望休息，但发现自己并不适合长时间待在家里无所事事。另外，我在微软有很多朋友，所以入职的过程很顺利。

For many of you, these question would need some uation. If you are a software Engineer like me working in MNCs, then the companies you’re looking for in India are going to be in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi suburbs, and maybe Pune. Unless of course you’re looking to change the type of work you’ll do once in India, then there are many more choices. I also contemplated teaching physics once back here. But, that didn’t result in anything concrete. w.r.t Bangalore vs. Hyderabad, Bangalore will provide much diverse set of tech companies for sure, and many opportunities to do outdoor activities, if you’re into those. But, the Achilles heel for Bangalore is TRAFFIC. I went there once, and needed 2 hours to travel 10kms. So, that pushed me to be in Hyderabad only. Hyderabad comparatively has lesser options, mainly MNCs like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Uber, Apple. Hyderabad is more comfortable place for sure. It is city of “Nawabs” as they say. Not much traffic (Although much more than USA), people mostly know Hindi, prices of houses / rent is low, really good food options, and much better managed city overall. So, make your uation based on that. The thing to endure in Hyderabad unfortunately is 3 months of summer. I’ll add some point on that later.

对于你们中的许多人来说，这些问题需要仔细评估。如果你像我一样是一个在跨国公司工作的软件工程师，那么你在印度寻找的公司可能位于班加罗尔、海得拉巴、德里郊区，或许还有浦那。除非你打算在回到印度后改变工作领域，那样选择就更多了。我曾考虑过回国后从事物理教学工作，但最终没有实现。至于班加罗尔和海得拉巴的比较，班加罗尔无疑有更多元的技术公司，并且如果你喜欢户外活动，那里有很多机会。但班加罗尔的交通问题是个大问题。我曾去过那里一次，发现短短10公里的路程竟然需要2小时。因此，我选择留在海得拉巴。海得拉巴的选择相对较少，主要是一些像微软、亚马逊、谷歌、优步、苹果这样的跨国公司。海得拉巴确实是个更舒适的地方，被誉为“纳瓦布之城”。交通状况比美国好得多，人们大多会说印地语，房价和租金相对较低，美食选择丰富，城市管理也更为有序。因此，你需要根据自己的需求进行权衡。不过，海得拉巴的一个不利因素是夏季的时间长达3个月。关于这一点，我稍后会补充更多信息。

What about finances? Your salary here for the same role, would come down to approximately third of your salary in USA. That also means, your savings would go down. However, you also need less money to stay in India. e.g. last home I lived in Mountain View, we paid 3300 USD for 2 BHK apartment. Here, we started living in 3BHK apartment at Rs. 26000 OR ~350 USD. Although we got a good deal there, your rent for a spacious (2000+ sq. ft., because Hyderabad) 3BHK house won’t cost you > 750 USD for sure. Secondly, if you’re a saver, like I was (I owned a Honda Accord, so.. yah) your savings from USA are going to last a long time in India, before you even need to go to work. For me, with my lifestyle and my investments in USA, I estimated I’d last for ~20 years on just saving I bought back from USA. Although, given salaries offered in MNCs here, there is no point in worrying about those. You’ll end up saving a lot here as well.

让我们来谈谈财务问题。如果你在印度担任同样的职位，你的薪水可能会降至你在美国薪水的大约三分之一。这同时也意味着你的储蓄会相应减少。不过，你在印度的生活成本也会更低。比如，我在美国山景城的最后一处住所，一套两室公寓的租金是3300美元。虽然我们在那里享受到了优惠的租金条件，但在海得拉巴，即便是租住一套超过2000平方英尺的宽敞三室住宅，租金肯定不会超过750美元。此外，如果你像我一样是个节俭的人（比如我曾拥有一辆本田雅阁），那么你从美国带来的储蓄，在印度足够支撑很长时间的生活，甚至在你重新就业之前都无需担心。就我个人而言，考虑到我在海得拉巴的生活方式和在美国的投资，我估算仅靠我从美国带回的储蓄，我可以维持大约20年的生活。当然，鉴于印度跨国公司提供的薪资水平，你也不必担心储蓄问题。你在这里同样可以存下不少钱。

Now, you may ask, why come back to India, if I was going to just work again anyways. Wouldn’t it be worth making more money in USA then? Well, I can leave my job here at any point, without fearing anyone kicking me out of my own home. So, that was a freedom I was happy to trade for. Plus, parents visiting / staying with us, and we being a 1 hour flight away from our parents is a good deal for us as well.

你可能会问，既然最终还是要工作，为什么要回到印度呢？难道在美国赚更多的钱不是更好吗？其实，我在这里可以随时选择辞职，而不必担心被赶出家门，这种自由是我乐于换取的。此外，我的父母可以方便地来访或与我们同住，我们与父母的距离仅一小时飞行时间，这对我们来说也是一大优势。

What about quality of life? You’re used to USA lifestyle. You have a car, 24X7 water & electricity, shopping malls, air is clean to go out for a jog, and places are not congested all the time. What about in India? Well, you’re in luck, because in India, you’re amongst Rich now… Seriously. You’ll most likely live in a gated society in India (like we do). This society will provide for water + electricity mostly 24X7 (apart from some maintenance fixing). It’s not perfect, but it works OK on most days. You can chose better societies as per your need. Also, my society provides R/O water, which is awesome. There’ll be playgrounds, gyms, swimming pools in the society. The security / maintenance / bill payments are all convenient. All payments can be done in India with your phone now. Seriously… I pay fruit vendor with Google pay or debit card. I’ve rarely used cash since I got here. I mostly order stuff on Amazon / Flipkart. This includes all appliances like washing machine and dishwasher (Hell yah… we bought a dishwasher in India, and it’s great) There is a “Ratnadeep” (Mini Safeway, essentially) right in front of my society. You’re interested in shopping? There’re like 10+ giant malls in 10kms radius from my house. I own a Baleno, as I wanted to smaller car for ease of driving in traffic. For that matter, now our net 2 way commute is < 10 kms, as we can rent a place close to work. Although because of lockdown these days, work from home is the only way. Oh did I mention, we have awesome internet speeds. On a general day, 120Mbps/60Mbps down/up speeds. And even faster are coming with Jio Fiber now. And one more thing. We have maid for cleaning, to make our lives even easier.

至于生活质量，你可能已经习惯了美国的生活方式：拥有私家车，享受24小时供水供电，随时可以去购物中心，空气清新适合户外慢跑，且不会总是拥挤。那么在印度呢？幸运的是，你现在在印度属于富裕阶层。你很可能会在印度住在一个有门禁的社区（就像我们一样）。这样的社区基本上会提供24小时的水电（除了偶尔的维护）。虽然不是完美无缺，但在大多数日子里都能正常运作。你可以根据个人需求选择更好的社区。我的社区还提供反渗透水，这非常棒。社区内还有游乐场、健身房和游泳池。安保、维护和账单支付都非常便利。现在在印度，几乎所有支付都可以通过手机完成。我甚至用谷歌支付或借记卡支付水果摊的费用。自从来到这里，我很少使用现金。我主要在亚马逊和Flipkart上购物，包括所有家电，比如洗衣机和洗碗机（我们在印度买了洗碗机，使用体验非常棒）。
我的社区前面就有一个“Ratnadeep”超市（基本上相当于一个小型的西夫韦（连锁超市）。如果你对购物感兴趣，从我家出发，在10公里范围内就有超过10个大型购物中心。我选择了一辆铃木Baleno，因为我想在堵塞时更容易驾驶的小型车。现在我们的往返通勤距离不到10公里，因为我们可以选择在工作地点附近租房。当然，由于目前的封锁措施，在家工作成了唯一的选择。顺便说一句，我们的互联网速度也非常棒。一般情况下，下载和上传速度分别为120Mbps和60Mbps。而且随着印度信实工业推出高速宽带互联网服务（Jio Fiber），网速还会更快。最后，我们还有女佣打扫卫生，这让我们的生活更加轻松。

Pollution and congestion are things you’ve to deal with in India. Pollution we can mostly avoid, as we’re in Home + Car + Office mostly. In weekends you’ll drive in Cars inside A/C malls (Yes, they’re A/C) But, every once in a while, there is that trouble. I actually had dust allergies in USA, because of carpet floors and dust mites. So, I think with hard floors in India, my situation w.r.t. pollution issues has improved. However, that’s up to you to decide. There are solutions in India to work around pollution. You would need to work with those. For congestion, I’m sorry to say, but you’re in India. So, your choices will change depending on traffic, crowds etc. E.g. we avoid going for groceries early in a month, as many people shop at beginning of month when they receive salaries (Oh yes, salaries are monthly here, in case you didn’t know). Or we’d commute on a time with lesser traffic. But, that’s something you’ve to deal with. (More so in Bangalore) e.g. When I stayed 13 kms away from Microsoft for first year, my commute was ~45 mins one way. Now that I’ve moved closer to work, it’s < 10 mins.

在印度生活，污染和交通拥堵是不可避免的挑战。不过，大部分时间我们都在室内，比如家里、车里或办公室，因此污染对我们的影响有限。周末时，我们通常会驾车前往配备空调的购物中心，享受凉爽的环境。尽管偶尔还是会遇到一些不便，其实我在美国的时候对灰尘过敏，因为地毯地板和尘螨，但印度的硬质地面似乎让我的状况有所改善。当然，这需要你自己去权衡和决定。印度也有一些应对污染的方法，比如使用空气净化器等。
至于交通拥堵，这是印度的一大特色。你的日常出行选择可能会受到交通状况和人群密度的影响。比如，我们会避免在月初去购物，因为那时许多人领到薪水后会集中购物。或者我们会选择在交通较少的时段出行。这需要你根据实际情况灵活调整。比如，我最初住在离微软13公里远的地方，单程通勤时间大约是45分钟。但自从我搬到离工作地点更近的地方后，通勤时间缩短到了不到10分钟。

What about climate? If you’re in SF Bay area, climate there is probably as good as it gets. You’ll get 9 months of good climate in Hyderabad. Except summers. Like Indians have to endure winter in Seattle or in Canada, you’ve endure summer in Hyderabad. Temperates go > 40 C (> 105 F) at times in summer days. We typically end up avoiding them because we’re at work during noon. But, you need to be careful with that. Using SPF50+ sunscreen is a good place to start, and staying hydrated in summer is important. Bangalore on the other hand, has much better weather all over the year. So, that is something to consider. But, apart from summers, Hyderabad has very nice weather. I can easily go for a walk at night without any hoodie, enjoying nice breeze of air.

关于气候，如果你习惯了旧金山湾区的宜人气候，那么海得拉巴的气候可能会有些许不同。海得拉巴大约有9个月的气候都很舒适，但夏天是个例外。夏天的气温有时会超过40摄氏度，这需要你采取一些防护措施，比如使用SPF值为50的防晒霜，保持充足的水分摄入。相比之下，班加罗尔全年的气候更为宜人，这可能是你在选择居住地时需要考虑的一个因素。不过，除了夏天，海得拉巴的其他时间气候都非常宜人，晚上散步时可以享受凉爽的微风。

There are some factors that we still can’t provide much answers for. Schooling and safety for example. We’ll probably discover quality of kids schools here, once we get to that stage in life. But, from what I gather from my colleagues in Microsoft, they seems to be happy with schools here. They’re slightly on expensive side in the area where we live in, but that’s probably because all their parents work in MNCs and market forces do the rest. For safety, I’m yet to discover any concern in Hyderabad. People are much nicer here. This might sound controversial, but southern parts of India have much better track record in terms of women’s safety. So, from what i gather myself and from my wife, there isn’t much concern w.r.t. safety so far. Societies have 24X7 guards in case something ever were to go wrong. I also managed to call police on some noisy function at night, and they actually helped. Police are quite friendly here. I specially find them good now, as traffic police started using camera with them, and they don’t ask for bribes, but just click pictures of violators to give them ticket. They seem much more accountable now.

有些问题，比如教育和安全，我们目前还难以给出明确的答案。只有当我们真正到了需要为孩子选择学校的阶段，我们才能评估这里的学校教育质量。不过，从我在微软的同事们的分享来看，他们对当地的学校感到满意。虽然我们居住地区的学校费用稍显昂贵，但这很可能是因为大多数家长都在跨国公司工作，市场供需自然推高了价格。至于安全问题，我目前在海得拉巴还没有遇到任何问题。这里的人好得多。这听起来可能有争议，但印度南部地区在女性安全方面的记录要好得多。根据我和我妻子的亲身体验，目前我们对安全问题并没有太多顾虑。我们居住的社区配备了全天候的保安，以应对可能发生的任何问题。有一次晚上，我因为附近吵闹的活动而联系了警察，他们很快就做出了反应并提供了帮助。这里的警察态度非常友好。特别是交通警察，自从他们开始使用随身摄像头后，情况有了显著改善。他们不再索取贿赂，而是通过拍照记录违规行为并开出罚单，这样的做法让执法过程更加透明和公正。我们觉得他们现在更加负责任了。