Des Vs Pardes

This is kind of an answer (surely not an exhaustive one) to many people's question why I chose to stay back in India without going for further studies abroad. This 'Des vs. Pardes' conflict has been a recurring thought in my mind since my 9th grade which was the first time i set foot outside India (May '97). Let me share with you some of the thoughts has gone through my mind .

The fact that I studied in Dubai for a couple of years and hence had the experience of staying abroad before actually applying for M.S. has influenced my decision strongly. Initially I was dead against going anywhere abroad for studying or working. (Dubai was different coz I knew I will return in a couple of years.) It was pure patriotic fervour before leaving to Dubai but after living there, it was more of some kind of uneasiness living abroad, better standard of living notwithstanding. Maybe thats because going abroad doesn't mean lessening of problems but rather, leaving behind one set of problems and facing another set. Maybe, its the change in culture or some kind of xenophobia. Maybe, I tend to be more nostalgic. Maybe, being in alien land doesnt make me feel at home. Maybe, a mixture of all these reasons. All these made me feel that I should be in India and nowhere else. But still, I hardly had any fundaes on what kind of education was available in India or abroad (I still dont completely, but know more now). I didn't even know about IIT. (I just knew that my friend's brother was studying there and that it is very difficult to get there. I actually came to know about IIT properly only after I started studying there! JEE was just too different.)

Once I was in IIT, my thoughts about studying abroad changed from one of resistance in my First year to one of lets-apply-and-see in Third year. But I was never seriously interested in it. It never motivated me to study. In a way, I didnt push myself to study hard so that poor academic record would compel me not to app - This is a blunt excuse from a lazy couch-potato for not studying, i guess! Its pretty much laughable i think. But all said and done, my average to below-average academic record meant I wont get admission into the best colleges in the US. So there ended the matter.

Also, I didnt have a great liking for Mechanical Engineering. It didnt know what it was till I was in my second year. And more I studied, less glamourous it became. I then wanted to become a software engineer or more preferably a Manager with an MBA. Maybe, that because pastures are always greener on the other side! Also, the fact that I performed very badly in the design courses (I wanted to go into Design at some point of time) didn't help. I pretty much hated it thanks to the way it was taught.

I wrote GRE and TOEFL so that I can apply to MS in Financial Engineering, which I seemed to like because of a couple of courses in Financial management (which were pretty superficial though!). But I didn't have the guts to spend so much money on something which I didn't have much idea about and may not like because of the stressful nature of the field.

So, as of now, I have totally packed going to study in the US. I have taken a software job in Mahindra British Telecom, Pune. Hope to get an MBA from IIMs or ISB, Hyd within the next five years. Maybe, I will go work abroad, US or otherwise, for a year or so to gain experience.

This in short is my reasoning behind what I am doing right now. You are welcome to write yours comments on the subject.