A woman has opened up about moving back to India after spending four years in the UK and starting a new job in Bengaluru. In a post on X, Arshiya Mahajan spoke about the financial pressure, loneliness and immigration worries that influenced her decision.
Why did she return to India?
Sharing her experience on X, Mahajan said living abroad had never been a lifelong dream for her, but she was grateful for the opportunity.
“I got to build a life in another country,” she wrote, adding that the UK allowed her to travel more than she had imagined, meet people from around the world, become more independent and grow professionally.
However, she said that over time, staying in the UK began to feel more like maintaining a life than actually living it. She spent much of her last eight months thinking about “visa paperwork, rental issues, immigration timelines, money” and what would happen when friends moved away.
Financial pressure was another factor. Mahajan said she was increasingly living from one pay cheque to another and occasionally needed financial help from her family while trying to convince herself that she was “doing fine”.
“I realised how much of my mental bandwidth was going towards simply keeping the machinery of my life running,” she wrote.
{{/usCountry}}“I realised how much of my mental bandwidth was going towards simply keeping the machinery of my life running,” she wrote.
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Eventually, her question changed from “Can I make this work?” to “Does this actually make sense for me anymore?” She said she began looking at her life from financial, professional, social and mental perspectives.
“So I came home,” she wrote.
‘Not every good decision has to feel euphoric’
Mahajan clarified that she does not consider her time in the UK a failure. Instead, she believes that living abroad gave her valuable experiences and helped her grow.
“I think I was able to come home because living abroad had already given me what I needed from that chapter,” she wrote.
She said being back in India has been good for her so far, although she is still processing the decision and expects to have moments when she wonders whether she made the right choice.
“I’m increasingly convinced that not every good decision has to feel euphoric,” she wrote.
She also said there needs to be more honest discussion about the less glamorous side of living abroad, including loneliness, financial pressure, immigration anxiety and the constant calculations involved in living away from home.
Take a look:
Internet reacts
Mahajan’s post resonated with several people who shared their own experiences of living abroad and returning to India.
“Can relate quite well to this thread, except that I have been here nine years and don’t want to move back to India anytime soon,” one user wrote.
Another person said they had moved from Cambridge in the UK to Bengaluru three years ago after spending 12 years there. They said they missed the UK and its culture, but found Bengaluru to be a better fit because of family and career opportunities in the technology sector.
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“You made the right decision. Being in your country with your loved ones is always a good choice,” another user commented.
Someone else acknowledged that adjusting to Bengaluru might take time but wished Mahajan well for her new chapter, adding that no country or city can fulfil everything people expect from life.
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)