A Reddit post has sparked widespread discussion after a user shared a relative’s experience of returning to India following more than 15 years in the USA and Switzerland. The man, who previously worked as a senior executive at a FAANG company, returned to his hometown — a major non-metro Tier-1 city — earlier this year to be closer to his aging parents. He even managed to retain his position through remote work.
‘Fair competition abroad, but not at home’
While speaking with his relative, the man revealed an overlooked reality that many returning NRIs fail to anticipate — the difference in how wealth and competition function between developed countries and India.
“In the USA, anyone with money mostly got it through largely ‘clean’ ways — business, entrepreneurship, inheritance, job. When he was competing for housing or any other resource, there was still the assurance that the competition was ‘fair’,” the Reddit user quoted him as saying.
The returnee added that in India, the same competition felt distorted. “Back home in India, he was competing against bureaucrats and babus who earned most of their money through illegal means,” he reportedly told the Reddit user.
‘This unfairness is killing his ambition’
According to the post, this perceived unfairness has affected not just his motivation but also his overall sense of purpose. The man explained that in the US, the fairness of opportunity encouraged him to push harder.
“In the USA, the fairness of the competition meant that he felt the urge to work harder because if he was smart and able, he would win too,” he said. “But in India, the unfairness meant that no matter how much he worked, the game was largely rigged against him. This, he said, is killing his ambition.”
The post has since prompted hundreds of responses from other NRIs and residents reflecting on how systemic inequality and corruption impact everyday ambition and opportunity in India.
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