Return to India
From Chicago to Canada to… Home Again? It was a cold December day in 1997 when I left India and landed in Chicago. I had no idea that move would anchor me in North America for over two decades. Along the way, I navigated the dot-com crash, the 2008 financial crisis, and several rounds of corporate restructuring. Despite the storms, life has been good—kinder than the winters of Wisconsin and Ontario, at least. In 2011, after receiving my Canadian passport, I began exploring Return-to-India (R2I) options. Back then, it was a passing thought. Today, it’s a solid retirement plan: Retire to India. The Y2K Wave and the Indian Diaspora The Y2K boom was a turning point. It opened doors for Indian tech professionals to immigrate at a scale rivaling European migration. Now, 25 years later, many of us are entering a new life phase—empty nesters, looking toward retirement. Some are fortunate to still have parents, either back in India or with them abroad. Others are drawn by the prospect of a s...