‘I was living paycheck to paychek’: Woman says coming back to India from UK after 4 years not happiest decision but right one for nervous system

Woman says going back to India from the UK after 4 years has been good for her nervous system. (AI photo)

At a time when students outside India are in a fix to decide whether going back to India would be a better decision because of immigration bottlenecks, Arshiya Mahajan, an Indian woman shared her experience of coming back to India after living four years in the UK. Mahajan said it was not 100% the happiest decision she ever made but it felt like the right one for the nervous system as living in the UK was becoming a lot less living and more about maintaining a life, she said.“Visa paperwork. Rental issues. Immigration timelines. Money. What happens when friends move away. What my next job should be. Whether I could actually afford the life I was living,” she said, listing out the factors that worried her.“I was living increasingly paycheck to paycheck, occasionally needing my family to help me out, while simultaneously trying to convince myself that I was “doing fine,” she wrote, adding that she was more in survival mode financially, professionally, socially and also mentally.Mahajan said she won’t say her life in the UK was a failure, but it made her able to go back to India. “I got to travel more than I ever imagined, meet people from all over the world, become much more independent and grow professionally in ways I probably couldn’t have anticipated. The UK gave me a lot,” she said.“For now, being back in India has been good for me. There’s still a lot I’m processing, and I’m sure I’ll have moments of wondering whether I made the right decision. But I’m increasingly convinced that not every good decision has to feel euphoric,” she said.

Reactions to the ‘back to India’ post

Such ‘back to India’ social media posts always get some racist comments and there was no exception here too. “I wish you would encourage the other 5 million indians to move back with you. We will definitely not miss you,” one wrote.“Say you couldn’t renew your work visa or your sponsor no longer sponsored you. The sob story is just belittling,” another said.“Thank god you didn’t mention “having a maid in India” as a benefit,” a third user wrote.Many Indians, however, supported Mahajan’s honesty and said they too went through the same experiences