I have come here for one month vacation which thanks to Visa officers (VO) at Mumbai has now extended to well over 5 weeks now. And I mean it when I thank them, the only thing is that now the process has taken so long I have begun to regret thinking of this curse as a blessing in disguise. To tell you the truth, I had not been to India for 2 years and started to suffer pangs of jealousy whenever I read stories of riches in India. I wanted to be in India and was secrately planning my move to India a year later. I still beleive on my planning but challenges are forcing me to seek first the easier way out i.e. going back to what I was doing in USA.
So first the Visa story, I went to visa office for interview and they could not get my fingerprint. I think I also flunk my interview (I might have looked bored which I was after sitting for 4hrs on a bench) because the VO lady looked suspiciousely at me and ordered me to come for fingerprinting again and submit a qualification questionnaire. Me and my wife looked at my fingers and could not find finger grooves. My skin was peeling. We went again 4 days later after submitting documents to them via email. They took my fingerprints and told me to collect the passport in the evening. I collected the passort with visa stamped with a sigh of relief and left for vacation for next two day only to get a call the next day from visa office. I went to visa office and they asked me to submit my document in word format and cancelled my visa. I asked the reason and they told me that they will do security check and let me know in a week or two. Strange!! very strange!! but what I can do to them I thought. I wrote emails and called them up but here I am, still waiting. I was disppointed and angry on the day they cancelled visa and thought they have done some admistrative bungling in the processing. I still think so. However, secretaly I was also happy that I will have now more time in Mumbai. Lets party and figure out what is my market worth, what I can do in India?
I am in Mumbai for last five weeks looking for jobs (research and development in materials) and thinking about different things I can do. Following things I find in Mumbai-
- There are very few good paying jobs in areas other than IT.
- Connections are everything in finding a non-IT job (even true in USA)
- Core research and development jobs are few
- Consultants mainly for IT but there are some for non-IT but again they are not big firms
other things
- Big difference between rich and poor people
- Poor infrastructure (roads, rail, you can not get 1-2 mbps network at reasonable price in Mumbai)
- lack of information (internet is not the main source)
I am little confused on what I should do next (part of the reason is that I dream big but have difficultly in taking firm dicision which all involve quite a bit of risks. also, may be the biggest reason is that I am not sure what I like to in my life.) Things are not clear. Options which come to my mind are following
- Trying to find a job in existing R&Ds
- Enterpreneur (opening a online shop or online site with a good idea, manufacturing unit). But I suspect if I have enough experience.
- Become prof.
- Go on travel to focus on what I want to do rest of my life
- Prepare and go for an MBA (i do not want to rush without having an idea about what I really enjoy doing. i fear that I might end up in a similar job which I will not enjoy. In my last job, I realized how much I hate doing what I dont enjoy. It drains all the energy from me and leave me depressed and frustated at the end of the day).
Do you have an idea of what I should do?
