• Sarvesh Rajagopal moved back to India in May after a decade in the Middle East and Europe.
• He said he returned because of career stagnation and Europe’s economic challenges.
• He’s adjusting to life back home and enjoys the small luxuries India has to offer.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sarvesh Rajagopal, who lived in the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, and Germany before moving back to India. It has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has verified his employment history.

I joined McKinsey right after graduating with my master’s in India.

I spent the next three years with the company in India before moving to the company’s office in Dubai for two years and then to Amsterdam. Getting a chance to live and work overseas was a dream.

A little while after moving to Amsterdam, I decided I’d had enough consulting. The constant travel was also getting tiring. I left McKinsey and worked for the Dutch bank ING as a corporate strategist for over a year before moving to Wayfair’s logistics business in 2019. I was one of the first employees in the Berlin office, tasked with building the company’s international business, which I still think was the most challenging but fulfilling period of my career.

Life in Europe

Things were going well from a lifestyle point of view, too.

I enjoyed being done with work by 5 or 6 p.m. and having the rest of the day to myself. Public transport was a big plus — I enjoyed never owning or needing a car to get around to meet colleagues or friends for dinner or a beer.

One of the best parts about Europe was that if we had a long weekend, I could go to a nearby country by train in a couple hours.

One of the only drawbacks is that it’s not the best place to earn and build wealth because of high taxes.

Slow growth in Europe

The itch to return to India started about three years ago.

I’d been watching India’s growth since my departure and felt like I’d missed the boom by leaving in 2014. Many of my friends back home built startups or venture-capital careers. I wanted to be part of India’s growth story.

I also felt like there was no career growth for me in Europe. In India, I had a big network from India’s top tech and management schools and because of my time at McKinsey.

I also wanted to be close to family, especially since my parents are getting older.

My inflection point was realizing in the middle of last year that my career had stagnated because I was finding it difficult to grow in my senior-level position. The war in Ukraine and other macroeconomic factors, like inflation, also affected my decision.

I worked with a professional coach before making a firm decision. I traveled around Latin America, and being in a new environment really sealed the deal for me.

I quit my job and finally moved back to India in May.

Adjusting back

After a decade of living away, there are things I’ve had to get used to again.

I’m still adapting to the pollution, the traffic, and the sheer number of people. The number of cars and two-wheelers on the road has exploded, which makes driving and parking a lot more stressful.

But some things have also become much more convenient since I left 10 years ago.

I remember having to call a restaurant if I ever wanted to eat in, but India now has food- and grocery-delivery services that promise to deliver any food or household items in under 10 minutes.

It’s a lot easier to find and afford domestic support, and I have a cook. For my friends with newborn children, live-in nannies are available. These feel like huge luxuries compared to Europe, where my immigrant friends struggled with childcare — their parents were happy to help but could only stay in Germany for 90 days at a time.

I’m also able to afford an all-inclusive apartment complex, where I have easy access to a pool, a gym, and a supermarket.

I’m volunteering as a mentor for startups at an incubator at my alma mater and have noticed a big mindset shift among people in their early 20s. When I graduated with my engineering degree, my classmates and I thought our only career options were to join a company, study abroad for a master’s, or pursue an MBA at the Indian Institutes of Management.

But the students now are a lot more willing to take risks and dive into entrepreneurship.

I’m currently on a career break. I want to familiarize myself with India again and hope to build a venture of my own in the next few years.