u/LandscapeReady

Why are we treating marriage like a queue system?

Not sure if this is unique to our community, but this idea of marrying siblings in birth order is getting out of hand. Heck, it doesn't even make sense if everyone were to get arranged marriage. Humans aren't commodities ffs. Even if you are getting an arranged marriage, you'd check if your vibe matches and if their long term goals align with yours.

Zero logic in this argument in my opinion. My partner and I have expressed to our parents our intention to marry now (after 4 years of being together). My parents aren't on board because my partner has an older sister who's unmarried and she's not even sure she wants to marry. I feel pressuring her is wrong and I wouldn't do that. I can't postpone my life indefinitely because of this, as they won't let us move in together before marriage. Now my parents have given me justifications saying the older one will never get married then. My partner's parents however, are quite understanding and don't mind us marrying right away.

Can someone please tell me if there is any sensible reason to justify this?

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u/LandscapeReady — 2 days ago

MBA feels like an expensive panic decision in hindsight

Recently finished my MBA from A tier-1 b-school in India and started a job. Prior to that, I've done my BTech from a tier-1 engineering college and worked at a global tech giant. I went for an MBA because I didn't like my team and the work culture in my company and MBA from a tier-1 b-school in India seemed like a dignified exit (at the time).

Looking back, there were probably better ways to tackle this career dissatisfaction than to completely pivot into an MBA. I could've perhaps looked into switching to another company or used my network to get opportunities in adjacent fields. This would've avoided the MBA loan burden and I would've also gotten a few more years of experience under my belt as the maeket is clearly leaning towards candidates with more experience rather than just degrees.

I am an introvert and feel my personality fits better with an individual contributer role rather than in management. Did I make a career blunder?

Is there anyone here who has gone back to being an engineer after an MBA or an unrelated degree? What was your experience? What do you suggest I do now?

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u/LandscapeReady — 4 days ago

The older I get, the more complicated feminism feels

I (25F) like to describe myself as a feminist. I subscribe to the idea that women have equal access to education and career opportunities, have equal rights and equally split domestic labor and caregiving responsibilities. I've also worked hard to build one for myself and am proud of it.

However, when I think of the future, maybe in 5-10 years time I have different ambitions. I feel like I'd be failing my children if I am not a stay-at-home mother.

For context, my brother and I were raised by a stay-at-home mom. My dad was always travelling for work and brought in a decent income to support the whole family. The problem is that I can't imagine my childhood without my mum around. She's done a lot for me, not just by cooking for us, but by being emotionally present for moral support, dropped us and picked us up from hobby classes (during primary school) and coaching (in high school) and a lot more.

To top it all off, my extended family are always really rude to me so the only remaining tinsel of self confidence I have, is something I attribute to her support and presence during my childhood. And I'm about 99% sure my brother would agree.

I do feel a bit bad about leaving my career behind, but what's worse is that I'm not sure if wanting such a life for myself in the future doesn't make me a feminist anymore.

What confuses me more is that my mum is college educated and had a career, but she chose this life after a discussion with my dad (before marriage). She also pushed me to be independent and to have a thriving career but expects me to do the same as her when it's time for kids.

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u/LandscapeReady — 7 days ago
▲ 41 r/backtoindia+1 crossposts

Turned down masters abroad because the math “didn’t make sense”. Now I think I made the biggest mistake of my life

I (25F) grew up in urban India, middle class. I recently graduated from a relatively old IIM and have a good (on paper) job lined up in India. I was also lucky enough to experience the exchange semester during my MBA in a good university in Europe. During my exchange term, I simply fell in love with the lifestyle abroad — better infrastructure, better services, work-life balance, air quality, safety (especially as a woman), accessible public transport. I would love to actually build a life and family in such a place, compared to India. I'm actively looking for jobs there, but no luck yet since my exchange program was a non-degree exchange and I have only 2 Indian degrees (MBA and BTech; both from reputed colleges, but in India).

Now I'm having major regret. Here's why.
3 years back, once I was sure I wanted to go to grad school, I had a huge fight with my dad because he recommended that I go abroad for grad school, but he said I must come back to India for work. That sounded absolutely absurd to me. The math didn't make sense — spending in $ or € to earn in rupees. For context, I come from a family where education is seen as a status symbol, instead of a tool to enable a better life. And to clarify, we're definitely not rich. My dad was ready to spend his life savings on my education abroad. I argued that if I were to anyways live in India, I can study in India itself. And at that time, I didn't know that life abroad would be so wonderful since I've been in India all my life. Finally since my mum was also leaning towards studying in India, I went ahead and prepared for CAT, based on which I got into IIM.

My pre-MBA work experience and some incidents during my MBA also showed me that you need 'connections' if you want to operate in this country. Following rules is penalised, and merit is seldom awarded. I'm not saying that such culture absolutely doesn't exist abroad, but for the average person, life is better. You are rewarded for being a law-abiding citizen.

I feel if I had just taken my dad's offer 3 years ago, I'd have been in a much better place now, and would be the perfect launchpad for my career abroad. Anyways, what's done is done. Realistically, what can I do now to acheive my new found dreams?

Also, as an NRI, would you say that my assessment of the situation is correct, or is there some crazy drawback that I'm not taking into account (apart from the obvious visa anxiety and being away from parents)?

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u/LandscapeReady — 4 days ago

Super happy watching Bhavitha represent brown Indian women internationally

With the recent rise of Bhavitha Mandava, as a fellow brown-skinned Indian woman, I've been feeling really happy seeing brown representation on the runway.

This is not to say that there haven't been brown models before, but as someone in a similar age-group as her, it is really heartwarming to see someone from a similar race being lauded internationally as a beautiful person. I've been in India all my life and have been called 'ugly' and 'brown' interchangeably as if they were synonyms by women of my own family! And I've also heard firsthand from countless other Indian girls and women who've experienced a similar plight.

Which leads me to think, if anyone had ever said something like that to her (Bhavitha), her recent rise to fame would've been a huge slap on their faces!

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u/LandscapeReady — 14 days ago

Off late I've been having this inkling that the word origins of 'cricket' (as in the insect), and 'creek' have to be somehow related. Or remotely at least. I haven't found any evidence for this on the internet, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask away here.
Apart from the fact that creeks could be inhabited by crickets, I cannot find any other evidence of how they could be related. Is it just me or does anyone else also feel there might be a deeper connection here?

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u/LandscapeReady — 14 days ago

Joined this sub because I grew up outside TN and wasn't exposed to any tamil spoken outside of my house. The only tamil I speak is brahmin tamil at home. And have all these uniquely tambrahm habits that nobody else in my circles understands. But almost every third post on this sub is just matrimonial/dating ad! Guess I came to the wrong place to look for relatable people.

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u/LandscapeReady — 14 days ago