Bengaluru techie returns to India after six years in Germany explains why he chose to come back

A Bengaluru-based tech professional has triggered a debate on social media after explaining why he chose to return to India following six years in Germany, despite enjoying what he described as a comfortable and organised lifestyle abroad.

The post, shared on X by a user identified as Tanuj, has received more than 230,000 views. In his message, he reflected on his experience living in Germany and compared it with life in India.

Tanuj wrote that Germany offered clean roads, a better work-life balance, peaceful surroundings and predictable systems. However, he said those advantages were not enough to make him stay permanently.


“I lived in Germany for six years. Clean roads, better work life balance, peaceful life and predictable systems, yet I still returned to India,” he wrote.

He acknowledged India’s challenges, including traffic, pollution, overcrowding and noise, and admitted that he sometimes still feels like moving back to Germany. However, he added that India offered a sense of energy, emotional connection and spontaneity that he found difficult to explain.

“But India also has something that is hard to explain: energy, emotions, family, festivals, spontaneity and a feeling that life is happening around you. Sometimes comfort is not enough. You also want to feel alive,” he wrote.

Post sparks debate online

The post prompted extensive discussion online, with users sharing differing opinions about life in India and abroad.

One user wrote that India’s problems did not lie in its civilisation or cultural roots, but in what they described as a failure among many people to evolve socially and intellectually with changing times.

The user said India had historically contributed to fields such as philosophy, mathematics and medicine, but argued that civic sense, accountability and critical thinking had not developed at the same pace as technological advancement.

“India feels alive because its soul is ancient and resilient. But the country will keep exhausting itself if its people refuse to evolve with the same greatness they endlessly brag about inheriting,” the comment stated.

Another user, who said they were also living in Europe and planned to return to India this year, wrote that they did not want to raise a family in the West.

The user claimed that Western societies carried what they described as an anti-Indian bias and said there were other countries, such as Thailand, that they considered more suitable for living abroad.

A third user summarised the discussion by writing, “Some countries optimize life. India amplifies it.”