For here or To go ?!

I guess, the first question every Indian faces when he come to US is - "For here, or To go?". I was asked the same question at a MacD stall at the Chicago airport, my first day in US. For those who dont know, this means, do you want the burger here or do you want it packed to carry away.

Obviously the question asks more than just that and we come up with all possible explanations to debate, "Why I am here". Everyone has their own reasons, and so do I. With my thesis almost done and time to leave US coming near, I think time is ripe to look back at it all...

All the reasons we all come-up with are true. The education is better, jobs pay higher, living standards are better etc. etc. But does that me we stay here or go back. For me the choice was relatively simple. I wanted to have my own business real bad, and I had an opportunity waiting for me in Pune. Moreover I cannot explain the feeling of going home, home is home and no matter how rich and powerful you become in US, you are still an outsider. No matter how high the statue if liberty is, racism is very much alive in US. Average American is more conservative than an average Indian, I can say this after experiencing it first hand...

Summing-up the whole experience, I should thank all the friends I made in US, especially my roommates... The place would have been a ghost town without them. I made friends for life and with them unforgettable memories! Great professors, exemplary institutions and systems, and the Obama election campaign going parallel to all this with our crazy late night discussions, debates just made it some of the best days of my life. These two years are only the second best time in my life after my engineering college days.