Coming Full Circle

When I was growing up in Ranchi, my parents used to tell me: if you don’t study, you’ll be stuck here in Ranchi. Success, back then, simply meant leaving. Leaving the town. Leaving the state. Leaving the country.

By the time I was studying in Varanasi, most of us wanted to go abroad. When I joined the software industry in 1996, success took on a more corporate form - how much time you spent on-site (client location), how global your life looked. It felt natural.

The world was opening up. The internet was just beginning to enter everyday life. Globalisation promised opportunity to those willing to move. In India, the early ’90s reforms were settling in, and technology became a way to transcend geography.

Like many of my generation, I followed that path. I travelled widely. I worked across countries. I almost settled abroad. But the longer I stayed away, the stronger the pull became - to return. Back to Bengaluru, where I work. Back to Banaras, where I studied. Back to Ranchi, where I grew up.

Looking back, there was an assumption baked into that moment - that the future lay elsewhere. Three decades later, that assumption feels weaker. Earlier, success meant getting out. Now, it feels more like staying and making things better.

My work today takes me across India. And almost everywhere, I encounter the same energy. People fixing what didn’t work before. People building something new for the first time. People - inside and outside government - who want systems to actually serve citizens. They work within real constraints. But what stands out is not cynicism - it is intent. What they are trying to build is concrete. Better cities. Cleaner water. Faster justice. More dignified work. Better lives.

When I return to Ranchi now, I no longer see a place one must escape to succeed. I see unfinished work. And real possibility.

As the year ends, I find myself thinking less about where the world is pulling us, and more about what we are choosing to build. For me, the journey has come full circle. Not because the world got smaller - - but because home got larger.

As the year comes to a close, I wish you time to pause, reflect, and step into the next one with hope.