In a reverse American Dream of sorts, Dhruvi Patwa decided to leave the U.S. at the height of her career, to return back to India — a move that puzzled many of her friends, well-wishers and family.
After all, Patwa had everything any Indian wishing to live and work in America wanted — a visa, a dream job with Google, a six-figure salary and a network of mentors and friends in the U.S. But still, she chose the familiarity of her home country rather than the rush for achieving the ultimate.
She shares with The American Bazaar her journey of grit, determination and home coming.
“I was 22, when I took that dream flight to the U.S. I packed my life in two bags and boarded the long flight to America,” she says. This was no ordinary journey. The 8,000-mile trip marked the culmination of a lifelong dream. At that stage, Patwa says she had no idea that after achieving the American Dream, she would soon decide to call it quits.
Patwa began her journey in the U.S. studying marketing analytics at Purdue University. After completing her master’s degree, she landed her first role through LinkedIn — a position at Beretta USA. There, she developed data-driven market strategies for product launches. Her career was steadily advancing, and a major breakthrough seemed just around the corner.
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“I was deeply passionate to get into big tech and hence applied and actively networked at Google and other MAANG companies. After a year at Beretta USA, I got an interview call from Google and started working as a product manager. My work revolved around driving growth and revenue and app advertisements – life looked fulfilling,” Patwa says.
Patwa worked for a year and a half and enjoyed the work culture, she admired the drive people had to excel, was in awe of innovation and looked up to everything she could learn from. She was then rewarded with a promotion – a life time opportunity. The moment people wait for their entire lives.
But just when Patwa had fulfilled everything the American Dream seemed to promise, she had a thought. “What next, I thought,” she shares. Despite everything going right, Patwa felt a sense of emptiness. It was also when she realized she had a deep ambition to create something of her own. “I could have continued the nicely laid out path and could have achieved the next big-thing or I could, pause, reflect and re-calibrate my journey. The latter was riskier but it was also my chance to give wings to my ambitions.”
It was also the time that Patwa began questioning the constraints that come with a H-1B visa. “While it is a visa that thousands would love to secure, the truth is it has many limitations. Being on H-1B meant I was always going to be tied to my employer. It was not easy to quit and build something of my own here.”
Patwa was also excited about the potential of India’s startup ecosystem, “but it was not possible to be part of it from thousands of miles away,” she says. “I had to be there.” Patwa also began thinking in practical terms. If she was going to take the risk of starting something new, she felt it would be better to have the support of friends and family — and that meant being in India.
The timing was right too. Patwa says, “I had financial freedom, I was single and I had far less responsibilities. If I wanted to be an entrepreneur I had to start now.”
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The life of an expat away from family was also taking a toll on her. “Eating mindfully, connecting with community were taking a backseat in front of ambitions. In the U.S., the achievements always came through career highs,” she says.
Somewhere she could see it clearly – she lived the American Dream and had now outgrown it.
Three years into her Google job, she did the unthinkable – she quit, packed her bags and took the long flight once more – this time to home and rebuilding.
Once in India, Patwa had to make some adjustments. Before fully committing, she chose to take on a short, three-month project at Google that allowed her to live in India — an opportunity to get a real sense of what life there would entail. “It was not a light-decision, I discussed with my mentors, thought about my strategies, I even connected with people who moved back to India from the U.S. to gain their perspective.”
Currently, Patwa works at a bootstrapped hair care and color brand and is enjoying the process of building it from the ground up. She says, “I am experimenting and testing problem spaces until I find something worth devoting next decade of my life. India has made me realize that there are unique problems to be solved here. Often people copy ideas from the West, without researching if that would work in the Indian ecosystem. It’s a different challenge and I am making the most of it.”