u/nritrack

I just moved back after being an NRI in the Middle East for a long time. Over there, life happens entirely inside air-conditioned bubbles.

Walking out of the airport and immediately getting hit by that heavy, salty, humid Mumbai air... it’s weird, but I actually missed it. Eating a scorching hot Vada Pav outside the station instead of a ₹3,000 brunch. The chaotic noise of the traffic that somehow has its own rhythm. The way cutting chai tastes in the rain.

You don't realize how much you miss the soul of this city until you live somewhere that doesn't have one.

For the folks here who have lived abroad and come back: what was the absolute first thing you did or ate that made you realize, "Yes, I am finally home"?

I feel like the mental health aspect of this course is completely ignored by the ICAI and our families.

You sit in your room for your 3rd or 4th attempt at CA Final. You open Instagram, and the friends who took "easier" degrees are getting promotions, buying cars, traveling abroad, and getting married. Meanwhile, you are 24 or 25 years old, still financially dependent on your parents, calculating depreciation on other people's assets for a tiny articleship stipend.

It feels like you traded the best years of your 20s just for a prefix. For the ones who finally cleared it after multiple attempts... does the feeling of being "behind in life" eventually go away, or do you always feel like you are playing catch-up?

Need some professional advice from the seniors here.

I spent weeks cleaning up a client's messy foreign assets, structuring his capital gains, and navigating DTAA to legally save him over ₹14 Lakhs this past year. Now that the new FY has started, I sent him my revised retainer agreement with a very modest ₹5,000 fee increase.

He called me immediately, acting completely betrayed, telling me "other CAs do it for half your price" and treating me like a street vendor he can bargain with.

I know the market is competitive, but the sheer disrespect is exhausting. At what point do you guys just swallow your pride and fire a high-paying client because of the disrespect?

We all know the standard requests from family when we fly back, but someone recently asked me to bring back a very specific brand of dish soap. What is the weirdest or most random thing you've been asked to haul across the world in your check-in bag?