Is Mumbai's fast-paced life getting to you? Here's how these Indians found success outside of it

The city of dreams Mumbai is supposed to have a corner for everyone who comes here Millions have come and found a home here While one often hears anecdotes of how the city showed acceptance to so many liberated more and made people independent therersquos also a flip side to the coin Some find the fastpaced hustle of this city to be too tiring and have decided to find themselves a better homeKanak Murarka moved to Mumbai at the ripe age of 18 to pursue a Bachelors in Business Administration from NMIMS Hailing from the small town of Jamshedpur Murarka practically came of age in the city All the ldquocanon eventsrdquo as Gen Z calls it happened here be it setting up a flat of her own for the first time making friends that will last a lifetime or learning how to survive on her own She even got her first job here working with Sony Entertainment Live within a month of graduatingMaheshwari also models from time to time for her friend Rainy Agrawalrsquos jewellery brand MimosaaBut alas the plot thickens Murarka tells us ldquoIn my second year I moved into a flat with my closest friends But then when college got over a lot of my friends moved to another city I moved into a flat with people I found through Flats and Flatmates on FacebookrdquoFor the first time Murarka was faced with the challenge of living without a support system that too with a job that calls for odd hours and 9 to ten hour standing days She explains ldquoShoots would go on till 1230 am in the night at times By the time I reached home the food would get spoilt on most days Then I kind of stopped eating and my weight started fluctuating a lotrdquoKanak Murarka is now freelancing as a PR professional from her hometown of JamshedpurLiving with strangers led to tiffs on every small issue ultimately leading to a depressive episode ldquoThe loneliness the everyday struggle to survive the food problems they just kept growing day by day And so I decided to quitrdquo At 22 Murarka moved back to her hometown Jamshedpur where she now lives with her parents Shersquos freelancing as a PR professional and runs her own Instagram page which provides her with some extra income on the side ldquoI feel a lot lot better Itrsquos like I can breathe againrdquo says MurarkaLifestyle coach Radhika Dhawan explains why home might be calling your name ldquoPeople who may have wanted to move back before found an opportunity during the lockdown Plus therersquos often an emotional pull to return to onersquos hometown especially to give back to the community or reconnect with people they have grown up with The isolation of the lockdown made us all reflect on these thingsrdquoRainy Agrawal is now successfully running her own jewellery line called MimosaaA city like Mumbai can also cause burnout At least that was the case with Anisha Maheshwari who moved back to her hometown of Raipur Chhattisgarh at the peak of her career at the age of 25 Shersquos a fashion stylist and a selfdescribed ldquohustlerrdquo and had lived in Mumbai for eight yearsmdashfirst four during college and then while working Shersquos worked on notable projects such as the Voot series Khalbali Records assisting stylists like Shaleena Nathani while styling Shah Rukh Khan and Sonika Grover while styling Arjun Kapoor Aditya Roy Kapur and Ranveer SinghldquoWhen I first moved back home during the lockdown I couldnrsquot wait to get back I missed working Every day that I wasnrsquot on set felt weirdrdquo she tells us ldquobut when I did come back I was severely burnt out in just a few yearsrdquo As part of her job she was constantly on her feet running from location to location and set to set Her hours were odd and seemed to never end with pay that was highly unstable ldquoI was the only person in their team for most of the stylists that I was working under and so I had to manage everything endtoendrdquo she saysRadhika DhawanIn 2022 Maheshwari took up a job with stylist Toshia Kader where she assisted on styling the Birla clan ldquoI learned a lot from that job Toshia was amazing to work for but soon it became more about personal shopping for them than styling and that just wasnrsquot my callingrdquo she saysAnd so in 2023 Maheshwari decided to call it quits and move back to her hometown She says ldquoIt just didnrsquot make sense to live in Mumbai any more In my field I was making barely enough to cover rent It is one of those lines of work where you struggle for 20 years or so to finally be able to make it My career became everything I didnrsquot have time for anything elserdquoThe hyperindividualism of the modern urban city can often leave its residents lonely and helpless Moving back to her hometown has reconnected Maheshwari to the family unit She says ldquoNow that I live with my parents I donrsquot have to worry about whether I will make rent this month or not And I have so many friends here My routine is such that I can make time to spend with both friends and family I can focus on my healthmdashwhich was deteriorating in Mumbaimdashby eating good meals every dayrdquoDhawan tells us ldquoItrsquos the flip side of what people move to cities formdashindependence We crave that autonomy but when we get it we realise how much we value community Living with family or as part of a unit takes away certain pressures That support system can make life simpler and thatrsquos often more accessible in smaller townsrdquoWhen asked if she would ever consider the big city life again she said ldquoNo I had my fun in Mumbai but home is Raipur now The slow pace definitely took some time to adjust to but I love it nowrdquo Dhawan explains ldquoFor people whorsquove lived in Mumbai slowing down can feel uncomfortable almost like boredom But the fast pace takes its toll Wersquore always busy People in Mumbai often struggle to prioritise themselves which is something I work on with my clientsrdquoNow Maheshwari works as a freelance fashion and product stylist in Raipur She says ldquoThe concept is fairly new here but thatrsquos the fun partmdashto be able to introduce people to something new I keep getting projects here and there but itrsquos definitely a growing market My mother also runs a small home decor store called lsquoThe Fig Treersquo and I get to help her out Many of my friends run businesses here which are doing fairly well We all get to help each otherrdquoSpeaking of friends one such companion for Maheshwari is Rainy Agrawal She graduated as a lawyer but then moved to Mumbai in 2022 to pivot to digital marketing Here she worked for Black Box Co a crueltyfree leather accessories brand Although she had joined in to handle digital marketing and social media slowly she started participating more in the business side of the company such as accountkeeping packaging coordinating with vendors sourcing inventory etcThis gave her the knack for the inner workings of a business and a yearning to have something of her own And so Mimosaa mimosaain on Instagram her jewellery brand was born She tells us ldquoI remember I used to keep brainstorming ideas while I was working at Black Box and then I finally came up with Mimosaa I used to go around the city to Crawford just to understand how I can source materials for my own businessrdquoAgrawal had high hopes from the city but unfortunately it didnrsquot deliver She says ldquoI thought Irsquoll meet so many people party all the time but the people I met I didnrsquot necessarily connect with I learnt to go out alone watched movies alone and went to cafeacutes by myself I tried new things like attending workshops to try and meet people It was an experience that made me grow a lot but at the same time there was that sense of lonelinessrdquoBy November 2023 Agrawal had made up her mind that itrsquos time to make a homecoming She says ldquoI felt like I had learnt what I was going to learn at the job Plus my salary was pretty much the same as my rent I just thought itrsquos time to go back I came back with a plan I moved to Raipur in November In December I had a stock of inventory In January I did my photoshoots and in February I launchedrdquoItrsquos been over a year and she has been running her jewellery business very successfully ldquoItrsquos a myth that opportunities are only available in big cities I recently got a sourcing request from Alaviaa Jaffreyrsquos team for her show lsquoThe Tribersquo With everything moving online now things are so convenient I can ship a parcel today and it will reach Mumbai within a day And of course Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are booming right now I am seeing designers from all over the country now not just Mumbai and Delhi There are many growth opportunitiesrdquo