One gets to hear news of divorces between couples from the Indian subcontinent who have settled abroad so often that unfortunately it doesn’t surprise anyone anymore.

I migrated to Australia in mid 2013 as a skilled professional. The skill assessment and the migration process was relatively quick and the visa grant coincided with the festive occasion of Diwali, which called for a double celebration that year (the lasting hangover reminded me that we had overdone it).  Armed with a master’s degree in engineering and 17 years of experience, I landed at Sydney airport with controlled exuberance. A good life and a bright future beckoned. However, I had quit my permanent job as an engineering executive in Indiain pursuit of an uncertain future – in a distant country in a different hemisphere. The chill of that winter morning in early July (arriving from a sweltering Delhi) reminded me of the change and the looming thunderstorm was reflective of the turmoil inside: Will I find a job?

February 2017 marks eight years of the beginning of the Arab Spring protest of 2011 in Libya, which led to the ousting and ultimate death of Muammar Gaddafi (the deposed leader of Libya). My project team and I were on one of the last commercial flights leaving Libya at that time and though now it is a good story to tell, it could have gone horribly wrong.