India, Sept. 27 -- A 33-year-old Indian-origin man living in the US has sparked a conversation among NRIs after describing a strange emptiness despite achieving almost everything he once dreamed of.

In a post on Reddit, the man wrote that he was "literally living the life" he had once prayed for, but could not feel the happiness he expected to come with it.

His story began far differently. He said he came from a lower-middle-class family in India, where his mother was the main breadwinner and earned around Rs.10,000 a month at one point. At 21, he secured admission to a reputed European university with almost-free tuition, but had to take a loan of about Rs.2 lakh to make the move.

The early days abroad were difficult. He said he strug...