Wishing you all a very happy new year 2012 ...

WISHING A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012 TO ALL THE READERS OF MY BLOG !

Hope R2I during 2012 (or in the coming years) is one of your new year resolutions and wish you all the best for completing that successfully.

R2I or NR2I (No R2I) dilemma? - Take this assessment and evaluate yourself ...

If you are like me or any other POI (Person of Indian origin), it is very likely that you are in the R2I dilemma and assessing yourself to do R2I or stay back where you are. 


Unfortunately, we are 'neither here not there' types since we are born in India and also have seen the Western parts, which are much more developed than countries like India. Based on my thinking before R2I and experience after R2I, I have tried to put together a simple spreadsheet that can help you decide whether you should heed to that 'internal pull' towards the home country or stay back where you are.


As I said in my earlier posts, R2I is a very individualistic experience and something that is a major factor might be a very small factor for somebody else. I have assigned weights based on my situation and have tried to come up with a fair set of 'For R2I' and 'For NR2I' factors. Add and subtract weights and factors as you see fit. Assign your priority numbers and see what you come up with. If your PRO R2I factors weight more than Pro NR2I, you should strongly consider R2I before it is too late. But, be aware - by no means, this is not a scientific approach. So, use as you see fit.  Good luck :-)


As always, appreciate your feedback in the comments area.


Here is the link to the spreadsheet. Feel free to plug in your Weight and Agree/Disagree ratings for each factor and spreadsheet will compute the final totals which you can compare:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ar31K-X0nlyBdFliSzRZUE1FRXM2LTVvc2xmRmJwQmc&hl=en_GB#gid=0

Below is how the spreadsheet looks:


For R2I factors:

For NR2I (No R2I) factors:

Some of the websites that you will find useful for R2I ...

Below is the collection of some websites that you will need to know and will find quite useful during R2I.

General R2I info:
Of course, my blog with step by step guidelines has to be useful!: http://r2idiaries.blogspot.com/


The godzilla site for R2I: http://www.r2iclubforums.com/forums/forum.php


Some of the blogs/sites run by folks who have already R2Ied:
http://www.chitra-aiyer.com/
http://r2i.saroscorner.com/

Schools: 
Comparison of schools, parent comments etc

http://www.bangaloreschools.net


You may find this ICSE versus CBSE comparison very useful:
http://r2blore.chitra-aiyer.com/2008/04/cbse-and-icse-2-obvious-syllabus-choices.html

Real estate/apartments in Bangalore
http://www.sulekha.com
http://www.magicbricks.com
http://www.99acres.com/

To get an idea on what is available in India/Bangalore:
http://www.futurebazaar.com/
http://www.homeshop18.com/
http://www.flipcart.com
http://www.cromaretail.com/  (electronics, appliances)
http://www.adishwarestore.com/  (electronics, appliances)

Electronics items from US(especially 220 volts, transformer etc)
http://www.amazon.com
http://www.220-electronics.com/

Travel booking in India(if you need to travel within India for R2I)
http://www.cleartrip.com/

Cell phone/internet/cable in India:
http://www.airtel.com
http://www.tatasky.com

Looking back: Schools in Bangalore ....

Thoughts about the schools before R2I are jotted down here:
http://r2idiaries.blogspot.com/2011/09/todos-schools.html

Since this is an important factor for lots of folks, want to share the current experience with the schools in Bangalore. I am pretty sure this would be the status in other metros as well. 


Some of the international schools to consider, in the Bangalore South area(i.e, Marathhalli, Sarjapur Road, HSR layout, Koramangala, Whitefield and vicinity):


Greenwood High International: Accessible from Sarjapur road/HSR Layout/Varthur/Marathhalli/Whitefield area. School pickup starts around 7:15am in the morning. Don't consider if you are going to stay in BTM Layout, Electronics city or KR Puram area. School bus may still be there but you are looking at long commute for kids. Offers ICSC and IGSC(after 8th grade) syllabus. Very good facilities and clean campus. In fact, my kid felt the school facilities are much better than the public school he went to in Bay area.

[Update on GW High (05/02/2014): At this time, would like to add a note of caution for R2I parents seeking admission to GWH - since the post above might seem like a green signal for R2I parents to pursue GWH. With the year to year fee increases, I personally think this school is at a stage where paying the level of fees is questionable. They do have good facilities etc but at a certain point, level of fees outweighs the advantages and I think they have reached that point. I would strongly recommend R2I parents to consider other school options as well. Recently, the focus seems to be shifting more towards the new IGSC campus that is being built and various ways of funding that seem to be the priority. Unfortunately, this is the trend with most of the schools here - fees increases are steep, especially as the school gets more and more established.]

Inventure academy: Access is same as Greenwood high. Don't have first hand or second hand feedback on the school quality.

TISB: Access is same as Greenwood high but much more expensive. Don't have first or second hand feedback on the school quality.

Primus/Prakriya: Accessible from HSR layout, Sarjapur Road areas. Much farther from Whitefield, Varthur areas. Much smaller schools even though cost is much lower. If your kids are already exposed to US school system, might be a good idea to not consider these for transition.

Delhi Public School(DPS East): Access is pretty much same as Greenwood but bit far from Whitefield area. Bit on the lower side for cost(in the range of Rs. 70K/year). May not be that easy to get in at first shot since they have entrance tests etc. Rated as the second best school in Bangalore with CBSE syllabus.

Oakridge International School: In the GWH, TISB belt, newer setup - got fully operational last year. Should be bit easier to get in now.

National Public School(NPS): NPS has openened a branch in HSR layout. Access is good from Bellandur, HSR layout, Electronics city, BTM layout etc but far from Whitefield, Marathhalli, Varthur areas. Cost is in the range of DPS but difficult to get in. Rated as the best school in Bangalore with CBSE syllabus.

Deans Acacdemy: Accessible from whitefield, Varthur, Marathhalli area. One of my friend's kid goes there and has good feedback on the school.

Ebenezer: Accessible from HSR layout, BTM Layout, Electronics city areas. Bit on the expensive side but have gotten good feedback about the school from a friend, whose kid goes there for LKG.

Bethany: Located in the Koramangala area.

If you are in Bannerghatta, Banashankari, JP Nagar area, you can consider BGS international, DPS South etc.


To give an idea on the school setup, here are some of the pics from DPS East:

Looking back: Items brought back versus left behind ...

After 5 months of R2I, seems like a good time to do a bit of analysis on what we brought with us from US versus what we could have brought and what we could have left behind. Hope this helps some of you who are doing R2I and trying to decide on shipping ....

Worth bringing

Kids bicycles, Razor scotter etc: Have heard that you don't get good geared ones here + the quality of bikes you get in US is very good. Apartment complexes provide space where kids can bike around. So, definitely bring.


Kids books: yes, bring them over. Access to libraries is not very good. Haven't explored private libraries yet.


Reflective clothes: This is something we should have brought. Since cars and kids share the walkways next to apartment complexes, would really help to have cloths that reflect head light.


Shoes: You get all brands like Reebok etc here now but at US prices. Schools dictate their own shoes, starting from Bata to Reebok. If you are buying at a outlet, you get good prices on Reebok in US. So, worth getting few pairs.


Sports equipment: Tennis rackets, Baseball gloves/bats, Caps, Tennis balls, Shuttle rackets etc.


iPhone/iPAD/iPODs, Wii/XBox, Cameras: These cost much more here and worth bringing. iPhone can be unlocked for Rs. 500-800.


Large TVs, Music systems, DVD players, Piano/Keyboard, Toolsets: Make sure to bring a good one but one each- customs is hefty for second sets, even if they are older models.


Laptops, Computer accessories like routers, printers etc: Laptops and camera chargers etc handle 220Volts. However, routers etc don't. Hence, you need to bring along a step-up transformer. You can buy 1000Watts model for Rs. 2500-3000 in Bangalore but if you are shipping a 110V TV, you need to ship a good 1500Watts one along with TV as well. But, remember these are heavy!


Cordless phones, Alarm clock with battery back-up: Cordless phones work just fine. We brought the Panasonic cordless and works fine. We didn't bring a alarm clock with LED type of display and battery back-up. The ones we had work on power and are useless now since time resets whenever there is a power switch-over(which is at least once a day). Tired of resetting it each day and it is sitting back in the box now! Imagine your wake-up alarm getting reset during mid-night and school bus is already there when you wake up!


Hypoallergenic bed sheet, pillow covers, moisturizers like cetaphil: Haven't found these yet here. If you are allergic to dust etc(which you get plenty here!), bring these along.


Clothing: Worth bringing good Shorts, Jeans etc, including for kids. I am sure you get these here. But, your mobility might be restricted during first few months and better to have a stack of these so that you are not running around to get the brands that you are already used to. Shirts etc are available plenty and no point buying those over there.

May be/May be not

Spring Mattress: If your kids have outgrown these, not worth bringing over - I personally feel the coir ones we get in India are much better. However, kids can't do jumping over on these. If the kids are smaller, they like the mattress ones and can be used until they outgrow those. 


Furniture: Leather Sofas, Dining table etc: Chairs are a hassle and take good amount of shipping space, especially if they can't be folded. Good dining table (with 6 chairs) is available in India for Rs. 14,000-Rs.20,000. So, if the dining table you have already given you the ROI, sell or dump it and a get new one here. Also, worth selling if it can't be dismantled. Leather sofas might be worth shipping if in good condition. Sofas with recliners are also available now (for a price, of course). Leather quality may not be as good as the ones you get in US. So, if you have shipping space, would be worth bringing over. However, note that the large sectional sofas take up good amount of space and your decision needs to take the space you will have once you move as well.


Kids Toys: Good opportunity to sell, donate, dump some of these and bring only the ones kids need. We shipped a bunch and they are still sitting neatly in boxes and unlikely will see the light of the day again!


Backpacks, school supplies: You get good backpacks these days, for Rs. 1000-Rs.3000 range. Same for school supplies - good  quality materials are available now, including the same brands as in US. 


Clothing: Kids warm cloths, Heavy jackets, Hangers: The heavy jackets you used in US might not be that useful in places like Bangalore. Also, lots of full armed shirts etc are not that useful since most months are warmer and kids roam around in T-shirts and shorts most of the time.


Step stools, carpets, trash cans, trash bags: All of these are available and unless you have excess, not worth buying and shipping. You will have to get used to what is available here sooner or later.

Not worth, IMHO

Soaps, Shampoo, Shaving Gel: Better to get used to the ones available here and you get pretty much every brand now here.


Paper towels, Cloth towels, cleaning supplies: Even though quality is not that good, you can't live on supplies of these items from US forever! Ship few of these so that you can wean off gradually :-)


Bed sheets, Mattress Covers: Not worth buying new ones and shipping. You get much better colors here and quality is good as well.


Kitchen appliances:
Blender, Hair dryer, Washer, Dryer, Refrigerator, Microwave, Treadmill, Water filters, Ceramic items, Lamps etc: Most of these are high-wattage appliance and you will need a good sized transformer. If you can sell these items, sell those and you can buy new ones here. Also, if any of the US items stop working, you are in tough luck. So, not worth bringing over.
For ex, a decent LG brand washer and refrigerator cost Rs. 30,000 each for us and work nicely. Bit expensive compared to the US rates but if you add up the cost of transformer, shipping etc, cost would be close to what you pay here.

Feedback on US calls from India options (read Vonage versus others!) ...

Back to blogging after few days of break, hope you are finding the blog useful. Would really appreciate if you can leave a word or two in comments, even if it is anonymous - I would find spending time here worthwhile ...


If you are in US, most likely you have switched to Vonage, to get their $25/month India calls, including full access in US/Canada. We tried that for few months before we left (of course, when you are doing R2I, the India call volume goes up drastically and worth having Vonage). We had the definite idea of taking it to India with us and wanted to give it a try before we actually take it. From our experience, it worked very well in US.


Then, we came across Ooma (http://www.ooma.com/)- company which provides free US calls - you need just buy the device and only pay monthly taxes. Was bit difficult to believe but we decided to take the device with us anyway. It was available at Costco for $175 or so. Anyway, when you are in India, calling within India from a US number is not that attractive since most folks won't call back on that number (which would be an international number for them). 


While Vonage was working very well in India, got some time to give Ooma a try. I would say we are are pretty satisfied so far after few days of use. It was very easy to connect the device and register and we got a new number in few minutes. Ooma also gave the choice to select a number, which unfortunately didn't have the choice of selecting the area code I wanted. But, since we do most of the outgoing calls, that wasn't a big deal. There is a possibility of doing number transfer but that is a hassle - we need to disconnect Vonage first (which means returning the device). Being in India, didn't want to take the risk of returning the working device, without knowing how Ooma would work. 


It has been a good experience with Ooma so far. Going to wait a bit more before deciding to call off Vonage. Also, internet from Airtel gives 1-2MBPS speed consistently, which could be a reason for Ooma quality as well. But, I guess Vonage would need the same bandwidth for good quality as well.

What is available in India - @Home ...

Below are some of the items that are available @Home store in Bangalore ....

Here is a link to the FutureBazzar website, which has the catalogs listed as well. FutureBazzar runs stores like BizBazzar and HomeTown in Bangalore ...


http://www.futurebazaar.com/


This one is from a online retailer ...
http://www.homeshop18.com/

What is available in India - @ HomeTown ...

One of the key issue for us during R2I was to decide what to ship and what to sell/drop. Input to this was what is available in India. Once you get used to the items that you are already using, it is hard to drop everything and start over, especially with kids. We did check with friends/family in India before we decide to sell the items and I should say most of our decisions on what to keep versus what to sell were correct. Everything is available in India but for a price (and sometimes for a steep price!).


For example, we decided to keep our leather sofa and ship it (for the added cost of shipping these). As you can see below, a leather sofa set can cost a good amount in India.


To give an idea on what items are available, I have attached some pics from the shopping catalogs of HomeTown (similar to HomeDepot in US) ...


Note that prices in these large stores are usually much higher than the normal stores like Star Bazaar or Total. In this case, HomeTown is the high-end arm of Star Bazaar. However, these pics should give a good idea on what is available in India these days.

HomeTown products:
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Planning for R2I in 2012? Start now ...

If you are planning for R2I in 2012, now is the right time to start ! It is not too early not too late. School admissions for 2012 have started in Bangalore and you need to weigh between schools and decide which one works best for you. You need to start the work relocation process/negotiations so that you are not stuck with 'what they offer'...You need to decide where to stay - school being major criteria and proximity to work location being the next. Unlike what we were told, apartments do get rented out quickly during school season(May-June time frame) and shortlisting one goes a long way once you land here ...


See my thread for more info ...
http://r2idiaries.blogspot.com/2011/09/preparations-when-to-start.html

And of course, read my blog entries for all of the TODO items to get you there :-)

Some pics from Bangalore ...

Here are some of the pics of Bangalore, looking out from high rise ...

On a rainy day ...

View of homes

View of homes

Main street view

View of apartment surroundings and walk-way

Towards Sarjapur road

Ohh, it's diwali night !!!

Diwali night ...

Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

R2I and R2A viewpoints ...

There are tons of viewpoints on R2I and R2A (Return to America) on the net but came across these two viewpoints recently. Interesting to read ...


http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/22/why-i-left-india-again/

http://www.chetanbhagat.com/blog/2011/10/24/happy-diwali-and-why-i-am-still-here/


Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

Visit to 'native' place ...

Weird, it never occurred to me before - why do we call the place 'native'? But, anyway, during Dasara times, visited my birthplace, which is close to Mangalore. Very much an interior place still not messed up by pollution, dust and traffic but has all amenities like electricity(with inverter back-up), fridge, dish TV etc. Things haven't changed much here and it is always refreshing to get some fresh air, like in US.


Added are some pics from this place, which I still call home ...

Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

Exposure to corruption/bribes ...

Fortunately, so far, we have been pretty much isolated  from this issue. I am sure it is waiting to happen and again, renting an apartment provided a bit of isolation since gas connection, water, electricity etc are taken care. Thanks to privatization, private companies like AirTel, TataSky etc do isolate you from these, at least at the common customer level. The people who come for service like installers, furniture delivery folks do expect some tips (in the order of Rs. 100 or 150) but it is rare that they demand it. Folks from TataSky even declined to take Rs. 100, which was a surprise. However, never paid any charges to people directly from companies like LG etc. Overall, I would say things have improved a bit - like in US, at least this is a not a initial shocker to manage. Once you start on your own with house, I am sure you can't avoid these things. 


Only case where I felt like I paid a corrupt person was for a cop - driver made a U-turn in a place where there was a clear board of no U-turn. He got thru' first time ok, in spite of we warning him ("I have done this before here"). Second time, we weren't so lucky and there was the cop waiting. He demanded flat Rs. 100. I was expecting a receipt but he gave a blank look and had to move away. Should have demanded to get a receipt - I beleive the fines are really not more than Rs. 100 or 200 anyway. 


It seems like cops are corrupt but I should say whatever order is there in traffic conditions is due to them. I have seen them giving tickets to bike riders without helmet (might be an easy way to make money - not quite sure how much the helmets help in the stuck traffic where speeds are pretty low). People follow some rules since they are scared of getting caught by cops and that is still good and keeps some sanity on roads. 


Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

Today's experience - getting a NTSC TV to work...

This was a big TBD when we shipped the plasma TV from US. It is a Panasonic plasma 42'' and if we had sold, we would have gotten $200-$250 or so. Given we had paid $2600 or so when we bought it in 2005, didn't feel we had retrieved our cost. It still gives pretty good picture and has HD. So, even if we use it as a kids Wii station, it would have be ok since the shipping cost would be an increment of $100 or so. To be on the safer side, purchased the Atlona PAL to NTSC converter as well, which added $100 more to the cost. Based on the discussions on the R2I club etc, it seemed like the dish providers in India would be able to provide an HDMI port, which can be directly used with the TV.


After 4 months, family pressure to get TV was mounting. Things are getting to be routine and that makes some TV time available. Thought of setting up the TV with cable first since apartment already had a cable provider. They go by Hathway cable. Called them and they said they would send the person to setup in 30 minutes or so. Since nothing happens in 30 mins here, assumed they would turn up that day. No sign of the person that day. 

After two more calls and bit of shouting about "either tell us you can make it or say that you won't be able to come over', they again promised to show up the same day but as they did last time, didn't show up. Decided that it is time to drop them - if they are not showing up for a new connection, you can imagine the level of service they will privide to resolve an issue with cable! 


Next option was Tata Sky - had heard good things about these folks and give them a call. Should say that went pretty smoothly. Person was able to provide the 'Diwali' offer of full package for two months free and went with the DVR capable SkyPlus+ option (http://www.tataskyplus.com/why-get-tata-sky-plus-hd.html), which cost Rs. 3999. The box belongs to the subscriber and dish comes along with that. Box and Dish needs to get moved when you move to a new location and Tata Sky has relocation service for Rs 125 or so but I can see that it is not difficult to unmount the dish. You would need their help for mounting since the direction of dish mount is important to get signals.

However, apartment complexes don't allow wires to be drawn outside the building in a visible way and have interior pathway for all of these cables. Again the quality of service people is quite questionable and first thing they did was to drill a hole on the door bottom to get the cable in. I am pretty sure they would be installing cables all over the place in Bangalore but they want to get their job done quickly - thye were planning to get the cable from the dish drawn on the outside and get it over with. Got the electrician of the building involved and he showed the centalized box for the floor from where each unit was suppossed to be connected. But, as it turns out, the actual cable was never laid out to our unit - there was just the place holder metal wire, that was rusted and cut off in few places. So, had to pay Rs 500 to the installers so that they can remove the rusted wires and draw the atual cable from the centralized box to the unit - took good 2 hours for them to complete.

Once the cable was drwan, next step was as simple as conecting it to the DVR and then to TV. DVR had HDMI port and installers said it may or may not work - depends on the brand and how newer the TV is. This TV is from 2005 and definitely not a new one. Connected the HDMI output of DVR to TV and tried - no signal. Switched ports etc but no luck - this TV was not able to handle the direct PAL HDMI input. Time to try out the converter box. The one I had was Atlona CDM 660 (http://www.atlona.com/ATLONA-MULTI-SYSTEM-PAL-NTSC-VIDEO-CONVERTER.html)

Connected the Video-Out of DVR to Video-In of TV and changed to Video-1. Voila - there was the setup screen. Quite noisy and lines were showing up but after a bit of resolution changes, video quality was quite good. Not much setup was required but conversion lag was showing up in some channels. When there is a fast movement on the screen, you can see the image movement zig-zagging or freezing a bit. Overall, quality is not too bad but HD quality is quite questionable - even the service people weren't too happy with the HD quality we were getting.

Service technician mentioned that quality was very good with the direct HDMI converters. That is the next TODO item - get a Atlona AT-HD560 Pal HDMI to NTSC HDMI Converter (http://www.amazon.com/Atlona-AT-HD560-HDMI-NTSC-Converter/dp/B0011MOVN8), which costs $160 on Amazon and now needs to get brought to India (yes, it is no more 'click on Amazon and get it delivered to door step :-( ). I had thought of buying this model but wasn't sure the cable/dish guys here would be able to provide an HDMI output. Seems like that is fairly common and buying a direct HDMI converted is pretty safe.

Atlona CDM 660 Back view

Atlona CDM 660 Front view

TataSkyPlus DVR Box Front View

TataSkyPlus DVR Box Back View

Update 05/02/2011:
Finally received the long-awaited Atlona CE AT-HD560 Video Scaler thru' a friend who was coming back from US. Connected the HDMI Out of Tata Sky DVR thru' Atlona to HDMI Input of TV and it worked perfectly!!! Hoorrayy! 
Setup was simple - connected and pressed the 'Factory defaults' and that's it - I had very clear HD signal on the TV. I couldn't read the Channel Guide screen text clearly with the old converter but this was a charm. Many HD channels and perfect quality and no conversion lag. Quite happy with this converter and it is definitely worth the money ($160 + Shipping)



Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

Real estate in Bangalore...

Thought this would be a topic of interest to many people who are looking to relocate. One word - Bangalore real estate is still red hot, no two words about it. A 3 bedroom apartment of 1500-1600 sq. ft in a decent locality, where commute is within 40-50 minutes can set you back by 75-80 lakhs or so. Most of the apartments are quite decent, with good facilities that you can use. However, main concern here is - unlike before where people bought the site and built the house on their nest egg, I would say majority of the apartments now are loan-driven. Banks like HDFC have home loan agents available in their extension branches in the company premises pretty much through out the day and can complete the loan financing in few weeks(where as they are available for opening accounts only for certain periods of the day!). And, I have seen many of my colleagues signing papers without much clue on the details of the loans and what would happen if the jobs vanish. Similarly, not quite sure what Banks would do if the tech market collapses. Didn't we see the same happening in US/California during 2004-2007 when the real estate bubble was still bubbling? (equations in India could be different but this is something that is new in India and hasn't seen before)


Most of the folks staying in these apartments are techies and are loan driven. What will happen if there is a US/Europe recession and job growth stops are even lay-off wave hits? Majority of the folks don't have secondary income and wouldn't be able to keep the homes. Working with colleagues at work, most of them don't have a clue how the job market can change, unlike in US, Indian techies still think their jobs are pretty safe and their performance can take them thru'. What they may not realize or have exposure is - whole departments can vanish and that take you down along with everybody else, immeterial of the performance. I sincerely hope that day wouldn't come and Indian market keeps it's growth.

Ok, that was the pessimistic side. On the optimistic side - it could be that apartments in Bangalore are undervalued, if, that is a BIG if, growth accelarates or keeps the phase. A similiar 1500-1600 sq. feet, 3 bed room apartment in Mumbai can cost upwards of 1.5 crores. So, why wouldn't Bangalore price reach that point? Quite possible but few things to consider - Jobs in Bangalore are entirely tech driven whereas Mumbai has a distirbution of other sectors like finance, movie industry, port etc. Doesn't seem Bangalore's other industries like defence companies(govt subsidiries), banking etc can hold up the prices. So, if the growth continues in tech industry, prices would hold or even go up further since there is a good in-flux of people still coming to the city from other parts of India due to Job factor, weather etc. 


At the end of the day, guess this is another 'time will tell' issue. I recall visiting the builders during 2000-2001 and they were quoting 35-40 lakhs for apartments that were being built (in Outer ring road area) and that seemed quite expensive that time. Now, the same apartments cost upwards of 75 lakhs, which is more than double, in a span of 10-11 years. Not bad at all. (However to note, even a investment in Fixed Deposit(FD, same as CDs in US), would have returned pretty much the same amount of returns or even more but with tax implications).


Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

In summary ...

To summarize the overall feeling and the million rupees question (yes, it is now in rupees, not in $$ anymore) - would you consider going back to US' - the answer is a definite NO! We would simply loose too much by going back. However, agree that it is too early to say. It has been just 4 months and everything looks new as of now - the family reach, food, weather etc etc and may not feel that good after few years. However, the sentiment about things like family reach etc has remained the same - it is simply too 'far' being in US to have a close attachment with the family. We can already see that we can get involved with several things like family health issues, kids education and lot of other things on a day-to-day basis, which was not possible being there.


So, as of now, all eforts are towards settling down here, with housing being a major long term consideration. There is no simple answer for this one - the places close to work are quite expensive, eventhough affordable, doesn't seem to justify the price. Places relatively far are bit cheaper but school commute, water etc become a concern. Hope time will resolve these things...


Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...

Overall feeling: 'feel the pinch' things ...

Here is a laundry list of things which pinch you everyday as compared to the life in US:


No footpaths: It is an incorrect statement, really. If properly used, all of the Indian roads have footpaths and certainly have so much space -either the space is left out with weeds and trash or occupied/encroched by shop keepers. For all of that traffic and congestion, the best and easiest thing government can do is - release the footpaths to pedestians so that road can be fully utilized by vehicles. Now, 1/4th of the roads are used by pedestrians since they don't have any other place to walk and they jostle around with moving traffic. Rather than constructing large flyovers, government can easily release the existing space and reduce good amount of congestion. But, ain't going to happen with the attitude of the government officials in near future.

Another point that frustrates you is - there is no courtesy towards pedestrians. Drivers are merciless and even for a person living in Bangalore crossing a street like some sections of ring roads is a nightmare - you would easily wait 5-10 minutes before you may get a slight gap in traffic where you run for your life to cross the street - not a happy experiece. This happens at Zebra crossings where pedestrians have the right of way! This being a ring road. there is no signal that you can use either. 

Rushing/random traffic:  More than the heavy traffic, what frustrates you is the nature of traffic, which is very random - there is no right of way anywhere and people go randomly in all directions, if they can! Since signals take long time to get thru', any small cross street that can bypass the signal gets jammed up. The roads which are marked as two lanes, hold 4 cards in parallel + few more bikes. Needless to say about non-stop honking, which is a survival technique. Even with the random traffic, if people follow some discipline, it would be much more comfortable but again ain't going to happen in the near future! So, have to live with that ..

Unreliability of service folks:  Guess you get what you pay for - true, you have workers availability in India for what you call at 'cheaper' price but they turn to be unreliable as well. Fortunately, most of the things are getting done by machines as well like in US - you can afford to get cloths washed by Washing machine (since most of the commute is done by cars, cloths don't get that dirty like before), dryer is getting common as well, you can pretty much see microwaver in every house etc. Some of the chores like wiping the floors, cleaning the dishes etc are still need to be done by maids since apartments are still not setup for dish washers. 
House maids getting sick is a very common scenario. Also, they always run on advance salary - good way for them to get employment guareentee! 

Place for kids to go out:  This issue is resolved to some extent in an apartment setting since large apartments have play areas, recreation room, activities like Tennis classes, swimming pool/classes, karate class, dance class etc. Outside of that, activities outside are pretty limited - there can be parks closeby but parks don't have play structures like in US. They are maintained well in some areas but they don't let kids play on the grass. So, there is only so much kids can do in these parks. It will take a while before US returned can get used to play on the streets. Mixing with local kids/cousins does help since they quickly learn how to play in a parking garage or on the street where place is limited. Ofcourse, it is always Cricket and that can be played anywhere!

Food: This one is both good and bad - you have access to food outside (veg, if you are a vegetarian) but can cause issues if you are not careful. In some places, especially, when you travel outside, there are few choices - looking at the restaurant, you may not feel like eating but may not have much choice in that area. Compared this with US, you can feel pretty safe to eat out in any decent franchise or restaurant, without worrying about water quality or food hygene, even in remote places. 

Work environment: May not be true for all of the companies, but I would say the work enviroment is bit inferior here. Most of the things are restricted so that employees don't misuse the facilities - be it the internet connection or stationaries. Things are getting better and slowly becoming comparable to US but certain things won't change that easily.

You don't get what you pay for: This is true - compared to US, for many things, you don't get whatyou pay for. Specially, true for housing. Housing in Bangalore in a 'good' locality is quite expensive - an independent 1800-2000 sq. feet of home can cost in the range of Rs. 1,50,00,000 - 2,00,00,000, which tunrs out to be $330,000 to $440,000!. And, there is only so much you can do about the locality itself - you might see lots of stray dogs, roads might be pot-holed, trash could be there dumped on the corner of the street etc. And, no getting around from that traffic.



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