r2i forum

Dear Fellow R2i ers,

We finally made it back home on the dawn of May 23 2011. I just got some time today after 3 weeks to post my experiences. I am going to write this diary in phases to be helpful to all future R2iers.

Background:

We have been in the USA for a more than a decade (DH for 13 years) and myself for a decade. Have 2 boys (US C) and we have GC. The seeds of R2i was sown in 2008 during my 3 month trip to India. So we stopped our house search in US though we were very close to buying a home. We are glad we did not do that.

Preparation:

We started the process last November with school search. We had our own flat in Chennai that was rented out. So that was taken care of. I will continue with my pre and post R2i experiences as the days go by.

Congrats! Do keep us posted on the happenings in Chennai.

November - March:

1. School Search in Chennai:

Most schools start their process in Feb/ March and some start in Oct/Nov. We had shortlisted the following schools:

1. Harishree Vidyalaya - RA puram
2. Arsha Vidya Mandir - Velachery
3. Sunshine - Velachery
4. Navadisha - Velachery
We targeted schools close to Velachery with exception to Harishree since we got excellent reviews about the school. Harishree gave out application for KG in Nov. My dad contacted the school and it was a pretty easy process and my little one got into it. But the donation they asked was 1.25 L and so we decided against the school. The distance was a minus too.

Next we applied in Arsha Vidhya mandir. They had online application and it was an easy process. My younger one got interview call and my elder one got regret letter. Also they were not flexible in the interview date for the parents with child. So we could not make it to the interview which was in Mar and our tickets were in May.

In the mean time I also applied in A school for my little one as a last resort. We also contacted Sunshine with strong recommendation from our friend. Navadisha did not even let my relatives in. Finally we were hopeful to get in Sunshine and we were told to contact school after we land in Chennai. Thats where our school search stopped.

Also one of our friends informed us of Indian public school that is being started new this year in Chennai. My dad pre registered my kids in the school.


2. Preparation in USA:

2a. Shopping:

We started shopping for things to take with us. We were in a huge dilemma about TV, furniture etc and this forum helped us a lot. We were also in a dilemma between full container and LCL. We started collecting things slowly starting from November thanksgiving in 2010.

I will post a list of things we bought later.

2b. Booked tickets.

The first step in confirming our r2i was booking the tickets. Thats when the actual reality strikes that we are really going back. We booked one way tickets to the 4 of us through alanita travels. So the day was fixed and the planning and executinon started.

2c. Selling things.

We started selling our things in March. Craigslist was the main source. It was pretty easy selling big stuff but had to spend a lot of time on the site. Most of my preparation time got wasted in this. Luckily we started early and sold most of the expensive and big items though at 50% of the original cost. We had many dilemmas in the process like whether to take beds, mattresses etc. After much discussions we decided to go for LCL and sold all furniture.

2d. Shopping for shipping companies:

We started our shopping around in end of April and we contacted few of them and decided to go with 21st century. From the beginning Yogesh was prompt in responding and communicating. We are glad we went with them. The cost was not the tipping factor as the quote from 21st century was higher than the other big moving company. We felt the customer support was a lot better with 21st. We will post the experience after we get the shipment. We are expecting the shipment to arrive end of this month. We shipped our items 4 days before our departure. We had 1 big item a digital piano and rest were boxes. We have also shipped an LED TV. Because we shipped piano we palletized the entire LCL shipment at a local warehouse as recommended by Yogesh.

2e. Trips made before R2i:

1. We made a trip to Florida in April. We pretty much went to disney world and a nearby beach.
2. Last summer we went for camping trips since that was our last summer in USA.

Gosh! I typed a whole page post and it did not get posted.

3. April - May:

3a. Shopping and Selling: took a chunk of our time and May was the most stressful. We had couple of hours of sleep every night in May. Anyway, we are to be blamed for that. We took much time on deciding on things to carry like TV, bunk bed etc. We finally bought Sony Bravia LED (46 inch) TV at the last minute. We also bought home theater system, computer chair from Costco. Panasonic cordless phone, printer from staples.

3b. Packing: We bought all our boxes from uline. Though expensive, it was worth the quality. We used original boxes for TV, digital piano and printer.

3c. Things worth shipping: IMHO kitchen stuff are worth buying from US. I am a big fan of stainless and the quality that we get in USA is extremely good. We do not get kali brand type SS here in chennai anymore. So I purchased some all clad sets, knives, MICROfiber cloths and bathroom accessories. I did not realize we can get pretty much everything in Chennai at stores like lifestyle but I am not sure about the quALITY.

Finally, we boarded our flight with absolutely no sleep that night. We had to vacate our apartment, clean it and board the flight directly. Thanks to our friends who stayed with us through out.

It was kind of a mixed feeling at the airport and on the plane. It was definitely relaxing. I did not feel very excited either which i thought I would. It was definitely nice to be back after so much of work.

In Chennai:

It was nice to be back to our own home though an apartment. The excitement of setting up our own place definitely refreshed us. Kids are still adjusting and not very happy. Infact, they were very enthusiastic about r2i but as days got closer the reality struck them and they started missing friends. Now they seem to be better but still complain about the dirty roads, missing friends etc. My older one said the other day that he would get to meet kids from various culture and countries but here in India it is all Indians.

The school search started again as soon as we landed. We approached Sunshine, Navadish and they were all closed for summer. In the mean time, we got worried and visited The Indian public school where my dad has already preregistered. We liked the school, their reception, the philosohy and so admitted our kids. But after few days my elder one was asked to give admission test in Sunshine and both my kids got admission but we did not want to forgo the fee we paid at TIPS and so we have enrolled our kids in TIPS for this year. Proximity is a major concern but there is school bus.

Life is busy here with no time to think about US for most part. We are busy settling down buying furniture.

Things that I miss are

1. driving in my car at such speed.
2. Parks and trails and summer
3. Libraries - This is one thing i am not sure if we can ever get in Chennai.
4. Listening to NPR in my car.

I spend most of my time in Kitchen here. I still do not have maid for washing dishes. I spend less time with kids here than in US.

Things that I love here:

1. Proximity to parents, inlaws, siblings, cousins.
2. attending major functions
3. Mangoes, jasmines
4. luxury of home delivery of groceries, milk etc.

Some things have changed here like customer support. People are more oriented toward customer service though not like in US. We got our net connection, phone, cell phone pretty quickly much to my surprise. Furniture were delivered mostly on time though after many phone calls.

I am yet to find extra curricular for kids. Please advise on piano lessons in Velachery.

So thats pretty much I wanted to share. Please post your questions or anything in particular to R2i planning and i will reply as quickly as possible.

SaiRamR2I - I just R2I in May and we shall connect. I have sent a PM. Please call me at any time.

This diary would not be complete without saying a big thank you to this forum that helped us at every step and to the members. Also, my special thanks for poofygoogle who has been our inspiration and also extremely helpful and kind enough to answer all our queries. She is still helping us here in Chennai with her inputs.

Setbacks in R2i:

At every stage we were wondering if we made the right decision when some of our friends discouraged us but when I see my parents and in laws and given the fact they are getting older all our doubts vanish. The first week went ok here but the second week was hard with all of us falling sick with diarrhea. Again, we felt little unsure but the doctors here are very helpful and we get timely help here unlike US. In fact medical facility was the prime reason for my motivation to R2i like I had mentioned earlier too. The other thing I find it hard personally is walking on the roads. Also we do not have any vehicle and I am not confident if I would drive 2 wheeler or a car in Chennai though I had driven in US for the last 10 years.

Thanks @Sairamr2i and glad that you have almost settled down. Since we are both from Velachery, we will definitely meet soon! Take care..

btw, we had another friend of ours who came in recently from US as well and she got a TVS Scooty type of thing and has no issues driving it here in Chennai. She drops her kids to school in that and she's been in US for a looong time!