2 Year R2I report.. Gator92

[Gator92]

It's been about 2 years since we R2i'ed. My original R2I experience write-up can be found at:
http://groups.msn.com/R2IClub/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=93672&LastModified=4675544913259716886&all_topics=1

I thought I will share my (hopefully unbiased) 2 year living experience here in Bangalore thinking that it may help someone who is sitting on the fence contemplating R2I and may answer some of their questions/fears :

Work:

I still work for the same company that I joined when I R2I'ed except that it got bought over by a bigger MNC. Work wise nothing changed much, though a lot of people (almost 70%) walked out during the transition time since they couldn't take the uncertainty of what will happen to their job. Even though the work is not so exciting, I don't have any major complaints since I have a good degree of freedom on what I and my team do here. It's another thing to get quality work done from the subordinates though. Professionalism, I find it lacking big time and it is something I miss working in U.S. I have found the HR recruitment team to be very immature and mostly lack the right skill and training in identifying the right talent. It's not just in our company but I have heard from most of my friends about this as well.

My wife used to work for the U.S Company that she was employed with when we were in the U.S. That contract ended a while ago and she joined a small Indian outsourcing company. That, perhaps was the biggest mistake. It was a very frustrating experience for her. She spent less than 6 months in that work place since she couldn't take the politics and the horrible work culture. Her concerns and suggestions fell on deaf ears with the upper management and that's when she finally walked out one day. It was yet another frustrating experience to find an alternate job. Most of the companies that she interviewed with tried to take advantage of the fact that she was out of work and kept complaining she worked for only 6 months in the work place and tried to underplay her U.S experience. Finally, when she was just about to give up, she got a decent opportunity with a product development company. She is much happier at this work place and she had also made a short trip to the U.S to get her project rolling. I keep telling her that if such an experience had happened to me, we would have probably R2A'ed by now!!

Summary: There is lot of work being sent to India. Almost all companies are hiring. The 2 to 8 years of work experience work force is in great demand. They can practically pick and choose which company they wish to work for. The demand for office space is growing. For upper management jobs it's quite an effort to find the right fit. Bottom line is that there are no major complaints about our jobs. I get to go home at a decent hour and not work the crazy hours. To give an idea, I have had to work for 1/2 a day on a weekend for the last 2 years.

School:

My older kid goes to Delhi Public School. We got the transfer to the South campus from North after our move to our own apartment. Even though the transfer process is supposed to be quite seamless, the management made us run around a bit which was pretty annoying. The school is pretty good; I like their approach to teaching concepts rather than getting them into the memorizing mode. The younger one goes to a play school called Podar Jumbo Kids. It was very nice to hear both of them sing the Vande matharam and other such songs for the Independence Day.

Life in Bangalore:

The traffic in Bangalore is horrendous and the less said about it the better. I have heard numbers of 400 to 600 new vehicles coming onto the roads everyday. I went to a driving school after we R2I'ed and now I am pretty comfortable driving in the crazy traffic. We have a driver but not totally dependent on him like we were when we first came back. My wife gave up after a month of driving here. she just couldn't adjust to these driving conditions and has given up though she got the local license by passing the road test, the straight forward way.

The real estate prices at least for the apartment market seem to have stabilized somewhat and not rising so dramatically like before. There are still a lot of greedy builders out there who demand a lot and still able to find buyers willing to pay the money.

Some of the hospitals in Bangalore offer the best health care, for example the Wockhardt hospitals now accept patients from the U.S which is covered by the medical insurance, for heart surgeries. One example I can give is from our own family who had to unexpectedly undergo a major brain surgery. The neurosurgeon rushed in around 11:30 pm on a Sunday night for an un-scheduled emergency operation that lasted for almost 8 hours. The way things happened so smoothly amazed me and I felt it was no way less than a U.S hospital.

Here's a list of likes and dislikes not in any particular order :

What I miss about U.S: :emsad:
- Nice clean roads and disciplined traffic.
- Professional workplace. Example: Keeping on time for interviews and meetings.
- Open areas and Parks.
- Stores like Best Buy, Compusa, Circuit City and other electronic stores. Not Wal-Mart kinds of stores since you have the Metro store which is almost similar to Wal-Mart.
- Long distance drive with the family, here it is tough even though not impossible due to lack of nice clean rest areas. I love the Bangalore-Mysore highway though since you can travel at almost 100+ kmph and it's not too long a drive.
- Nice clean air, it's mostly polluted within the city.
- No maddening crowds anywhere, maybe except during Christmas in the malls. Here it is over crowded be it a mall, elevator, movie theatre, hospital or public transport.
- Sometimes, we miss the house that we owned in the one acre lot, the garden, pool and all.
- No corruption at lower levels and don't need "influence" or bribe to get work done.

What I love about living here in India: :emsmile:
- The sense of belonging, not being termed an "Alien" in the U.S, this is what irked me the most.
- Being close to parents and loved ones who offer true un-conditional love, especially for the kids who have developed that sense of attachment with the cousins and immediate family.
- Being close in times of medical emergencies in the family circle and able to offer moral and maybe financial support, this has been perhaps one of the most satisfying aspects of our return. Being in the U.S it was especially hard during the time when someone close to you was hospitalized here.
- Easy access to nice and tasty food !!
- Don't need any elaborate plans to keep the kids busy and away from T.V, they have so much company that it's a pleasure to see their happy faces.
- Help available for cleaning, driving, etc. May not be reliable all the time but resources available for it.


Summary:

It has been a pretty eventful journey for us the past 2 years. Initially, it was like a roller coaster till things fell to a routine. It was very frustrating to see both our kids fall sick so often. Getting adjusted to this new setup was pretty challenging. The thought of R2A has crossed our minds many times but then certain events happened that made us think staying in India is a better choice.

Looking back, I don't think we would have done anything differently except for my wife's first job here in Bangalore, but that was a learning experience as well so that we don't make this mistake again.

You have to take things in your stride and move along without getting bogged down otherwise life becomes miserable specially if you start to compare the lifestyles between U.S and India. Finally, as has been written so many times by different people before in this forum, it comes down to doing what your heart feels since R2I is a very emotional decision to make. Personally, I have had no regrets taking this step to R2I. In spite of some of the shortcomings of the place, not a bad place to live at all.

Chak de India!

[laks0]

:emthup: Nice Post, very Honest. Thanks for Sharing.

[VRG]

:emthup: Nice Post, very Honest. Thanks for Sharing.

Thank you very much for sharing this with us.

Most of the time people get carried away when it comes to sharing their love or frustration of R2I experience.

Seems like you wrote this unbiased summary with cool mind, especially since you've been there for 2 yrs.

Great help indeed!! :)

[Bharat65]

Very nice and informative post Gator92! Thanks for sharing.

[rmd5464]

Nice post.

I think the greatest difficulty in deciding, is for those who have the 50:50 mindset......and want the best of both worlds.

[RRK]

Gator,
Thanks for sharing your story once again.

I feel not many members share their r2i experiences nowadays. In the early days of MSN forum, we did not have as many members like we do now, but we had those few members sharing their r2i experiences after return and help answering questions from those planning their return.

I really appreciate your thoughts and consideration. Good luck !

Do you r2iers plan to have a meeting in Bangalore any time soon ?

[LoveIndia]

RRK - When can we see your R2I report:)

[Gator1994]

Great post Gator92!!!

We have plans of R2I and honest, complete, un-biased and to-the-point like posts like yours will do a great justice for us wannabes!

Thanks and looking forward to hear from you regularly!


:emthup::emthup::emthup::emthup::emthup:

[FreeSpirit]

Gator92,

Thanks for sharing your viewpoint after two years of move. It's very well written and un-biased.

[pdev11]

Gator,
Thanks for sharing your story once again.

I feel not many members share their r2i experiences nowadays. In the early days of MSN forum, we did not have as many members like we do now, but we had those few members sharing their r2i experiences after return and help answering questions from those planning their return.

I really appreciate your thoughts and consideration. Good luck !

Do you r2iers plan to have a meeting in Bangalore any time soon ?[/quote]

I tried that twice but did not work out for a lot of reasons. Now that DosaiLvr is also here maybe we might give it another shot. Anyway are you comming to Bangalore anytime soon in the near future?