My R2I (Bangalore) diary - Shapra

shapra · Post by **shapra** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 1:26 pm

R2I countdown has started for me. This forum has given me a lot of information and I will try to feed some back to the
community. I will post updates, periodically. I have the opportunity to test the waters before the "real" R2I. R2I should happen in a month or two.

Background:
***********
* GC holder
* Will be working with the same company, now as an employee of Indian ops. No offer or job title yet, but I know ballpark. Extremely Senior Engineer types.
* R2I may involve a company paid container. R2I planned items include 50"++ Plasma, decent DIY HomeTheater, Motorcycle, Bicycle, personal effects.
* R2I destination: Namma Bengalooru.
* Will be moving in with parents. No housing expenses for now :)
* Spouse took care of school admissions. Our 3 year old aced the interviews. Term starts in June. Old-school-cool type school.

Testing-the-Waters experience:
**************************
* Parents seemed older and weaker. This was expected and is the main reason for R2I.
* BLR: Arrival, Immigration & Customs were a breeze. Less chaos at the reception area than two years ago, surprisingly.
* Garbage everywhere. Traffic seemed the same as two years ago. Dust and debris seemed the same too. Ugly mugshots of our "Leaders" everywhere. Very few decent roads in the city.
* People are friendly and gentle as usual.
* Once current infrastructure projects are complete, Bangalore will look really nice. A bit of civic sense and informed leadership can make it a poor cousin of Singapore. Thank you, Sri. S.M. Krishna. We need a couple of generations to instill the discipline and civic sense to approach developed world standards, which is ok. Meanwhile, We have hungry people to feed and young children to educate. Sri. Modi's line comes to mind: Everyone says Bharat Maata ki Jai, but will spit in every Rail compartment!
* Prepaid cell phone service is decent
* Road Trip to Chennai via Hosur/Vellore. Awesome roads. Almost US quality. Toll (Rs. 50 Max) collected every 75 km or so. Getting out of BLR city takes almost an hour. After Hosur, absolutely no congestion. Thanks to Sri. Vajpayee's vision. The UPA govt may be slow, but I hear most projects are nearing completion.
* Chennai seemed just as crumbling and congested as BLR. Again, very friendly people.
* Lots of Tata Indicas and small Maruti cars - swifts, Altos, 800s. Some Hyundais and a few other cars. Motorcycles everywhere. Autos everywhere.
* Office a bit smelly, but colleagues extremely friendly. I knew most of them earlier, so that helped. People milling around. Office chatter in US was opaque, because of foriengn languages. Its different here.
* Entertained US office upper-ups at a decent restaurant. They liked the India experience, with the usual queries on Caste, BhagawadGeetha, Traffic, Tourism experience and autos. They like Indian Beer and spicy food :)
* Started driving again. Old warhorse 800. Driving is doable. Just watch out for the bike guys. They attack you from left, right, top and bottom. Need to stay ultra-alert. Cabbies try to sneak ahead of you. Unless they are cutting into my "lane", I let them go. Lane ofcourse is a very abstract thing here.
* People seem to be crowding everywhere.
* Old favorite Jayanagar seemed very nice and cool. See previous bullet.
* Visited an appliance store. 63" plasma quoted at 4.5 lakhs. By special order only. 42" LCD goes for 1.3 lakhs. Looked really good. I would still try to get one from the US
* Regular cable transmission sucks. The ancient 32" tube doesnt help either. Looking at TataSky. 4k initial setup and about 350 per month for 100+ channels. Movies on demand should be Rs.75 a pop, or so. Just for reference, I am told PVR cinema tickets go between 150-500. High-end includes reclining seats & a ton of Popcorn.
* Domestic help very unreliable, but seem to be plenty. Do your due diligence and be watchful. Treat them well :)
* Driver rates: 5-6k monthly or 250 daily. Very friendly and safe. Do your due diligence and be watchful. Treat them well :)
* Vegetable vendor comes to the doorstep. So do flowers for worship.
* Fruits everywhere. Tasty fruits: Sapota, Yelakki BaaLe (tiny Banana), Seedless Grapes, some oranges. Fuji apples are available (Rs. 100/kg).
* Some localities are looking better. Cleaner footpaths in Basavanagudi, Wilson Garden. This is a start. Other localities are terrible.

Thats all I have for now...

picket · Post by **picket** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 8:54 pm

Congratulations. Wish you a successful R2I.

Froogle · Post by **Froogle** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:18 pm

shapra;78489Fruits everywhere. Tasty fruits: Sapota, Yelakki BaaLe (tiny Banana), Seedless Grapes, some oranges. Fuji apples are available (Rs. 100/kg)..

Congrates on your Nirvana... Things will seems to settle and you will get used to those just have patience. Try to enjoy what you missed so far. I missed those fresh fruits so enjoy em

Bharat65 · Post by **Bharat65** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 12:33 am

Congrats Shapra! Keep us updated - these blog diaries are always very helpful!

r2i_june_08 · Post by **r2i_june_08** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 4:24 am

Was moving the TV a challenge ?
How much was the moving expensed ?

shapra · Post by **shapra** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:11 pm

R2I is not done yet. Most likely my company will sponsor a container and the TV will ride in it. Customs duty for electronics should be about 25-30%.

r2i_june_08;80356Was moving the TV a challenge ?
How much was the moving expensed ?[/quote]

ILuvHyd · Post by **ILuvHyd** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 11:35 pm

shapra;78489 Spouse took care of school admissions. Our 3 year old aced the interviews. Term starts in June. Old-school-cool type school.
[/quote]
Congrants Shapra and wish you a successful R2I. I am interested in a similar Old-School-Cool type schools for my son in Hyd for my R2I in early 2009. All the best.

r2109 · Post by **r2109** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:16 am

have you decided on model to buy from here? can you please share.
also are you buying on-line? where ? how much?

shapra · Post by **shapra** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:16 am

Havent been able to decide on the model. I will surely post here once I have a conclusion. I am thinking of tapping some of the forum sponsors on http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/. They seem to be highly rated. I am leaning towards buying one that supports both PAL/NTSC, even if it costs more. Dont want to go through the format conversion hassles. Just an FYI: 63" plasma in Bangalore was quoted at 4.5 lakh (can talk down to 4.2 or so).

r2109;80600have you decided on model to buy from here? can you please share.
also are you buying on-line? where ? how much?[/quote]

Rajram · Post by **Rajram** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:13 pm

shapra;80799Havent been able to decide on the model. I will surely post here once I have a conclusion. I am thinking of tapping some of the forum sponsors on http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/. They seem to be highly rated. I am leaning towards buying one that supports both PAL/NTSC, even if it costs more. Dont want to go through the format conversion hassles. Just an FYI: 63" plasma in Bangalore was quoted at 4.5 lakh (can talk down to 4.2 or so).[/quote]
Trust me on this one! I bought a philips 42" LCD with 1080p capabilities here in Chennai for Rs 76000 (Sony, Samsung versions for even the 720p sets are over 1 lakh). The TV is awesome and I got a sony PS3 with blu ray player from US and the quality of HD movies on this set is incredible. I would recommend this to anyone. 47" is about Rs 100,000.