Satish\'s R2I experiences to Chennai from Richmond

[satish8532]

Welcome to my R2I experience. I have returned to Chennai in 2010. I hope my experiences help you in some way or maybe just give you a laugh now and then.

[satish8532]

Background - 13 years in the US, returned back to Chennai in Mar 2010. Lived in many places in US, the last 4 being in Richmond, VA. Have 2 daughters. All of us enjoyed being in US, but we decided to come back. After working in big 5 orgs for a while and scuttling and being dissatisfied with the rate of getting raises, bonuses or promotions, I moved over to being an independent consultant, and I had been happier ever since. We became US citizens and are OCI's. This, in my opinion, is a must if you have the potential of getting citizenship, get it. It is good to have a back up option just in case you dont fit in or whatever. Richmond, the place itself, is extremely conducive environment for indian families. Lots of mid 30's people, almost 15 cricket teams playing informal tennis ball cricket for all of the spring/summer months, not too big, not too much traffic, couple of hours from the ocean as well as from Washington DC, lots of spiritual people, two temples which have a very good following, lots of parks and lakes close by. There is only one negative about richmond - the lack of very many big companies that could provide employment with bigger salaries. But for that, you could go to DC like I did. In other words, in my opinion, our existence was fairy tale like.
However, flash back to early 2000's - we were in denver, colorado and although the environment was very good, the friends circle was not so great, and we had at that time thought that we should eventually return to India. While this thought had been festering in our minds through out the H1B to green card to citizenship process, its intensity greatly reduced to the point that by the time we were in Richmond, it was just a small irritation. In other words, our longing to return to india greatly reduced because of the excellent combination of things that Richmond offered.
Come back to 2009 - my contract ended, and being year end, and we having completed our citizenship and OCI formalities, we thought maybe we could use this as a stopping point towards returning to india. I was happy to be at home taking both my kids to school and spending even more time than usual with them. January came and with that offers from various fronts - all of them very very good. But with our r2i process already under way, i grudgingly had to reject all of them. I was living in an apartment, and our existence has been very very basic - only used furniture, used car, no cots etc. - Even then, disposing of our belongings thru craigslist took a lot of effort. Many saturdays were open houses, and there was umpteen calls to sell every little thing that we could. The only big ticket item was my 2007 sienna van was a challenge specifically - but i was able to sell that too - just had to give someone a deal of a lifetime.
Here are the main factors we had to come back to India -
1. My wife wanted to spend more time and possibly assist her mother.
2. We wanted to check and confirm whether where we were living was indeed the better place to spend our time, or was it in India. We did not want to become old and never have tried it out.

More to come ...

[satish8532]

blank post - still learning to use

[satish8532]

We bought one way tickets from british airways for Mar 2010 @550/adult and $505/child. Since we mainly had to bring clothes, toys, books and some small electronics, the cost of shipping proved to be more prohibitive than actually taking it with us. It came to 14 big boxes and 4 carry on luggages. A family friend with two small kids wanted to travel with us on our way back, and let us use a couple of their alloted boxes. The minimum cost for shipping as i found was about $2000. I am not sure how much it would have been had I actually shipped the things. The cost per additional luggage was about $48/bag, if done online for first bag. So, we paid about $200 for the additional baggage.

Given all the life style changes and things that we would need to set up, I decided to laze around and not look for a job before I left the US. One thing with respect to expectations - you may hear things like "dont sell yourself short"; or "you deserve and most likely will get some senior position like a director or a VP - no problem"; take it with a handful of salt. These people dont know the current conditions and may make you feel good, but that is as far as it should go. You experience it yourself. For me, there was no set of companies waiting with garlands, or CEO's getting up from their seats to offer it to me - instead it was many rounds of grinding interviews, and rejects etc. etc. which I will happily share with you at my expense.

[satish8532]

Three words - Heat, sweat and mosquitoes .

We came to the Chennai Airport at about 115am, with lots of luggage. As soon as we got out of the flight, there were lots of people asking to see if they could help us with the luggage. The average tamilian male is of small to medium build, is dark complexioned, and has a moustache. I agreed to avail the services of one such guy, and we got all of the luggage out one by one from the conveyor belt. The layout was much improved from a few years back when there used to be two conveyor belts with luggage’s on them side by side, running in opposite directions, and passengers had the unenvious task of checking both conveyor belts from lots of positions for their luggages. We helped our friend with their luggage too, and passed through the green zone with no big issues at all. My dad and my sister were waiting for us. By now it was about say 2 am. We bid our good byes to our friends from Fairfax and trudged along out of the airport into the humid air laden with mosquitoes, which had started making friends with all of us immediately. The rather large van that my dad had so meticulously tried to arrange for us was parked out of the way, and the luggage trolleys and the roads were not made for each other. The driver of the van however was in no state of mind to drive us though, since he had consumed his usual liquor quota for the night. So we were stuck for some time. But persistence and patience are key to living here. We decided we would go for the small vans but get two of them. After an hour or so we were able to get into them and come home without any further events. The van drivers here lifted all of our luggages and carried them upstairs too for a small fee. Everything can be done here for a small fee, but you can be assured that along the way you will hear one or more sob stories from the persons doing the services.
The adjectives I can think of for my first couple of days here were unnerving, intimidating etc.

[satish8532]

It has been over about 10 days now after my r2i, and this experience is worth sharing. First, a bit about myself physically ? tall, lanky, about 70kgs, (and if I may say so myself good looking), usually don?t sport a mush or a beard as I feel uncomfortable. A head ful of hair with hardly a gray hair or two right now. That makes me overall look like no more than a college student to most tamilians ? who by this age are either half or fully bald, have mostly gray hair, and have a big belly to boot. The older look has its advantages at work, on the road, and as I found out at government offices too. Here is the story now ? I wanted to buy a car and a scooter for our use as part of the settling down process, and for that I had to get a license, since meeting with the police dummies is not my idea of a fun day. So, we went to a driving school close by, and I was set to meet at the koyembedu RTO at around 10am yesterday. I was wearing a pair of decent regular shorts and a half slack shirt, while my wife wore a sari. I was surprised to find out that the RTO was no bigger than the nearby potti kadai?s(small shops). Anyway, we went in and marched upstairs, . One guy asked us to go to the 2nd floor for LLR(learners license). While my wife stayed with the cell, I went down to see if the blasted guy from the driving school showed up. I didn?t see him, but as I tried to go up again to get my wife down, I was stopped and lot allowed upstairs as I was wearing shorts, and that this was not nadai murai (in other words, the right way of doing things). I was surprised but dismissed this as some random guy telling me something. I called my mom to ask her to call my wife from a nearby PCO. Meanwhile the driving school agent showed up, and he asked me about my shorts and that this was an interview, so on and so forth. I asked him why he did not tell me this earlier that morning, so I could have dressed appropriately. No answer ? instead he gives me and my wife?s applications to me and asks me to go upstairs. I go upstairs and am stopped by another guy, who tells me I cannot proceed up to the LLR floor with the shorts. I tell him that my wife upstairs need the application. So, he lets me on the condition that I do not try to process my application. I agree and go upstairs, and see a long queue coming down the stairs. My wife coos out to me letting me know her location. I pass her application through the grilled window, and in a few minutes go through the queue upstairs to join her. Meanwhile someone tells me that the ?inspector? has asked me to come down. I tell my wife that I cannot process my application today, but my wife insists that her presence would override the nuisances. The guy who processed my application hardly looked at my attire, instead just waved me thru, and when the inspector found this out, he was not happy. I made a big fuss right there when the inspector told me that he told me decently. I asked the guy if he watched tv and what kind of obscenities was in it, what was there in a pair of shorts?and this all was total hypocrisy. Looks like vheeti or pant was ok?lungi may be ok too?god knows. The same would not have happened had a woman showed her thighs. They would have processed her personally. Or maybe he was looking for some moolah ? which did not strike me at that time. Anyway, I went downstairs, and the merchant next door, by chance, happened to be a cloth shop?.i got the cheapest dhoti available, put it on right there in front of the abashed woman, and went upstairs and got my work done in a jiffy. The inspector this time personally autographed my application and sent me to the second dummy who asked for my signature in some book. The whole place is filled with books, applications, records, all in paper form - old and moldy, and if these fashion inspectors instead took the time and effort to get their work done correctly, it would be a better experience for all. Moral of the story ? find out the dress code, and try to look older ? i.e. mush, beard, belly etc.


Coming - permanent license

[satish8532]

A month later, I went to finish off my permanent driving license. I followed the driving school?s car to the place and waited by the side of a hut along with others in order to get our attendance for today?s driving. We were told to go to another place where the driving is held. As I did not know my way to that place, I blindly followed one of the other people from the driving school, and in indian traffic conditions, this is no mere feat. It was a small open field where there were two large truck tires separated by a distance and one is supposed to do the figure 8 around these tires. I did my practice as well, and at a certain point we all went to a certain spot. I was dismayed to find that the inspector for this was the same fashion police guy I had berated the last occasion. He did not seem to recognize me and I passed the two wheeler test. Everyone who passed this test was supposed to get onto the driving school?s car and get that testing done. However, the formality of putting your attendance signature took place on my scooter, and I could not follow. After everyone had used my scooter to put their hancock?s, I looked around and did not see anyone from my driving school. I followed my trusted way of following someone blindly to the RTO again. I called up the driving school and got some scolding as to why I had left the testing ground without finishing my test. Finally, the guy from the driving school came to the RTO, I passed him a cold water bottle to quench his thirst, in return for which, he got me the car driving license WITHOUT taking the test. The wonders one can achieve and the heights one can go to in india is really unlimited if you don?t follow the rules.

[satish8532]

So, I decided to travel the old fashioned way ? by bus. Chennai people are very proud of their bus network. It used to be overcrowded when I used to travel by bus on a daily basis to school. It hadn?t changed much. With each administration, the public transportation caters to the politician?s egos by modifying their naming conventions, inspite of any misery to the public. The other day, after I boarded the bus, it was a standing crowd. I managed to get close to a seat and the conductor and the general public slowly push you to the front of the bus whether you like it or not. After about half an hour of standing, my legs got tired, and I started eyeing the seats. I was reminded of days past when I used to be doing the same. And there would be other people who are seated who will make slight movements making you think that they are about to get up, and as you get your hopes up, they will go back to another position in their seat. Eventually, I got a seat and was relieved. But if you get into a bus, be prepared to have a bath afterwards?.most people who travel in the bus don?t care whether your nasal tract is irritated by their odor, and are unaware of such a thing called as a deodorant. Today?s bus ride was slightly different ? I got the nostalgic reminder of saarayam(illicit liquor). Some guy was heavily under the influence, and please believe me when I say that it is not a smell that you will forget easily. Anyway, I survived today?s bus ride without getting pick pocketed, and the smell got down in the tnagar bus stop.

[satish8532]

You may be an idealist depending only on your legs, but then you can only get so far in chennai, or worse may get knocked down for no fault of yours.

I decided that I needed a car and a two wheeler as moving from place to place is a chore here, and can itself be a nightmare. Traffic is terrible too. I purchased a Suzuki access 125 cc after much deliberation and research. The main competitors to them were Mahindra duro and Honda activa. Three months for Honda delivery, and many things were sold separately as accessories for it, and it was a much less powerful engine. Duro seemed better, but Suzuki had better colors, equally good service options and better salesmanship. Cost of the scooter was 51K + additional 1.5K for some accessories.
After much going this way and that way regarding used car/new car, here are my thoughts. The used car market is only slowly maturing. It is possible that people would lie anything to sell their used vehicle, we also heard about crimes being perpetrated on buyers(car/house) by supposed sellers and viceverca. There were showrooms such as khivraj motors, sundaram motors which sold used vehicles for a hefty price as certified used vehicles, and after doing my lists of getting statistics on used cars, I felt it was better to put the money in a new car itself ? no safety issues, no car issues, clean and straight dealing. The traffic in Chennai sucks so bad that it does not make sense to drive stick shift. However, people already in this mess are not able to think outside the box, and are more allured to the 2km/litre extra that a manual may give(8 to 10 vs 12 km/litre for auto vs. manual). I decided it was not worth it to not only drive in this lawless roads on top of changing the gear between 1 and 2 continuously. I originally started for about 4.5 lakhs, but the only car that I got that had airbags(safety is not a priority in india) was the top of the line Hyundai i10 ? Asta SR AT ? it has sunroof(not needed for me, but they don?t have a model without it for AT with airbags), ABS and power everything. Everything else that is a slightly bigger sedan are 8.5 lakhs +, and still they may not have some basic features that I think as common place in the US. For example, cruise control is not part of the standard package, Airbags are not?.you have to pay extra for it. Honda City, Hyundai i20 are all above 8 to 10 lakhs. I actually liked the Toyota innova model ? it is very spacious and you can get it for about 10Lakhs, but it is difficult to drive and park in the Chennai environment, and also ? hey no auto transmission on it.

[satish8532]

I am not a gadget junkie usually, and I had a broken phone in the US for the last few years, that I pretty much had to cajole to get to work ? very basic Verizon phone. My wife always felt that I should look more prestigious and more important with something like an apple iphone or a blackberry. I prided myself on the fact that I have never had a pager or any such paraphernalia. In the Indian cell phone market, which used to be very expensive for basic phones, it has now matured where you could get very nice phone above Rs. 5000. I bought a Samsung corby touchscreen and succumbed to getting a gadget since I was buying it new anyway, and comparable base models were not too much cheaper that this. I got it for Rs.7100. It has 2GB ram, and so far, it is fine. The sim card is something else that I am not used to, and there are many quirks to it. So you can use different sim cards within the same phone and have different phone numbers for the phone. Sim cards can either be prepaid or you can pay your phone bills later. I chose the pre pay option as my mom recommended it.