R2I : Pittsburgh to Bangalore

[direstraits]

It has been exactly two months since we boarded a plane from Pittsburgh and landed in Bangalore on May 2nd.

R2I was for the usual reasons. We had no family in the U.S and Kids were growing alone, parents getting old etc. Got a good opportunity to move in the same company to start operations for us in Bangalore. Decided to stay in Whitefield area due to being close to the Networking companies.

Took a 20' container with Air7Seas. Maha and Babu in Air7Seas were very professional and courteous and did all the paperwork including estimates, breakup of invoice etc. on time. Sent their local trucker to our home (Grogan) to estimate the amount of stuff to take in the 20' container.

Grogan and his crew came on the April 18th and packed all our furniture. We chose to pack all our boxes. Our 4 BR/Basement house ended up being filled in 100 boxes (Medium, Large and XL) and 70 pieces of furniture. It is important to label each box and furniture with a single serial number as it will be useful to identify each box at the end. We chose door-to-door delivery and Grogans guys did a wonderful job.

The container guys came 4 hour late (from NYC) as they were stopped by Cops for brake lights not working. Finally showed up at 3 p.m and the loading began. Finished loading by 7 pm...We had to leave out a Queen Bed/Mattress/Boxspring as the container was filled up.

Finally, our container left the premise @ 8 P.M and it was very emotional.....Our kids (two boys) were born in this house and knew nothing else and suddenly we had a complete empty house that they have never seen before...We left for a week vacation with friends to Myrtle beach to forget this.

Came back on April 25th, closed our house on 29th, sold our Van and CR-V next day and boarded a flight on May 1st to Bangalore.

Bangalore....Here we come...

[direstraits]

Landed in BLR and stayed @ my brothers place in Hebbal for a week. Went searching for house renting for a week. As we knew exactly where we wanted to stay, we visited using a broker 6-7 gated communities with Single Family Homes and Town homes and finally picked one in the Akshaya Redstone community right after the Sai Bhaba Ashram in Whitefield.

Went through the usual pains that every one who does not have a Bank Account in India. Signed a lease agreement and opened bank account and it took 4 weeks to activate the account. The biggest challenge we found was that no one took responsibility for their actions (or inactions).....Everyone was always quick to point to some one else and the problem just remained. Still not a big issue as we still had support of the family and things moved on.

Admitted kids to Greenwood High...Commute is a little long, but plenty of kids go to Greenwood from here, so not a big issue...Kids did have a big shock as they are used to 5-10 minute commutes and now their commute was 45 minutes each way....But since they love the community, which is filled with so much activties, they don't mind the commute. More on School later...

Getting Phone/Internet Connection: BSNL

These guys make you cry....>They are after all GOI employees :-)......Filed the application and paid the fees...It took a guy 10 days to come to the house to get phone connection and another 10 days for the Internet connection....Also, ordered WiFi Router...the guy brings a regular modem with a 4 port router. No questions can be asked since you wll not get any reply. Made multiple visits to the BSNL office and finally gave up and installed my own Linksys router in front.

One Side note:: As soon as I landed I figured out in India both the private and public sectors love filling applications in TRIPLICATE or Penticate (5)..and they need that many copies of your photographs....This is common even in the SChools...So we had to get 20 passport-size photographs of the entire family and I have already run out of mine :-)

[direstraits]

Our Container was going come only by middle of June and we were already in the house by middle of May. WE rented furniture and appliance from ADAM Furniture (Place is in Shivaji Nagar, near MG Road) and they will deliver them. We rented Sofa/Love Seat, Dining Table/Chairs, Washing Machine, Microwave, Two beds with Mattress and a refigrator, all for Rs. 4000 per month (with 2 month deposit). The delivered it the next day we ordered it and we already felt we were getting used to it.

Container Delivery

Firstly, I have to thank Ari7Seas for a great service. Right from the time I requested a quote to the last piece of furniture unassembled and all debris removed, they acted very professionally. Maha and Babu in the U.S answered all my questions, gave me a very transparent and competitve quote, were up front regarding what will be covered and not covered. They sent the loading crew head to the house to assess the quantity for the 20' container and then provided input regarding the actual shipping date, access to track the shipping etc. On the India side, Satish and his crew were very professional and provided me all the paperwork to be filled up a week earlier in preparation for the customs (Never heard or seen this in India). Thank You Air7Seas. Now for the Details

Our container Arrived in Chennai on June 6th as per plan. However, with the Port being heavily congested, the container was off loaded to CONCOR (Container Corporation of India) only on the 14th of June. CONCOR tagged our container on to the train to Bangalore and it arrived at the CONCOR terminal on June 18th. I was asked by Satish to come to CONCOR terminal in Whitefield (Right opposite ITPL) on Monday with my Passport (for claiming Transfer of Residence) and for customs clearance. Satish's assistants Srinivas and Ravi were right on dot @ 10.00 AM on Monday at CONCOR and took me inside to find our container. The container was brought to the inspection point and our inspection was done in 45 minutes. It was very emotional to see all our life belongings after two months since it left Pittsburgh in April.

The Inspector was very friendly and since we had declared the Electronics and Computer stuff we were bringing earlier to them, he moved the unloading very fast. Note that the move is from your international Container to another local Container in the yard. This move is done by employees of CONCOR and they are very careless with your objects as their intent is to quickly move the stuff and move on to the next container. In this process you can see your nicely packed boxes being pushed and pressed. I had to be constantly on their back to slow down.

We eventually got the work completed and went back to the Inspectors office where he provided us a quote for the goods that we were claiming TR. After a few negotiations, the price was agreed upon and we were asked to pay the amount. Srinivas and Ravi took care of all the work and got the necessary signatures. They then loaded oour stuff from the container to their trucks by 7 P.M. It was too late for them to bring it and unload, so they took it to their garage. On the next day morning by 10.00 Satish and his crew of 8 men were at our house and in 2 hours they had unloaded and put everything away. It was amazing to see that we got every bit of of our stuff intact without any break. Kudos to everyone from Pittsburgh to Bangalore for making this happen. Two of the guys also assembled back our furnitures and we all felt back @ home.

[animatraj]

Hi direstraits, Are you still in BLR and live in Akshaya Redstone ? We are looking for a villa in that community.

Thanks

[cruisingthoughts]

Nice to read your emotional post! Good luck with your R2I !!

[Umang]

There is nothing sadder than an incomplete R2I diary.

[Shubh078]

Thanks posting great details here, please give us some idea how many years in US and how old are your kids. Do you all have US citizenship.