My R2I(Vijayawada) Diary

jk66333 · Post by **jk66333** » Wed Sep 07, 2016 6:48 am

I have been lurking around this forum from past 3 years. I am not a good writer, so please bear with me If I make any grammatical errors. By the way I would like to Thank poofygoogle , imissindia, mn_op, ILuvHyd and others for writing their experiences.
Your R2I diaries played a big role on my R2I decision. Please keep writing guys you never know how you can make an impact on the readers.

Background:Almost 10 Years in US, me and DW are in regular IT Jobs. As a contractor, we pretty much moved around a lot in US.
Started GC process and I read in some forum that estimated date for getting my GC would be when I am 50 yrs Old :))

Family : I married my classmate, filmy love story. Have two kids, Boy and Girl. He is 4 yrs old and my ladli is 6 months old.Both kids are with Maternal Grandparents in India.

Why R2I : I am done with IT, Yeah you read it...Oh god it feels so good when I write this, So will write this again, ?I am done with IT?. My wife played a huge role in making this decision.
The moment we landed in US we had only one mantra ? Earn, Save and Invest? and this worked pretty good for us.
By God?s grace the area we invested in real estate turned out to be a capital now and I cashed out the hype.This gave me nice financial cushion and has been a factor in my decision for R2I.

Second Reason would be my Family, as I told you mine is a filmy love story. After my marriage, relation between me and my family turned sour.
Me and my Dad are not on talking terms for many years and I am hoping that I can fix this by staying near my Parents.

Third Reason Kids, I love to see my kids grow with grandparents , uncles, nieces and nephews. Honestly I am being selfish here, I want my kids to grow like me.
I would love to see them to enjoy ?Mast? Indian life and probably when they are old enough to make a decision then they can choose to stay in India or US.

Fourth Reason, Now or Never. Based on the feedback from R2I members and from my friends, I feel like this is the right time to jump the ship.
My kids are young and I am still in my mid 30?s and have some capital to start a business and if something goes wrong I am confident that I can start again.

R2I Plan : We are planning to Leave US by Feb 2017. This date is tentative with a month or two. I have a paid off house in vijayawada, AP but I don?t know if I will stay there coz I want to stay near to a school where my kid goes to.
I am estimating I would need around Rs 50,000 for monthly maintenance but my wife disagrees with this figure, she feels it would be bit higher than this.
I will post more details in coming days about my R2I plan.

After R2I : My main focus would be to realign my mentality with indian surroundings. In these 10 years I have been to india twice for 1 week duration and I know there are huge changes taking place in India.
I need to kickstart relations with my friends and family in vijayawada.I haven?t thought about any business to start yet but would like to get the feel of the area before I make a decision.

I will be adding more posts with concrete details as I come near to my R2I date.
Finally I would like to mention that whatever I post in my thread are just my personal experiences and thoughts.I have no intention to offend anyone or start an argument.

ILuvHyd · Post by **ILuvHyd** » Wed Sep 07, 2016 5:55 pm

Hi jk66333,

All the best. You have all the right ingredients to make a successful R2I.

IT can be a pain once the passion is gone. One of my friend did something similar and now settled in his village near Tanuku, West Godavari District, AP.

Plan for more than 50K/month expenses. Also plan to leave little late in 2017, may be around March/April to maximize the tax benefits for that year in US.

I truly appreciate your initiative to give back to the forum and keep writing.

efgh1 · Post by **efgh1** » Wed Sep 07, 2016 6:03 pm

I believe you have to right attitude for successful R2I

dbs · Post by **dbs** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 9:29 pm

With two kids schooling and possibly a rented accommodation, I would say that your wife is more likely to be correct than you. Of course you could offset part by renting your owned house.

Yes, the relationship with your family needs to improve, but do not bend too much over backwards to maintain it. Just let the love and affection flow out. You need to make sure that they do not take it out on your wife, which may happen. You do not need to fight, just show your displeasure and withdraw for the moment and then try again.

Possibly your kids may prove to be the cementing force and may you live happily ever after.
_________________________________________________________________
I can not force people to stay in my life, especially those I adore. So I do not feel disappointed when they won't stay in my life.

poofygoogle · Post by **poofygoogle** » Fri Sep 09, 2016 11:12 am

Best wishes for a successful r2i...

Sent from my CP8676_I02 using Tapatalk

jk66333 · Post by **jk66333** » Mon Sep 12, 2016 8:27 pm

@ILuvHyd [QUOTE]Plan for more than 50K/month expenses.

Yah I will make sure that I have some buffer for monthly expenses, I am still gathering minute details about daily expenses and will post those in coming days.

[QUOTE]Also plan to leave little late in 2017, may be around March/April to maximize the tax benefits for that year in US.

This needs to be discussed with my DW, As I mentioned we are still tentative on Feb 2017 date.

@dbs [QUOTE]Yes, the relationship with your family needs to improve, but do not bend too much over backwards to maintain it. Just let the love and affection flow out. You need to make sure that they do not take it out on your wife, which may happen. You do not need to fight, just show your displeasure and withdraw for the moment and then try again.

Your are absolutely right...The problem with me is 10 years ago my mentality is different, If I have an issue.. instead of facing it I used to Dunk it or run away from it.
After coming to US, the experience of surviving in US thought me a lot of things and it changed my perspective on handling issues.
I am preparing mentally for past one year on how to handle my family?? what to do if things turn sour?? Can my wife handle R2I ?? Will this "Ghar Ghar ki Kahani" affect my kids??..whoof
Keeping my fingers crossed...:39::39::39:

jk66333 · Post by **jk66333** » Wed Sep 21, 2016 9:33 pm

For past few weeks I have been collecting raw data from various sources to get an understanding on the monthly expenses. After going through all the data, I guess I need to allocate more than Rs50k for expenses.
Here I am assuming I will have paid off cars before I land in India and secondly I did not allocate initial 'Ghar basai' expenses in this list.
Below is the list of expenses/Month.

Rent(3B/3B near good school) : Rs 22000
Maids (House cleaning/Washing) : Rs 4000
School Fee for my 1st kid : Rs 8300
Fuel for Two cars : Rs 5000
High speed Internet(40Mbps/100GB limit): Rs 1500
Power Bill (2 split AC's, 4 door refrigerator) : Rs 3000- Rs 5000
Cell Phone Bill : Rs 2000
Tata sky (HD channels yearly package) : Rs 700
Groceries : Rs 5000
Entertainment (Movies/Hotels) : Rs 5000
Miscellaneous expenses : Rs 10000
Total : Rs 68500.. So rounding off to Rs 70K

Forumers what do you think of this expense report?? Did I miss anything??

nova2blr · Post by **nova2blr** » Thu Sep 22, 2016 9:56 am

jk66333;638356For past few weeks I have been collecting raw data from various sources to get an understanding on the monthly expenses. After going through all the data, I guess I need to allocate more than Rs50k for expenses.
Here I am assuming I will have paid off cars before I land in India and secondly I did not allocate initial 'Ghar basai' expenses in this list.
Below is the list of expenses/Month.

Rent(3B/3B near good school) : Rs 22000
Maids (House cleaning/Washing) : Rs 4000
School Fee for my 1st kid : Rs 8300
Fuel for Two cars : Rs 5000
High speed Internet(40Mbps/100GB limit): Rs 1500
Power Bill (2 split AC's, 4 door refrigerator) : Rs 3000- Rs 5000
Cell Phone Bill : Rs 2000
Tata sky (HD channels yearly package) : Rs 700
Groceries : Rs 5000
Entertainment (Movies/Hotels) : Rs 5000
Miscellaneous expenses : Rs 10000
Total : Rs 68500.. So rounding off to Rs 70K

Forumers what do you think of this expense report?? Did I miss anything??

Directionally reasonable estimates. I know you have set 10K towards miscellaneous expenses, was wondering if you needed to estimate some costs towards medical expenses + vacation expenses. May be your 10K misc expenses may serve as buffer.

Good luck

miths · Post by **miths** » Thu Sep 22, 2016 1:02 pm

I think this estimate is less for one returning after 10 years in US.

not sure if Kitty culture is there in Vij, if it's there make sure ur wife don't get into that trap.

and parlour expenses u need to consider. My wife's friend spend thousands on just Massages. plus makeup, hair styles, etc., cost a lot in parlours she visit like Kolors, Naturals.
Kids extra curicullar.
and functions.

post_r2i06 · Post by **post_r2i06** » Thu Sep 22, 2016 1:54 pm

Groceries - 5000? That's too less.

Just milk will cost 2400/ ( 2 ltrs per day at Rs 40/ltr).
Fruits - easily Rs.2000 ( apples are 150-200/kg)
Oil, Butter, Cheese, dry fruits etc are expensive - depending on consumption - Rs 1000

I would say - groceries easily Rs 15-20K