Our r2i experience, my rants etc

[Godhavari]

All,

I have been a long time reader of r2iclub and now that we have r2i'ed would like to contribute to the club by sharing our exp and thoughts.
This will be in no particular order I will just go on listing my thoughts.
My hold on english is very poor so bear with me.

background:
typical family. 2 kids. 12 yrs in us. plot/flat in b'lore, 401k, underwater us home etc the usual. r2ied in june.

husband:
for some reason, as we got closer to our return date he wasn't sure weather we should go back or not. his main worry was kids health and accessibility to hospital etc when needed. even after r2i he is still hasn' t changed his mind and keps thinking if coming here was right. i wish this was not the case

me:
Coming from rural background US was too orderly. no noise/no problem/just peaceful life as long as there is job, just too peaceful. At times felt very lonely. lost touch with my close friends in india and found it very hard to make friends.

after r2i'ing:

1. Highlight currently is servants/accessibility. we have 2 maids and a driver. all are wonderful. they come on time, do their job well, no gossiping. very interested in knowing how things work in USA. We can get everything from Reebok shoes to haldi to fruits to veg puff within 1/2km of our house which is very nice.

2. Had been to couple of parties and found myself answering how is USA doing and if we got effected by debt crisis. honestly I don't know much about this debt crisis so just said tech is not effected. It's amazing how people are informed and I am not.

3. Traffic is really bad. we have a driver and also we wfh so our current exposure is dropping my kid to school and go shopping. with so much I can say, It's bad.

4. I noticed that BMWs/Benz/fortuner/VW/camry/civic/corolla are in plenty. Sighhh...

5. Even at 5000rpsft and 6000rpsft plots are being sold left, right and in the middle. sighhhh.. we wanted to buy a plot in a closed community we took couple of days to decide and it was gone. Doubt if this hype can withstand.

6. Been to our bangalore office here few times for meetings. came to know some upper mgmt people hold properties valued at 20c and above. made me think we went all the way to USA to make some property and these people stayed here and made so much for god's sake... dollar shwollar.

7. I am with this company for last 7 yrs. Interacted with people in bangalore quite a lot. After coming here all my impression about them is upside down. they have 3-4 people for 1 job meaning most of them don't have anything to do. they have taken flexible hrs to a whole new level. this factor can influence cost advantage companies have.

will soon write more.

[Rajram]

6. Been to our bangalore office here few times for meetings. came to know some upper mgmt people hold properties valued at 20c and above. made me think we went all the way to USA to make some property and these people stayed here and made so much for god's sake... dollar shwollar.

Very true. I have seen several such instances.

[Golfdude]

Been to our bangalore office here few times for meetings. came to know some upper mgmt people hold properties valued at 20c and above. made me think we went all the way to USA to make some property and these people stayed here and made so much for god's sake... dollar shwollar.

Good journal. You are hearing the success stories. I have heard big time flops too ( a friend of mine sold his property in prime chennai for 1.2Cr in 2005. Right now at 8Cr and growing fast. My dad sold his house in 2004 for 16L. Now at 35L ). But your observation about going to US to make dollars and ending up with nothing when you come back here is true. India had the gold rush situation the past 10 years. Life is a Bell curve.

[dcnri2india]

I am curious , were you able to find another plot/flat that you liked ? Or settled for renting.
If you are renting, It would be helpful if you can share your experience.

Cheers

[Godhavari]

We currently live in our own apt in bangalore. we have a plot but since it is on the other side of city we thought of buying another one. if it doesn't work out then we build our home in the plot we own.

few more updates:

Hindi: I really like the way my 3rd grader school is handling hindi. they gave her the first grade hindi book. they taught her that in June and July. End of july there was a hindi test where it was determined that she completed 1st grade hindi. Now they have given her second grade hindi. We had a very emotional moment when saw her write hindi letters. don't know what will happen when she can converse in hindi.

BSNL: my god it's wonderful. no problems at all and speed is awesome. we watch youtube videos all the time. we live in the middle of the city that too.

KENT: Although our complex gets kauvery water and they say a normal water purifier is enough for kauvery we decided to go with Kent pearl(costs 15K). water tastes very good and we have no problem with it. I recommend it.

Traffic: it's horrible. today on my way to work, picture this. It's a huge 4 way signal. we are at the signal. ocean of vehicles. 2 wheelers, autos, buses, cars, small trucks, big trucks, pedestrians, 2-4 cows, beggar kids, flower lady. in the middle of all this there is an ambulance making it's noise waiting for signal to change.... hopefully it's not a serious case in the ambulance.

USA: I miss target store, my kids pediatrician and her office, our wooden floors, california sunny days, our MDX
.

[Rajram]

in the middle of all this there is an ambulance making it's noise waiting for signal to change.... hopefully it's not a serious case in the ambulance.

USA: I miss target store, my kids pediatrician and her office, our wooden floors, california sunny days, our MDX
.

One thing I noticed when I R2Ied to Chennai. Drivers of vehicles are moving away when they can to allow ambulances to pass smoothly. That is a clear change in attitude.

[My Roots]

One thing I noticed when I R2Ied to Chennai. Drivers of vehicles are moving away when they can to allow ambulances to pass smoothly. That is a clear change in attitude.

I did notice this too in BLR. Not all auto walas but atleast few slowed down and other vehicles too gave them way.

[Old-Spice2]

One thing I noticed when I R2Ied to Chennai. Drivers of vehicles are moving away when they can to allow ambulances to pass smoothly. That is a clear change in attitude.

That must be Pazham, MINF, FFH, LI, RRK and PoofyGoogle :)

[boca]

That must be Pazham, MINF, FFH, LI, RRK and PoofyGoogle :)

Are you implying that the rest of Chennaiites aren't courteous? I will let Jaya know and she sure will demand an apology!!

[Jaggudada]

All,

made me think we went all the way to USA to make some property and these people stayed here and made so much for god's sake... dollar shwollar.

That's how I feel it, those who remained within Indian system they kept up with inflation, corruption. Now for someone going from outside, it is like you have to finance this inflation, corruption with no.1 money. Can't keep up. Of course tomorrow things could change. The same crore patis can be down in dumps if there is large scale social unrest or war brakes out with pakistan, food shortage, water shortage, taliban show up etc. India is very fragile anyone can challenge Govt's writ. During my recent visit I have heard all trains on Bombay- Howrah roots running late 6-8 hrs everyday because on particular segments during nights naxalwadis blow up trains so they stopped running trains in night. Govts response was to not run trains during nights instead of blowing up naxalwadis. Such is a state so it's all up in the air.