In general the quality of service has improved in Bangalore and I am told that it is very much contained to Bangalore and not other cities.
Most offices will facilitate certain tasks like getting a mobile connection, phone connection, internet connection, opening bank accounts etc. My suggestion is to use your office help as much as you can since for all these tasks, someone will come to your doorstep or office instead of you going over there and chasing different people.
Most institutions employ surplus mobile individuals who for almost everything are willing to come to your doorstep to get your work done. Use that facility as much as you can since the experience otherwise can be quite frustrating.
Asking for passport size photographs is the latest craze here and so get some 50 or 60 photographs printed as soon as you come here since you will run through them all in few months.
Buying goods has become much easier although you will still encounter sales people who can't for their life tell you the truth about availability in stock or delivery time etc. Even if someone promises a delivery on a particular day, be prepared for partial delivery of delayed delivery since they are never in control of the information themselves.
One of the things that really impressed me was the quality of workmanship in all the new constructions. We saw several newly built homes of our friends and family and the workmanship is simply too good. Apparently now the contractors want to finish the job sooner than later unlike the past and generally do a clean job of it. Extensive use of marble (some imported) is very common in most new constructions. Also, the use of glass has really picked up. For eg. the entire back wall of our rental home is complete glass (floor to ceiling). The privacy is provided by the tall compound. If there is one non-stop activity in Bangalore that is construction. The choice of tiles in bathroom design is simply mind-boggling.
If one has enough money to spend, constructing here can be enjoyable is what I am told. As for us, we are not yet decided on Flat v/s home.
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Pleasant Surprises at government offices
One of the pleasantly surprising experience has been at the various government agencies unless I have been too lucky.
Railways: I found the railway ticket counter clerks and reservation clerks working so hard, I was simply amazed. The process of reserving tickets was very orderly at the Jayanagar branch. People were provided with seats to sit while they waited for their turn to be called for reserving. Small things that we take for granted in US, but a big relief in India in a govt office.
RTO (DMV): Getting a license was the easiest part and once again I was amazed by the efficiency of the staff. You can get a driver's license very quickly if you have a US license. The process was very simple
1) Fill out the Form 4, 2 and 7.
2) Provide 3 passport size photos
3) Pay Rs 350.
4) Provide address proof (utility bill, rental agreement etc)
5) Once you provide the above, they take a digital photograph (no clue why they ask for 3 photos if they are anyway going to take your picture) and capture your signature on a digital pad.
6) Once that is done (takes about 45 min) you can get your license the next day evening.
My suggestion is get the license done first since it will serve as your address proof and photo Id, which are asked everywhere you go.
Customs: This one blew me off. The customs officers were so friendly and so helpful you were wondering if you were in another country. The inspection of the container was about 30 - 45 min. Because I had already provided a detailed inventory list, he only set aside the boxes with electronic items. Of all those boxes, since some of them were new and I had declared them as such, he did not even open them. Only 3-4 boxes were opened. After the inspection, the officer told me, how much he hates to levy duty on goods brought under TR(Transfer of Residence) and so proactively discussed it with his boss on best to reduce the duty. What surprised me wa, the boss was equally helpful giving some pointers on how we could club certain items into a general category and let them pass duty free. In the end they asked me to pay Rs 25000 which was so reasonable considering all the new things I had. Every thing was done in a day. Although we were there from 11 am to 5 pm, it could have taken even less time if not for the clearance agent (appointed by the shipping company) who was busy handling another customer.
Here is the custom clearance process:
Once the container reaches Bangalore, the shipping company and the clearance agent locally will inform you of its arrival.
You will then have to go to the clearance agent and provide him with copies of all pages of your passport and PIO card.
The clearance agent takes care of all the paper work.
Get to CCI (Container Corporation of India) near WhiteField (near ITPL) by 10:30 am. Carry your passport with you.
Before the inspection, be truthful and declare everything as is. If you have receipts take them with you.
After the inspection, the customs officer will tell you about the duty. You can negotiate with the officers to lower it (not by bribing). In our case we did not have to since they proactively did it.
Do not use any kind of agent or broker.
It is better that both husband and wife go together since it will give the officers a sense of your family and they are likely to be more considerate when they a decent looking couple.
Do not try to drop names of other superior officers or bring any kind of influence since it is not worth it and more likely to piss of these younger officers who do not like to be influenced the old way.
I have seen the younger officers at both airport and container clearance to be very understanding. Best approach is to be honest and sincere.
Getting back to the process, once you agree with the duty, pay it in SBI right next door (if you do not have cash, go to ITPL (2km) where you have all banks ATM).
After the cash is paid, the agent gets the signatures done, and the final step is the passport endorsement.
After that, depending on the time left you may get your goods delivered the same day or the next day.
Have atleast 3 people be at home when the goods arrive. One person needs to be near the truck making sure all the boxes are brought in.
The second person needs to check each box against the inventory list while the third person can be directing and escorting the movers to various rooms.
Definitely tip each mover individually, who make hardly any money.
Try to report any damage to the good within 2-3 days to the shipper you hired in US.
Railways: I found the railway ticket counter clerks and reservation clerks working so hard, I was simply amazed. The process of reserving tickets was very orderly at the Jayanagar branch. People were provided with seats to sit while they waited for their turn to be called for reserving. Small things that we take for granted in US, but a big relief in India in a govt office.
RTO (DMV): Getting a license was the easiest part and once again I was amazed by the efficiency of the staff. You can get a driver's license very quickly if you have a US license. The process was very simple
1) Fill out the Form 4, 2 and 7.
2) Provide 3 passport size photos
3) Pay Rs 350.
4) Provide address proof (utility bill, rental agreement etc)
5) Once you provide the above, they take a digital photograph (no clue why they ask for 3 photos if they are anyway going to take your picture) and capture your signature on a digital pad.
6) Once that is done (takes about 45 min) you can get your license the next day evening.
My suggestion is get the license done first since it will serve as your address proof and photo Id, which are asked everywhere you go.
Customs: This one blew me off. The customs officers were so friendly and so helpful you were wondering if you were in another country. The inspection of the container was about 30 - 45 min. Because I had already provided a detailed inventory list, he only set aside the boxes with electronic items. Of all those boxes, since some of them were new and I had declared them as such, he did not even open them. Only 3-4 boxes were opened. After the inspection, the officer told me, how much he hates to levy duty on goods brought under TR(Transfer of Residence) and so proactively discussed it with his boss on best to reduce the duty. What surprised me wa, the boss was equally helpful giving some pointers on how we could club certain items into a general category and let them pass duty free. In the end they asked me to pay Rs 25000 which was so reasonable considering all the new things I had. Every thing was done in a day. Although we were there from 11 am to 5 pm, it could have taken even less time if not for the clearance agent (appointed by the shipping company) who was busy handling another customer.
Here is the custom clearance process:
Once the container reaches Bangalore, the shipping company and the clearance agent locally will inform you of its arrival.
You will then have to go to the clearance agent and provide him with copies of all pages of your passport and PIO card.
The clearance agent takes care of all the paper work.
Get to CCI (Container Corporation of India) near WhiteField (near ITPL) by 10:30 am. Carry your passport with you.
Before the inspection, be truthful and declare everything as is. If you have receipts take them with you.
After the inspection, the customs officer will tell you about the duty. You can negotiate with the officers to lower it (not by bribing). In our case we did not have to since they proactively did it.
Do not use any kind of agent or broker.
It is better that both husband and wife go together since it will give the officers a sense of your family and they are likely to be more considerate when they a decent looking couple.
Do not try to drop names of other superior officers or bring any kind of influence since it is not worth it and more likely to piss of these younger officers who do not like to be influenced the old way.
I have seen the younger officers at both airport and container clearance to be very understanding. Best approach is to be honest and sincere.
Getting back to the process, once you agree with the duty, pay it in SBI right next door (if you do not have cash, go to ITPL (2km) where you have all banks ATM).
After the cash is paid, the agent gets the signatures done, and the final step is the passport endorsement.
After that, depending on the time left you may get your goods delivered the same day or the next day.
Have atleast 3 people be at home when the goods arrive. One person needs to be near the truck making sure all the boxes are brought in.
The second person needs to check each box against the inventory list while the third person can be directing and escorting the movers to various rooms.
Definitely tip each mover individually, who make hardly any money.
Try to report any damage to the good within 2-3 days to the shipper you hired in US.
Travelling
In the one month that we have been here we travelled once to Mysore and the other time to Hubli. Both of them were by trains and experience was mixed.
On our trip back from Mysore to Bangalore we were travelling in unreserved compartment and people were stuffed every nook and corner of the compartment. Anisha and Anirudh found out how inconvenient travel can be in India but at the same time were amused by the fact that you could climb onto to the top bunk and sit there.
The journey to Hubli from Bangalore was during night and was pleasantly surprised when they handed us blankets, sheets and pillows. I later came to know that it is only for AC and 1st class compartments. The journey back from Hubli was during daytime and the biggest nuisance was the catering vendors. All the 8 hrs on the train there was hardly a gap of 1 min between when the first vendor left and the second one showed up. SO, for 8 hrs you were smelling food or hearing the musical pronouncement of the food from these vendors.
The good thing at Bangalore Train Station is you now have pre-paid taxi and auto service like they have it at airports. This protects the tourists and also there is no scope for Autorickshaw to refuse to come to your area.
As for travelling within Bangalore it is nothing short of HELL. Unless you are travelling early in the morning before 9 am or after 8 pm, life can be miserable especially certain heavily used roades. Don't even think of going to Majestic.
There is lot of flyover construction in Bangalore which has caused major disruptions. The dividers and 1-way has definitely helped regulate the traffic but missing a turn can really cost you.
Because the traffic is so heavy , crossing the road is next to impossible since nobody gives you an inch and that is the part that frustrates me most, since every time you cross the road on foot, you are risking your life. I want to do something about it but not sure how to go about doing it for now.
On our trip back from Mysore to Bangalore we were travelling in unreserved compartment and people were stuffed every nook and corner of the compartment. Anisha and Anirudh found out how inconvenient travel can be in India but at the same time were amused by the fact that you could climb onto to the top bunk and sit there.
The journey to Hubli from Bangalore was during night and was pleasantly surprised when they handed us blankets, sheets and pillows. I later came to know that it is only for AC and 1st class compartments. The journey back from Hubli was during daytime and the biggest nuisance was the catering vendors. All the 8 hrs on the train there was hardly a gap of 1 min between when the first vendor left and the second one showed up. SO, for 8 hrs you were smelling food or hearing the musical pronouncement of the food from these vendors.
The good thing at Bangalore Train Station is you now have pre-paid taxi and auto service like they have it at airports. This protects the tourists and also there is no scope for Autorickshaw to refuse to come to your area.
As for travelling within Bangalore it is nothing short of HELL. Unless you are travelling early in the morning before 9 am or after 8 pm, life can be miserable especially certain heavily used roades. Don't even think of going to Majestic.
There is lot of flyover construction in Bangalore which has caused major disruptions. The dividers and 1-way has definitely helped regulate the traffic but missing a turn can really cost you.
Because the traffic is so heavy , crossing the road is next to impossible since nobody gives you an inch and that is the part that frustrates me most, since every time you cross the road on foot, you are risking your life. I want to do something about it but not sure how to go about doing it for now.
Monday, July 05, 2004
The Schools and the Education
Schools are dime a dozen in Bangalore but yet they all are all overbooked. Very little has changed in the way the older staff reacts to parents or students in school. They feel they are always right and people are expected to listen to them. The younger staff is more open for discussion.
One of the myths of Indian education is "Indian educational standards are higher than that of US". The fact is "Indian standards are actually lower and especially in the areas of MATH!!". If you are surprised so was I and 3 other parents who relocated to India this year. I am not sure how the curriculum compares to US in the higher grades but at the grade levels (2-5) it is definitely true. So, if you are planning to relocate for educational reasons think again. I am making this assertion because I am comparing CBSE 4th grade syllabus to what Anirudh studied in the 2nd and 3rd grade in US.
The other myth was "There is better discipline in Indian schools than in US". Once again this was a surprise to me to find out from Anirudh as to how students behave when class is in progress. According to Anirudh several of the students would have been sent home in Millikin or Delphi if they had behaved the way they were behaving here.
However, to the credit of the other students, Anirudh finds kids here to be more friendly than in US especially towards new students although he did complain about how they made fun of his accent.
These days schools in Bangalore are very commercially oriented and just to give an idea, we spent about Rs 5500 (> $100) on Anirudh's uniforms (have to buy it from school) because all his outfits are Levi's!!! I am not kidding the school uniform is
Levi's Jeans
Levi's Polo Shirts
Levi's Belts
Levi's Socks
Levi's Shorts and workout T shirts
Anisha's was more reasonable but the quality of the uniform dresses was poor (I cannot say the same thing about quality for Anirudh's uniform)
Just a FYI, Anirudh and Anisha are enrolled in 2 different schools and we will switch one of them depending on which one we feel is the better school.
The hard part has been the second language, which was expected. So far they are handling it OK with some extra tutoring near home. Although the schools promised to provide extra language tutoring they have been very inconsistent. So far I have heard only once the use of the phrase "Yes Yaa" from Anirudh.
One of the myths of Indian education is "Indian educational standards are higher than that of US". The fact is "Indian standards are actually lower and especially in the areas of MATH!!". If you are surprised so was I and 3 other parents who relocated to India this year. I am not sure how the curriculum compares to US in the higher grades but at the grade levels (2-5) it is definitely true. So, if you are planning to relocate for educational reasons think again. I am making this assertion because I am comparing CBSE 4th grade syllabus to what Anirudh studied in the 2nd and 3rd grade in US.
The other myth was "There is better discipline in Indian schools than in US". Once again this was a surprise to me to find out from Anirudh as to how students behave when class is in progress. According to Anirudh several of the students would have been sent home in Millikin or Delphi if they had behaved the way they were behaving here.
However, to the credit of the other students, Anirudh finds kids here to be more friendly than in US especially towards new students although he did complain about how they made fun of his accent.
These days schools in Bangalore are very commercially oriented and just to give an idea, we spent about Rs 5500 (> $100) on Anirudh's uniforms (have to buy it from school) because all his outfits are Levi's!!! I am not kidding the school uniform is
Levi's Jeans
Levi's Polo Shirts
Levi's Belts
Levi's Socks
Levi's Shorts and workout T shirts
Anisha's was more reasonable but the quality of the uniform dresses was poor (I cannot say the same thing about quality for Anirudh's uniform)
Just a FYI, Anirudh and Anisha are enrolled in 2 different schools and we will switch one of them depending on which one we feel is the better school.
The hard part has been the second language, which was expected. So far they are handling it OK with some extra tutoring near home. Although the schools promised to provide extra language tutoring they have been very inconsistent. So far I have heard only once the use of the phrase "Yes Yaa" from Anirudh.
Friday, July 02, 2004
Lesson on the Flight
On my flight back to India, I was watching an episode of "Frasier" and there was a particular comment that the character Frasier made which made me question my motive and is something that still haunts me.
In that episode, Lillith (Frasier's divorced wife) comes to a Frasier after Frasier Jr. had grown up and left home for his college studies. Lillith wants to have another baby with Frasier and sells him the memories of how fun it used to be rearing their first baby. Frasier initially falls for it and then realizes that it is not the right thing to do and makes the following statement "You cannot use the past to fill what is missing in your present life". It never works since memories good or bad are always intimately tied to the place and time and you cannot retread those in another time.
The reason it made me question my motive was, I was suddenly wondering if I was relocating because I wanted to re-live my past and assuming my kids will have the same kind of fun that I had growing up in India. I still do not know the answer to that and that is why it still haunts me.
In that episode, Lillith (Frasier's divorced wife) comes to a Frasier after Frasier Jr. had grown up and left home for his college studies. Lillith wants to have another baby with Frasier and sells him the memories of how fun it used to be rearing their first baby. Frasier initially falls for it and then realizes that it is not the right thing to do and makes the following statement "You cannot use the past to fill what is missing in your present life". It never works since memories good or bad are always intimately tied to the place and time and you cannot retread those in another time.
The reason it made me question my motive was, I was suddenly wondering if I was relocating because I wanted to re-live my past and assuming my kids will have the same kind of fun that I had growing up in India. I still do not know the answer to that and that is why it still haunts me.
The Going Away Parties
If there is one thing I truely consider as a personal achievment is the circle of my friends. I mean to include everyone the boys gang, the lovely wives and top it all the kids. Although it is ones actions that determine the outcome, there is also what I believe in "destiny". I have not heard of another group that had so much fun when in college (some of us slept on the same bed and had fun but not the kind you dirty minds are thinking about), went onto work for different companies in different cities and ended up back together is the same area to be able to meet for lunch every week! First it was just us boys (mostly homogeneous in personality and thinking) then the wedded ones brought in variety and kids really kicked it up a notch.
We were lucky enough to be hosted to a quite a few parties and a few BNO (Boys night out). I wasn't feeling emotional (one way or the other) during these parties except the one I went to right after the container and shipped out and Bhavani and kids had left California. I felt sad the last day when I walked out of the house for the last time knowing it wasn't mine anymore and I could not go back there. Although that house holds lots of memories and I am a person who generally dreams a lot, not once has any of the past in that house has come in my dreams so far.
I was lucky enough to spend the last 2-3 days with friends and not alone and that not only drove home, how much these relations mean but also how much I was going to miss out. Especially if you ended up spending those last few days with the best drink-mixer in our gang who makes sure your glass is always full. So, next time you go to his place ask him to fix you up with Hypnotica, the blue drink.
We were lucky enough to be hosted to a quite a few parties and a few BNO (Boys night out). I wasn't feeling emotional (one way or the other) during these parties except the one I went to right after the container and shipped out and Bhavani and kids had left California. I felt sad the last day when I walked out of the house for the last time knowing it wasn't mine anymore and I could not go back there. Although that house holds lots of memories and I am a person who generally dreams a lot, not once has any of the past in that house has come in my dreams so far.
I was lucky enough to spend the last 2-3 days with friends and not alone and that not only drove home, how much these relations mean but also how much I was going to miss out. Especially if you ended up spending those last few days with the best drink-mixer in our gang who makes sure your glass is always full. So, next time you go to his place ask him to fix you up with Hypnotica, the blue drink.
The Logistics of Move
Once we had pulled the trigger on the move, the first thing we did was to speak to a real estate agent and get the house ready to be put on the market. The other activity was to hire a shipper. After speaking to couple of the shippers and hearing the first hand experiences of our friends we decided on Sky2C (sky2c.com) for our shipping needs. The house took exactly a month to get sold (little longer than I expected). We had in the meantime arranged for rental as a backup. Some of the personal items sold pretty quickly and especially the vehicles took longer. Finally I had to sell them below fair market price for lack of time. I found CraigsList.com to be very effective for selling personal household items and of course eBay if you have the patience to deal with shipping.
Sky2C did a great job in packing and shipping. Our household stuff fit into a 20ft container end to end. We decided to bring with us all our furniture, although after coming over to India I realized that some stores in Bangalore (FamilyMart) sell very contemporary furniture for much less than what it costs in US.
I found that the hardest task of this move was getting rid of things. After the container left on May 1, Bhavani and kids left for New Jersey on their way to India. There was so much of stuff left around the house including in all the garage cabinets, I constantly spent 2-3 hrs a day disposing it off to either charities or just dumping it. Dumping is not easy when you don't live in an apartment. So, what do you do? Put the stuff in the van, go to an apartment complex and dump it ;-)
I will write about the experiences at customs in India on a separte post
Sky2C did a great job in packing and shipping. Our household stuff fit into a 20ft container end to end. We decided to bring with us all our furniture, although after coming over to India I realized that some stores in Bangalore (FamilyMart) sell very contemporary furniture for much less than what it costs in US.
I found that the hardest task of this move was getting rid of things. After the container left on May 1, Bhavani and kids left for New Jersey on their way to India. There was so much of stuff left around the house including in all the garage cabinets, I constantly spent 2-3 hrs a day disposing it off to either charities or just dumping it. Dumping is not easy when you don't live in an apartment. So, what do you do? Put the stuff in the van, go to an apartment complex and dump it ;-)
I will write about the experiences at customs in India on a separte post
Why the Move?
The move is primarily for family reasons. What do I mean by that? Our kids lacked a sense of an extended family or belonging since most of the time it was just me and Bhavani. The once in 3 years trips to India or visits by their grandparents defined their family interactions. We wanted them to have more regular contacts both formal and informal and there was no substitute to it other than being physically closer to those people.
The other motivating factors were the much more realistic experience the kids were going to have in the areas of
- lack of resources
- lack of comforts
- seeing people up close who are less fortunate
Why is the above important? I feel that, often extreme experiences will help mould the personality better than a more homogeneous experience they typically have in US with all their friends and neighbors being of similar socio-economic background.
The third factor was the fact that it will be easier to become multi-lingual which has lots of advantages and very few disadvantages. It is hard to become multi-lingual in USA because of lack of people who constantly converse with you in that language.
The other motivating factors were the much more realistic experience the kids were going to have in the areas of
- lack of resources
- lack of comforts
- seeing people up close who are less fortunate
Why is the above important? I feel that, often extreme experiences will help mould the personality better than a more homogeneous experience they typically have in US with all their friends and neighbors being of similar socio-economic background.
The third factor was the fact that it will be easier to become multi-lingual which has lots of advantages and very few disadvantages. It is hard to become multi-lingual in USA because of lack of people who constantly converse with you in that language.
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