School Bus Experience!

Both Mihika and Saanjh have started going to School in a School Bus. Mihika takes good care of her sister, she first drops Saanjh to her class before going to her class.

As far as school buses are concerned each of them have a Driver, Conductor and a Maushi. Maushi is responsible for picking up and dropping off younger kids from their respective classrooms. She is then responsible for making sure that all kids are dropped-off at the correct location. Also, she makes sure that all kids are safely seated in the bus and maintain discipline. It gives us a real piece of mind knowing that there are 2 adults (Conductor and Maushi) taking care of their safety and making sure that they are dropped at the correct location.

So far, we are happy with the school buses in India.

Singh is Kingg!

On Aug 9th we had our first movie going experience since we moved to Pune. It was an eventful day, it was raining all day and there was no power in our apartment since morning. Rather than getting bored we decided to take kids for a movie. We saw this movie at E-Square by the Pune University. The interesting part was when everyone was rushing through the door to watch the movie and made me ask the question “Doesn’t everyone realize that they already have seats assigned?” It was a herd mentality and was just crazy. But overall we had a great experience. Mihika and Saanjh really enjoyed watching movie in India.

Daily Routine so far…

Now that it has been a month since we returned to the mother land, how are we doing in India is the most common question that gets asked to us. We are still settling but we sort of have a daily routine set.

Waking Up:

We all wakeup by 6:45AM. Kids and I get ready for school and work respectively and have a healthy breakfast. Rinu gets ready to drop kids to school. Since we have limited mobility we have hired an auto rickshaw to pick-up and drop kids from school. Since kids are not use to this process Rinu is currently accompanying kids to the school.

School:

Both Mihika and Saanjh have finally adjusted to the school environment. Their school is only 2.5km from our apartment. For first two weeks they cried almost every day while getting dropped. For Saanjh going to school every day is a new concept but she has adjusted well. Their school starts at 8:30am, Saanjh returns home by early afternoon Mihika returns home by late afternoon.

Work:

I leave for work at around 8:50am. I have currently borrowed a motorcycle from a friend, since my work is only 3km away it takes me only 7-10min to get to work. I return home based on my meetings but usually around 7pm.

Homework and Playtime:

Once Mihika has returned from school Rinu makes sure that she takes care of her homework… ohhh yes she gets homework! Man I remember dreading those days. Once she is done with her homework she either watches some TV or goes down to play if it's not raining.

Dinner Time:

We have hired a Cooking lady that comes every day in the evening and prepares dinner for all of us. We all try to have dinner by 8:30pm so that kids can be put to bed and be ready for school next day. Currently we are all sleeping on just mattresses in the master bedroom. Kids are getting really used to sleeping with us, need to break that habit soon J.

That's all for now… stay tuned!

School Admissions...what a mess!

School year in India starts in the month of June, but the admission process starts in the month of Nov-Dec for the following year. Admissions at good schools are usually completed by February. Getting admission for your child especially in Nursery, KG, 1^st and 2^nd grades/standards is absolutely impossible once the school year has started. If you are trying to look for admissions after the month of February the following tips are for you too. For us schools started around June 19^th and it took us almost a month to get our kids admitted in the school of our choice. Here are some tips for those who are in similar situation:

• BE PAITENT! – This is my number one advice to everyone that is trying to get admission for their kids.
  
• Use your influence early on – Try getting it without any pressure by talking only TO THE PRINCIPAL. Do not talk to the admissions coordinator they do not have the power to help you. They are like a tape recorder that will never change its story. Talk only to the Principal and be calm and PATIENT.
  
• Be Persistent – The famous saying "PERSISTENCE PAYS" believe me it does work in India. You have to make sure that the other person feels POWERFUL. They need to feel important. BE PATIENT with everyone working at the administration office they hate seeing your there every time but they like the fact that they have the POWER to turn you down.
  

BE AWARE, nothing in India works like you are used to in the United States. Nothing comes easy to you. It requires lots of patience, influence and money to get anything done in India. Everything in India is expensive… I will write about this in my future blog.

So my friends, in short we are happy so far, things are moving in the right direction and we are settling slowly but steadily.

Wish we had known…

When Rinu and I started doing the research for moving back to India (Rinu more than me… J), we quickly realized that there was not much information available on the internet, at least about what one needs to do before moving back. One thing that we needed the most but did not have was TIME. We wish we had that luxury to better organize ourselves. Here are list of things that I recommend everyone to start working on as soon as you have made the decision to migrate back:

• Get an NRI Account (preferably at ICICI, HDFC or IDBI Bank)
  
• Acquire a PAN Card – This is a must for purchasing/acquiring lots of items in India
  
• School Leaving Certificate for your child – Make sure that this document in notarized
  
• Finalize school Admissions for your kids
  
• Identify or finalize a House (Rent/Buy)
  
• Get 30 copies of your photograph
  
• Create 20 copies of your passport – Make sure that these documents are notarized
  
• Get a Indian Driving License – If you do not have this then you better have a driver ready
  
• Get Indian Credit Cards – Must otherwise you will lose money in conversion
  
• Borrow/Purchase a Vehicle – Enroll in a driving school the day you land in India so that you get some practice before you can start driving a car
  
• Last but not the least acquire a Gas Cylinder (Ignore if you have Gas Connection in your house) – This is important if you are planning to move to a different city then your family as you have no ration card to get one in the new city.
  

If you have these basic items ready before to get on that plane you are in good shape. This will save you a lot of time and money!

Eagle has landed!

WOW! what a journey it has been so far. It has been an exciting 2008 so far. We reached India safely on June 23rd. We made the biggest mistake of our life to fly on Northwest/KLM from Dallas/Fort Worth to Mumbai. It is a very convenient flight but please DO NOT TRAVEL on it. The food on this flight really SUCKS!. It was the most horrible food I have eaten since 1996.

Anyway, got family settled in Mumbai and then left for Pune on June 26th. Since then I have been living in a corporate residency in Pune while Rinu and the kids have been staying in Mumbai with me visiting over the weekends.

Finally after a long search we have found an apartment to rent and will be moving into it on July 15th.

Introduction

The purpose of this blog is two-fold, first to update our friends back in the US of things we are going through and second to impart valuable information for people who are thinking of returning to India.

Also, I hope that on this new endeavor of ours you will share your thoughts and provide us with valuable advice!