So I am in India and it has been two weeks!! I am now living with my parents. Life has come a full circle, left home for college, then moved to the US for a Masters, got married, moved from rental to our own place, moved back to rental and then moved to India to live with parents, so within a space of 10 years have come back to the same point from where I started lol!!
So what is new, India is freaking expensive specially housing. Day to day life is good except people specially from the strata of society reading this email are VERY lazy, all talk and no work. The lower middle class, drivers etc, work very hard but office executives only come up with concepts getting actual work seems to be much tougher.
So what are the interesting events that have happened since my move to delhi hmm my son is fascinated with horses and cow. He wants to buy a cow. It is quite cute when a 2 year old comes to you and says 'Papa, I want to buy a cow', dont know how he got this idea. Other than that I fell sick, not because of bad food etc but because I have been eating chicken tikkas and panner parathas etc on a daily basis (enjoying the great Indian food), my stomach has told me to take it a bit easy.
Settling into my new job at www.mapmyindia.com, the work culture is very different, but people are more open to change (as opposed to the US). India is changing, Reliance openeds its first Kirana store, which I think was a big thing as the retail sector is in the process of getting organized. Enjoying the traffic, had gone to bangalore recently, I do not think I have seen such bad traffic in my life (that includes LA), it takes 20 minutes to travel 1 KM (0.6 miles), which has definately got to be the slowest traffic speed. Bangalore has to parts to it, old city with people workign on normal jobs and new city with people working on $$ incomes and spending on the same level. Average Joe Indian is getting crushed between the $$ spend and the regular Indian salary.
Took a flight, I have to say Indian flight personnel are 10X better than the American ones. They blocked a seat on a full flight for our baby was also travelling with us, I would say Indian when they feel personal about something, go all the way to help you.
So nothing else, still to open a bank account, trying to find my moorings and bearing in India. I think it will take 6-8 months to completely get insync with the flow here. Shall keep you posted.
Namaste till then.
Shiva
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007
D-Day - 2 (D-day being the 19th of Jan)
Well the time has come to write the blog and share my experiences of these past few months and the hopefully the years to come. We (Myself, Wife, and 2 kids are returning to India after spending quite a many years in the USA). Well to be frank we are a bit scared and at the same time very excited. India that I left many years ago has changed and for all practical reasons it will be a very different country than the one i left.
Our flight is on the 19th of Jan 2007 and we will reach New Delhi on the 20th. I will be joining a great new startup http://www.mapmyindia.com which is one of a kind unique mapping company in India and wifey will be joining a back office for a bank. Kids will be joining their grand parents and rest of the family.
Many of us have asked why are we returning to India or what made us take this drastic decision and to them I answer only one thing - Change. It is good to change life for both growth and excitement. Both of us had very good job multinational jobs in the US but after a point it gets routine. Hence the change. Not doing it for the money or family, but more for a different prespective to life. Also if 1.2 billion people can live in India, then why not 4 more :)
Today we shipped all our luggage and it was a pain, we have way too much stuff. Boxes of papers, clothes, furniture, junk etc. Not sure why we have all these things and not sure why we shipped it (did not have the inclination to go through so much junk). The son (2 year old toddler) was shocked when he could not find his toys, the reaction was worth seeing. Have met most of the family and friends, closed all the finances, credit cards etc, currently unemloyed, but all excited to start a new life yet again. Well keep reading, I ll be posting the interesting events that occur each day or week or month (time permitting) as we move from the New York life to the Delhi life.
India here I come.
Shivalik
Our flight is on the 19th of Jan 2007 and we will reach New Delhi on the 20th. I will be joining a great new startup http://www.mapmyindia.com which is one of a kind unique mapping company in India and wifey will be joining a back office for a bank. Kids will be joining their grand parents and rest of the family.
Many of us have asked why are we returning to India or what made us take this drastic decision and to them I answer only one thing - Change. It is good to change life for both growth and excitement. Both of us had very good job multinational jobs in the US but after a point it gets routine. Hence the change. Not doing it for the money or family, but more for a different prespective to life. Also if 1.2 billion people can live in India, then why not 4 more :)
Today we shipped all our luggage and it was a pain, we have way too much stuff. Boxes of papers, clothes, furniture, junk etc. Not sure why we have all these things and not sure why we shipped it (did not have the inclination to go through so much junk). The son (2 year old toddler) was shocked when he could not find his toys, the reaction was worth seeing. Have met most of the family and friends, closed all the finances, credit cards etc, currently unemloyed, but all excited to start a new life yet again. Well keep reading, I ll be posting the interesting events that occur each day or week or month (time permitting) as we move from the New York life to the Delhi life.
India here I come.
Shivalik
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