Moving to India?

Friend of ours are considering moving to India and I just sent the couple the following tips/answers to some of their questions and thought it might help someone else out there...

1) Bring a lot of cash. It is more expensive than you think. I'd say savings of $25,000 should help take care of a car, the down payment for rent (Mumbai is a whole lot more), new furniture...

2) Secure school admissions for your child. Have your company negotiate this as they are much better at it than you ever will be.

3) Get a sense of fair-market rents and rates from over there. Sked time with a broker and hit the ground running as soon as you arrive. Ask neighbours about water and electricity outages.

4) Book a guest house. Your employer might put you up in a fancy five-star. If you have a family, skip it as guest houses will be more comfortable and you are less likely to get sick and you will have more space.

5) Find other returnee families. They are a great source of information. They also will help you find your staff from maid to driver.

6) Get on a list of expats, in Delhi, that's yuni-net or Delhinet but each of the Indian cities has one. Also try Craig's List for deals on flats and used furniture.

7) Make a trip to Costco or Sam's Club, even though I make fun of it... A lot of that packaged stuff and sauces are very expensive here. No shame in Pantene, Aunt Jemima, Annie's mac and cheese.

8) If you are being relocated, add about a month to 6 weeks to whatever they say the eta is for your goods. I have yet to meet anyone who has gotten their stuff on time. Ensure your employer does the negotiation for the release of goods and paying any related bribes etc.

9) Assess your electrical needs - laptops, toasters, video projectors, stereo systems. We came with two large converters (if you need the exact conversions, Nitty can tell you) and they were more than adequate. Buy a bunch of the 220- to 110 converters for a dollar each and sprinkle them around the house.

10) The most important thing you can bring is an open mind and a lot of patience. Nuff said.

Happy one-year anniversary!!

So I tried and tried to get family and friends to submit guest posts for one-year anniversary with no luck (except Sanjib, good ol' reliable himself). Fittingly, it fell throughout the weekend - we left on the 16, arrived on the 17 and I started work on the 19th. One-year later, we experienced a typically Delhi weekend--crazy. Staff meeting on Friday with idlis, vadas and sambar. Dinner for my 13-year-old niece's birthday in Gurgaon. Morning meeting Saturday for work, visitor from Hong Kong. Rushed to another kid's birthday party with Naya, missed the cake but she liked her "return-gift". Picked up Nitin who was at an art exhibit and then the Habitat Centre for a meeting. Came home, put lipstick on, ran out the door for an A.R. Rahman concert. Ran to dinner afterward with Nitin's cousins. Back and edited copy, asleep at 2:30 am. Awake at 8, dealt with copy and weird notes with boss, finished queries on copy, sent it along, gave Naya a bath where every orafice is now spanking shiny and clean, fed her lunch, ordered chaat, heated lunch, took a shower. Ding dong. Cousin and sister-in-law here for lunch as they leave this city for Kolkata. They eat. Other friends came over to see them off. Back in kitchen to make tea. Take Naya to play date. Go shopping for next week's birthday party gifts. COme back and here I type. Thank god I didn't have a Sunday night dinner party as I had wanted to to celebrate...

My column this week will likely muse on India - one year later. Stay tuned...

Gaffe or gaffay or gaff?

Customer service complaint number 456. I hate that we are always handed one menu when we go to places that are tres mehengi (expensive). I used to think it was because Nitin is a man (grrr) and waiters assumed he'd order. Last night, during a girls' night with my two P-pals (Padmini and Pavani) we were handed only one menu. Why they do that?