Our R2I experience - Chennai

We are a great fan of the R2I club forum and this forum has indeed helped us a lot to make our transition smoother. We have lived in US for about 11 yrs and made our R2i plans about 2 yrs back. We always wanted to move to Bangalore and had invested a plot in Bangalore about 6 yrs back. We were supposed to move to BLE by end of 2007 and my husband had already informed his employer to start making the transfer by end of Dec 2006. As luck would have it, there was an offer from his previous company to head their operations in Chennai as they did not have a Bangalore presence yet. We were totally in a dilemma and as we are both from TamilNadu, it meant moving to home town Chennai. After some discussions, we decided to take the leap to CHENNAI… It meant postponing our construction work at Bangalore and start school hunting process for my 5 yr old son. Also our plans got pre-poned by almost a year. But by Dec 06 we had got our USC and got our passports by Jan end. Applied for OCI in Feb 1st week and got it by April 1st week of 07.

Reason to R2I:- I think it was getting too monotonous for us and we always had to plan some activities for kids or take them to Bday parties or just the plain old potluck. Not that I did not enjoy them but there comes a point when you think this alone can’t just be life!!! We love to travel a lot and have visited pretty much all the hot spots of US in addition to Canada, Mexico and part of Europe. We personally missed the liveliness of India and also the main thing - domestic help. Main reasons were happiness, liveliness, domestic help and food in addition to usual reason of family and festivals. We felt we can always travel to US or other countries for holidays and make our base here.

Home selling: - We are from Newark, California (Bay area). We started narrowing down the agents and selected one that was strongly recommended by our friends. Based on his suggestion we did interior and exterior painting and house got ready by Mar 2007. Being from Bay area, we were not affected too much by the slow down but it still took us almost 2 weeks to get an offer and yes we did get multiple offers. Our home is not in a best school district and my son was going to a private school. The buyer got his loan approved but the process did take longer than expected escrow of 30 days. It went up to 45 days and finally by May end we sold our home. The tension was finally over. We came back to India by June 1st week.

Packing and Shipping: - We got a little lucky with this. We did not the know anything abt this and one of my close friends who works in shipping area recommended air7seas for us. She helped us understand everything and worked with us closely till the end. We booked a 20ft container and employed separate packing people and we just made use of old Uhaul boxes that we got free from friends etc. Packing people 450$ and shipping costs including insurance was 2900$. We had a total of 110 boxes got furniture like bedroom set (no mattress), dining set and sofa set. We also got a dryer based on friends recommendations. We took 2 LCD TV’s one 46 inch and other 37inch and pretty much the entire house that we had filtered out before selling. No issues and the agents in Chennai were very helpful. Our container reached abt 1 week after we landed (took 4 weeks). We were asked to list all our electronics items and had to pay a duty. No issues there. We had people to unpack all our stuff and keep it in right places. And paid 5000 INR for trucks. It was pretty relaxing after all the hectic filtering of things that we had to do in the US. It’s great to be back!!

Apartment search: - Based on advice from this forum we decided to finalise the school first and then narrow down apartment. Since Adyar/ RA Puram had a higher concentration of good schools we decided to settle down here. Check the school hunt para for more details. We decided to invest in our own place in Chennai after we settle down for a year or so. We already have a plot in a community in Bangalore. We initially landed in Bangalore at my husband’s brother’s place. Then my husband and my father in law went to Chennai and looked at apartments. We booked a brand new apartment in Adyar where the rent was approx 25K (3 bedroom 3 bathroom 1550 sqft in a prime locality). Lots of woodwork at home and very comfortable. No complaints so far.. Good neighbors and just 10 mins from school.

School hunt:- Meanwhile I was researching all the schools in Chennai and started getting applications for some.We wanted CBSE School or ICSE. Most of the schools centered around Nungambakkam was Matriculation. We wanted somewhere in between a traditional school like PSBB and the posh Vaels type school. We had 90% decided on Vaels and was assured a seat there but we decided to still try for other schools. The reason we did not choose Vaels was because if our son got used to air conditioned schools it is hard for him to move anywhere else.

Here are the schools we narrowed down:-

PSBB
Vidya Mandir
Arsha Vidya mandir
St Britto
Chettinad Vidyashrram
Vaels Billabong
Gateway
Abacus
The School
Bala Vidya Mandir
Amazing kids
Ashram


After a lot of discussions with friends we got applications for:-

Vidya mandir (A fellow R2I member helped me to get the application form)
Ashram
Arsha Vidya Mandir
Vaels Billabong
St Britto
Chettinad Vidhyashram

We got confirmation from Vaels Billabong and the rest of the schools wanted us to come in person. When we came to Chennai June 1st week, we started visiting the principals of above schools. We did not attend Arsha and Ashram as they were in Guindy Velachery area and too far for us. Timed Vaels and it was 25 mins each way and I was hesitant of that commute. Same with Brittos- too far for us and did not feel too comfortable with the school as well. Felt it would be too strenuous for him. Vidya Mandir sent a letter stating no vacancies for UKG. Hence our choices were Chettinad Vidyashram and Vaels. One of the parents of Chettinad Vidhyashram recommended another school called Harisree Vidyalayam – same Chettinad group ICSE school which has upto 7th TSD. Visited the school, got assessment test for my son and that’s it. We got his admission and liked the school. Another fellow R2i member had also recommended this school. Its close to Chettinad Vidhyashram school on other side and so far no issues. The teachers are good and my son likes it a lot.

Settling down phase:- With school hunt and apartment hunt over, we started settling down in our new house. First 2 days was a bit unsettling but after that we felt very much at home. Got Samsung AC’s, IFB washer, Preethi blue leaf and ELGI grinder from Rathna Fan house. Got 2 maids from neighbors references and no issues. We were just 10 mins from beach – so taking the kids there was fun. Did kite flying the first time and 2nd time my son went horseback riding along the beach and loved it. We have Pizza hut, Dominos and Marry brown here to remind us of US and Nilgris had the cornflakes and Krafts Mac and cheese that my son loves which we thought we would miss. You get pretty much anything you want. So we hardly miss the US. Yes the traffic and pollution part is there but come on, we grew up here – so it did not bother us.

We just have to pick up the phone and things are delivered free. There is reliance fresh and @Fresh for vegetables and markets like Nilgris, Subhiksha , Spencers, Landmark and Trinethra super markets. We are in process of getting the right car. Of course we like Innova the best but we are thinking of getting it after we get our own home. It feels good to be back and we think R2i will work only if we do it for the right reasons. The mindset should be there and also getting the right school and also comfortable accommodation , area etc is important. I have taken a break from work after working for 10 yrs and my husband is happy with work place as well which is again an important issue. My son enjoys Pogo channel and all the regular cartoon stuff as well.

I will update this blog in a few months time as we start our home search process. Again thanks for all your inputs during my R2i process and hope yours turn out smooth as well.

RRK, looking forward eagerly for the next R2i meet in Chennai. – Are there any plans for an R2i meet? Also any fellow R2Iers settled in Adyar area? I am sure there must be many. At least we can have a mini get together and share our thoughts.

Looking for inputs on places to visit with kids, best place to join my son for swimming class, tennis etc. and also recommendation for good doctors and hospitals since the twins just turned one..