Check-list to move into a new Indian City

Here are the things you need when you move to a new city in India (these days)

1. Vehicle: Since we are planning to stay in Noida, having a car is a must. We should have ours delivered in the next 2-3 days

2. Home: Need I say more!

3. Cell Phone: You are severely handicapped and heavily taunted if you dont.

4. Bank A/C: Actually, it is less about the bank a/c and more about the debit card to buy tickets online. Until then, I bug my friend at work

It boils down to these 4 things! The rest can be managed. In my next post, I'll write in detail about the circular logic of documentation for each of the items mentioned above.

Day 1

Day 1 was actually quite unremarkable!! Contrary to what my friends assumed, nobody in the office stood up to salute the new director in the office :D

It was like one of the visits to the India office, where I would come for a week or 2. I need to break that and realize that I have come back for good and dont need to rush through as if I had a deadline to go back!

I did get my cell phone connection though. After a lot of deliberation and discussion about a "fancy number", here's what I got.. 9717 66 4545 (not bad I think)

How to live 1 year in a week!

So much has happened in the last week that I never got a moment to think of the changes that were taking place right before my eyes. And it was not until an hour ago that I owe it to everybody to share my first few days of being back in India. Three of my friends asked me a simple and innocent question "So, hows it going?". Well, there are 2 answers; the response and the real answer. So, to put things in perspective, I need to lay down all that happened in the last 10 days.

Thursday, 6/18/2009

We are still waiting for our passport to leave the next day to London to see the T20 World Cup Finals. Excited but pessimistic that we may not leave on time.

Friday, 6/19

By the afternoon, it was confirmed that we were not leaving before Monday since the passport had been shipped from the UK consulate and would arrive on monday at 10:30am via Next Day Air on UPS.

The bonus weekend in California

Definitely, this was a weird weekend over there. We were so excited to see the cricket match and had planned everything mentally and logistically, saying our goodbyes to all our friends and all packed up ready to leave. At the same time, we were happy that we got some bonus time with everyone. No house, no car and 4 suitcases; we were visitors in our own town. It was fun but funny!

UPS Monday, 6/22/2009

All set to pick up my passport from my old apartment, I started the 50-mi drive from San Jose to Emeryville at 11am. The passport should have arrived at 10:30 (you guessed it right, Next-day Air). But as luck would have had it, the passport shows that it reached Oakland, but the UPS guys cannot find it. 6 hours and many complaints later, they did find them, but not before we successfully missed our rescheduled flight out of SFO. This day made me realize how perspectives change based on the situation

11am: What the Hell! My passport was supposed to deliver at 10:30am. How can you (UPS) be so irresponsible

2pm: Can you find my passport quickly so that I can board my flight (the thought of a delayed package is long gone). Now just find it so that I can leave.

5pm: Is my passport lost? Does this mean I am stuck in the US for another 2 months?

Anyway, all's well that ends well

Tuesday 6/23

Mapara calls at 9am (jolts me out of bed). "Tickets are not available. Can you leave on Friday?" WTF?? I have a 10-day vacation. And you expect me to reach London after 6 days!! Not worth it. Get me a ticket to India! Six hours later, we were on an Emirates flight to Hyderabad. Bye bye London, Schengen. Better luck next time

Many movies later.... Arrived in Hyderabad

Spent a day there.. but coming to Delhi on Friday, 6/26/2009

First Delhi Weekend!

Braved 47c temperatures.. Bought a car... took a look at a lot at apartments.. and almost at the stage of finalizing one.. Things are moving quite fast.. knock on wood.