R2I - Why not to choose Bangalore?

Posted on November 15th, 2006 by Chitra

Before the ‘why not to’, let me briefly say why we chose Bangalore. Actually, there really wasn’t a choice. Being from Bangalore, having family and property here, and with all the job opportunities here, we wouldn’t have moved back to any other city in India. The real estate is a whole different story. The prices go up every day!! A 3 bedroom apartment will cost you about 60+ (everything inclusive, not just the basic cost) lakhs today to buy, if its cost was about 50+ lakhs 6 months ago!!! Unbelievable! and the typical finishes given are just vitrified tiles and flush doors! I was told by some property developers that there are two reasons for the prices to be soaring high:

  1. The government put a clamp on converting agricultural lands. So, the land that is already available is all there is for development.
  2. Apparently, a lot of Mumbai based developers/business people are investing in properties in and around Bangalore, solely for the sake of investment. So, there is an artificial demand of sorts that is hiking the price.

The 60+ lakhs properties are pretty much from the tier 2 developers. If you want quality 3 bedroom apartments from tier 1 developers like Adarsh, Sobha , Total-environment, Prestige, you will not get one for less than 75 lakhs (everything inclusive, not just the basic cost). The prices go upto as much as 1 crore+ for 3 bedroom apartments, depending on the floor number, luxury/super luxury, size of the apartment etc. Now, isn’t that atrocious by all standards? And since there really is no land for mass development within city limits, all these developments are happening on the city periphery. So, please also account for the commute to and from work if you reside in these places.

All this said, there isn’t much logic trying to set up a place here from scratch if you have no family or property here. Personally, I don’t see the point. Yes, the job opportunities, and the weather are pretty good. But, the traffic, real estate prices, lack of immediate family, school costs (another post) are all huge deterrents for non-Bangaloreans trying to re-locate to Bangalore from elsewhere.

PS: If you are reading this and want any kind of additional info, pl let me know.

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Filed under: Infrastructure, Work, medical care, Parks, realestate, powercut, traffic, Road, weather, R2I, desi food, pollution, Public Transport, commute, Bangalore

Weather! Can’t say enough!

Posted on November 13th, 2006 by Chitra

Beautiful weather. So pleasant, so lovely. But ofcourse, having been brought up here in Bangalore, I know that it has changed a lot over the years. No more fog-filled slow mornings (sigh!), an actual need for a fan/AC (!!!), absolutely no need for warm clothes, and very hot Apr/Mays!!! Things have changed, but in spite of all that, the weather is AWESOME! I want to kiss this place. I can wear capris in December! Woo Hoo! Somehow, I find that so hard to get. In contrast, winters in North Cali suck! The wet, very cold, dark days with nothing to do with the kids. And the colds and fevers! Gosh! Hated it! Hated especially the darkness from 4.30 pm till 7.00 am! Ugh!!!!! Depressing, gloomy days! Alright, alright, will stop with that! But, I am so thrilled to be here with so much of light and activity in Nov. Seriously, how can anybody be depressed or gloomy in India? :) PS: Springs in Cali are so beautiful, they make up for all of winter’s bad and more! :)

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Filed under: Life, Parks, powercut, tips, pollution, R2I, weather, Bangalore

Traffic! Less said the better!

Posted on November 8th, 2006 by Chitra

OK, to begin with I must confess that I am a Bangalorean and love Bangalore, always have and always will. So, I am not going to do any ‘Bangalore bashing’. However, it is really hard not to be frustrated with the traffic.

I am alright, in the sense, I am home most of the time and try and work/do stuff from home. But my hub needs to go to work on all weekdays. And by gosh, it sucks! His work place is a mere 12 kms from home, or 7.5 miles. And it takes him 45 mins one way on a good day. And it has taken him 2 hrs sometimes to commute 7.5 miles!!!! On most days, my hub is pretty tired coming home in the traffic. Then alone, he really is almost keen to move back to the SF bay area, where the commute and traffic are supposed to be “bad”. We were about 10 miles away from his work and it took him anywhere between 15-25 mins to commute.

My cousin who lives in Nagarbhavi must commute to Whitefield on an everyday basis for work. Nagarbhavi is on the extreme west and Whitefield on the extreme east, but the distance is no more than 30 kms or about 19 miles! And he has a company provided van that picks up/drops off a bunch of people from his neighborhood to and from work. They leave really early to beat the traffic and it takes him about an hour in the morning, and about 2.5 hrs in the evening!!! Averaging about 3-4 hrs everyday on commute.

Work around for hub: Work from home on broadband. Leave home at 11.00 am and leave work at 4.00 pm. He is yet to put this plan into action. When he does, I will keep the blog updatted.

Familiar road sights …

Can you imagine the plight of the patient in that ambulance?

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Filed under: traffic, Life, Infrastructure, Road, commute, auto, 2-wheeler, Cars, Bangalore

R2I - School, the first order of business

Posted on November 7th, 2006 by Chitra

Our oldest one was going to a montessori school in the bay area for almost a year when we moved. And since we moved in the middle of an academic year, Oct, school was pretty much our first priority on coming back to Bangalore. Since my parents live in Bangalore and since we were going to be staying with them for a start, I had asked them to look around for schools in their neighborhood even before we left Cali.

I made note of a few schools, but had pretty much made up my mind about the pre-school. She would go to one of the many Eurokids schools. Eurokids is a chain that provides Pre-School education in India. Eurokids website

Our daughter had already done phonics, writing and reading some 3 letter words. In comparison, she was doing slightly easier things at Eurokids. For her age (3+), she was eligible only for the nursery level. So, we went with it. Yep, she was going to forget a bit of her writing and reading, but that’s all she was going to get for her age in any school here.

The reason for our move in Oct was also to be here for the application process to Kindergarten for next year into some of the good schools in Bangalore. The process starts now for Jun, next year. She turns 4 on Jun 1 and will be eligible for LKG. Since, we also plan to settle in the Outer ring road/Sarjapur road area, we will be applying for schools in that neighborhood. (Another post :) )

She started school here a couple of days after we landed! So far, she seems to like it at Eurokids. That’s all we care right now. :)

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Filed under: preschool, schools, pre-school, nursery, Children, eurokids, R2I

Returned to Bang bang bangalore!!

Posted on November 7th, 2006 by Chitra

Hub and I had always wanted to return to Bangalore from the U.S for a variety of reasons. There was not the typical x+1 factor for our move. We came up with the basis for the timeframe of our return ….. when the second child was about 1.5 yrs old. :)) We worked towards the move from around the time our second child was born. I am not wasting too much of my blog space for the pre-move, but am pretty much dedicating the blog to our post-move experiences. Hoping the postings will help the couple of souls who may find this blog!!

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Filed under: R2I, Bangalore

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