Things to do and expect when R2I

One of the big decisions of my life done with a heavy heart. Well I dont understand this feeling, why suddenly India is a distant country or why do I feel it would be totally a new /strange place to start your life...Hmmm...am I different or am I normal ?

Well after 3 and half months in India I wouldnt complain. It's a mixed bag of pluses,minuses and surprises too but I would say it's certainly worth the experience for ME. What I miss about US and what I love in India will be in a sequel...so watch out.

Coming back to pressing and urgent matters which our eager readers are waiting :-) ....I will list out the things which I did before my R2I (Return to India: in case you dont know)

To Do List (Before couple of months):
Time: Take your sweet time to prepare the list
Skills required: Internet search skills (Refer to forums,blogs)

1. Give your notice to apartment office well in advance. Dates are important or else they will pounce on every opportunity to fleece you.

2. Contact your bank about your move as some banks make your account inactive if there is no activity or salary deposits every month.

3. If you have contract phone call the customer care on the procedure for disconnecting and if you have iPhone you may ask to unlock it too.

4. Prepare a list of stuff which you want to take it to India and the rest plan to put it in Craigslist or give it to friends or Goodwill stores. Start taking pics for craigslist and schedule them in order of your needs.

5. Start your discussion with the movers if you plan to ship it to India.

How to select your mover/shipper to India: Time: N.A. Skills required:Bargaining,lots of phone calling and above all patience   1. There are loads of info in the R2IClub forums about it. But it's better if you talk to any of your friends who used any particular mover. 2. Prices are based on the total size of the package when you stack them and of course on the weight. So same size boxes helps save you money. P.S. Just remember you can bargain the price and the no. of boxes. Mine had 11 boxes of 18x18x24 size from Uhaul( (Similar in ROW)  and the shipper charged me 1200 USD + Indian govt. duty + customs duty from door to door (Raleigh,NC to Hyderabad,India). My shipping took 3months and that's the usual time if you dont have a full container to ship, so plan accordingly.

Things to do in the last month of your move: Time: 1-2 weeks Skills required: Planning and lots of running around

1. Contact your apartment office for inspection dates for your move out and start cleaning restrooms & kitchen as it's most time taking ones. If you have kids God help you :-)…prepare for whole house cleaning

2. Call customer care and note down the request no. for disconnecting the Internet connection (Including Modem return),landline phone,Mobile phone, Netflix etc

3. Post office address change request online. I used my friend's address in US as I was expecting some bills after my move.

4. Last thing, if you have finalised a buyer hand over your car before the day of your departure.

Items to ship:

Just to give you a heads up on the laws of the land in India…Most electronic items attract customs duty in India. If possible try to bring your small electronic stuff with you and avoid shipping it.

For more details refer to http://www.cbec.gov.in/faq.htm

1. Bring all your crockery and other kitchen stuff though everything is available in India they are pretty costly. Specifically those Corelle sets.

2. Clothes,books,photo frames.

3. Toys if you have kids, suggest you to bring as much as you can. Though toys are available in India they are too expensive.

4. Furniture incase you cant do away with your recliners or too lazy to shop around in India and incase you are opting for full container shipping.

5. TV is charged per inch basis (Approx. 100 per inch) at customs after you have shown that it's home relocation which you can avail every 2 years.

6. I was told that fridges don’t attract any customs…strange isnt it. But confirm it with someone before you jump in and buy a big fridge for India.

P.S.:  Just remember npwadays you get everything imaginable, that money can buy in India albeit little expensive sometimes.

How to prepare for shipping:

1. Buy boxes of same sizes from your nearest Uhaul (Similar in ROW). Just to give you an idea, I chose 18x18x24(Big box) as I didn’t have anything bigger than that size. 10 boxes cost me 30ish something.

2. Buy some bubble wrap from Uhaul/Dollar store to for your precious crockery,glass items and any fragile stuff.

3. You will need lots of plastic tape to secure your boxes and it's better to use it as much as you can so that your boxes can withstand rough treatment during handling at ports.

4. Fragile stickers incase you are sending TV, electronics, glass items etc.

5. Mover/shipper will provide you tags and you have to fix them in each of your boxes to identify among a sea of boxes in India.

6. It's better to give some support at the base for your boxes just to avoid things falling down if the the bottom is wet. I used pillows,quilts, you can use your imaginations at use here. What not to bring: 1. Printer,Fax machines as they are really cheap in the US but paying for customs in India is not worth it. 2. If you plan to bring TV, better buy a new one. Just to give you an idea for my 32 inch LCD which was 2 years old I had to pay RS.3200 at customs + Rs.250 for step up transformer(120v to240v,160W) +Rs.1500 for NTSC to PAL converter (Beam cable gave me an used Digi cable receiver which had the converter too). 3. Dont bring any plugs or any converters as it is really cheap in India and available almost everywhere. 4. Food items. The super markets in India are really at par with US. Moreover in case you havent heard, all the biggies are coming to India in near future. Customs clearance procedure in India: Time: 7- 10 days (If it's not Mumbai: Normally they send your stuff through a local road transport to your city) Skills: Cart loads of patience and persuasiveness 1. Your shipper will have a tie up with one of the local agent who will call/e-mail you for Government duties to be paid when the shipment arrives in India. 2. After you have paid the dues the agent will visit you for some signatures and will need your photocopies of your passport,pan card etc. 3. If you want you can hand over your passport if you dont want to visit the customs office. But it's really risky to hand over your passport and some R2I folks say it's not that difficult to clear customs in India nowadays. 4. After the customs duties if any are paid your boxes should reach your place....:-) Phew !!! It was heck of a job isnt it ? Countless hours in the shopping malls, standing in queues,packing them, dont forget paying for the shopping bills and most importantly handling customs in India...Hurray...it calls for a toast...No wait I cant drink, gulp yours and be happy...you have achieved the unimaginable. Worth the effort isnt it ? Varin on his car. Thanks Malaya uncle for the gift. Till the next time Hasta la Vista, baby....