Its that time of the year when most NRIs planning to return the following year are starting to think about the schools for their kids. A majority of parents know which city they will be moving to, and most have some specific schools in mind depending on the area where they will live. As we fall into the above category of parents, we started doing some research about the schools for our son recently. I did call a couple of schools during my trip to India in June, but since it was so far out in the future they asked me to call back towards the end of the year.
So during this time, we started looking at the websites of various schools to collect the necessary information. As we know where we are going to live in Hyderabad, we short listed the usual suspects. Its still early for most schools, as the registration period typically start around first week of December. Some schools have floating admissions, but its a bad idea if you have a specific school in mind. Its almost always difficult to get into higher classes. While Spectacular performance at the entrances and interviews and to some extent recommendations help, its always based on the availability for the higher classes. Our son will be 4 yr 3 months in June next year and will fall short of the age requirement for PP II by 3 months. While we are going to try to get him into PP II, we are mentally prepared to send him to PP I if it doesnt work out. If it's PP I the admission process should hopefully be less competitive.
For most R2Is, their kids schooling is a make or break deal. If the kids are happy, the family is happy. This is especially true for families with a bit older kids. For all those who are in the same boat as us, I am attaching a spread sheet that I put together with information of the schools that we short listed. We will probably not even contact a few of these schools, but they just made our list anyway. Hopefully some of you will find this information helpful. I found a similar spreadsheet by someone on internet a long time ago, but cant find it anymore.
P.S: 1. Columns G and H have drop down values. Select the appropriate value based on the school and class into which the admission is desired, and the rest of the values are calculated automatically. All the information and fees are for school year 2008-2009. So you should factor in 5 to 10% increase for next year.
2. Click the "Save as Excel" link to save as an Excel file on your disk. The web version doesn't have the interactive nature of Excel and you may not see the dropdowns.
It's been 2.5 years since the blog started, and I thought it needed a makeover. Nothing dramatic, but just a fresh look. After looking at several different templates, I picked this for its simplicity and elegance. Let me know what you think.
My wife and son applied for their OCIs recently. Wife's was a new OCI application while the son's is a conversion from PIO to OCI. The package was mailed via USPS priority mail on 8/14, which was a Friday. I think that was a big big mistake. The USPS tracking system says that an attempt was made to deliver the package on 8/15 (Saturday, ad also Indian Independence day) and a notice was left. After that no update in status. The OCI tracking system has no information on these applications..they never received them.
Nobody knows where the package is. I spoke with the USPS DC office several times, and they cant find the package with them. At the same time, they can neither confirm or deny it being ever delivered. Calling Indian Embassy is a waste of time as they never answer their phone calls or emails. I submitted a money order inquiry and they told me it was never encashed. So in a nutshell, the applications are "lost in mail". I've gone through a lot of immigration exercises in the past, and this experience beats it all. Even without this drama, I think the whole OCI process is very laborious and cumbersome. I found the PIO to be a much easier and faster (10 days) process. Somebody suggested paying a visit to the Indian Embassy in DC, but I dont have any interest or energy to do that. I dont think its worth wasting the time and dealing with our lazy beaurocrats. I should have known better not to bring two government entities (USPS, and Indian Embassy) together...it's a lethal combination. So we are just going to wait until the money order is 60 days old, after, and only after which it can be cancelled and then reapply...and this time may be just a PIO for the wife.
Moral of the story:
1. Never use USPS. Use Fedex or UPS instead, and preferably next day delivery.
2. Never mail the package on a Friday, or a day before any Indian holiday.
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Added later (10/08/09) - The OCI website finally showed the application status as acknowledged on 10/2. Not sure if they received the package on 10/2, or received it in August and only acknowledging now. Either way, they have the applications now.
With Summer of 2009 behind us, and with more frequent rains, I am staying mostly indoors and quite bored these days. It looks like these last few months before returning are going to be very difficult to spend. I simply can't wait to pack my bags and return. But no matter how anxious I am, I understand that things take time to fall into place and there is no point in getting all hyper about it. So all I can do is get bored, and more bored.
I thought we would be travelling a lot during these last few months. But I guess I conveniently forgot about our 3 years old son when I made those plans. My wife - with the exception of seasonal travelling like beaches and stuff, and other short distance kids' destinations - is so not into any long distance travelling with the kid just for the sake of doing it. I guess its her US passport that's giving her the added assurance that she doesnt have to see everything before returning. As for me, I am trying to keep myself busy with a lot of reading and trying to learn some new things like inline skating. But honestly, I am really not interested in anything these days. Nothing excites me in US anymore.
Inspite of all this excitement about returning, I am not losing sight of all the practical issues that we are going to face in India. As I had said many times in my previous posts, I have no illusions that its going to be a cake walk, as I know that it is going to be anything but. One of the things that concerns me a lot these days is the Swine Flu. The pace at which it is spreading, and the government's lackluster measures to contain it are really bothering me. I think India is absolutely unprepared to deal with the situation should a major pandemic hit the country. It is clearly evident from the no. of people dying from Swine flu.
But agaim, what can one do? People have bigger problems to worry about - like tonsuring their heads, and doing hunger strikes for someone they like to be made the chief minister. While I dont have a take on this whole issue, I think what the public is doing is absolutely insane. If the person they want to see as the CM is qualified for the job then he"ll get the job....why do people think that they have to die for him to become the CM? I can understnad the sadness over losing your favorite leader in an unfortunate accident, but hundreds of people dying of shcok or commiting suicides due to it is mind blowing. No doubt most of it is media created hype and the numbers are very very questionable, but still it is hard to understand. I guess such things happen only in India, and particularly in South India. Come on people, dont you think it's time to be questioning the authorities over more important things like the inadequate measures to contain the flu, or the mayhem caused by the sub-standard roads and drainage systems during recent rains, or any one of such million other issues that you face on a day to day basis??? Dont lose your lives for the 15 minutes of fame.
Phew..that was some lecture...:-) But I had to say it, and now that I've said it..I can move on to other things. The politics in my office are in top gear right now. People are getting fired left and right and the ones remaining are trying every trick in the bag to stay afloat. Some of those tricks are interesting and some are disgusting. New people are coming in, and with them they are bringing in more new people. All this is happening at a very rapid pace. I am watching all this and quietly enjoying it because I know that I dont have to put up with it for too long. Looking back, the last one to two years at my office was nothing but a great turmoil, but interestingly my career progressed very well during this very period. Does it mean I am good at playing office politics...I dont know, and I really dont care!
My nephew's debut movie (http://idlebrain.com/movietape/ninnukalisaka2.html) is about to release shortly. I know he has a great future in films, and I will end this post wishing him loads of luck!!!
This is one of the things that I am researching these days. We are trying to decide what cars to buy upon our return to India. The site that is helping me a lot in my research is www.teambhp.com. Its an excellent site with tons of information on the car scene in India. We are planning to buy two cars, and we have decided to purchase the smaller one first. Its almost certain that wife and kid will move first and I"ll join them a few months later. So I guess it makes more sense to buy the second car first. We started out with establishing some criteria for the cars.
1. Diesel engine. We've had petrol cars before, and know how expensive they can get at the pump during every filling. Moreover there are some excellent diesel engines out there to choose from now.
2. First car should be in the 8-10 lakhs price range. Second car in the 4-5.5 lakhs range.
3. Good mileage
4. Reliable A.S.S
5. Proven track record - car and the company
During my visits to India, I drive my father's Verna and I really love the vehicle. It has good mileage, a semi-luxury feel, great pick up and a proven CRDI engine. A fully loaded version costs around 9 lakhs OTD. So until recently I was certain that our first car was going to be a Verna. But I've started to have second thoughts oflate. Some of the things that are prompting me to rethink are:
1. Too many Vernas on the road. We have 6 in our own family, and when there is a party in our house it feels like a Hyundai showroom with all those Vernas parked outside.
2. Limited space in the rear.
In addition, I've added some new criteria recently that is ruling out Verna altogether.
6. 7 or 8 passenger capacity
7. Offroad capability, for several reasons
Based on the above criteria, I am zeroing in on a Scorpio. High end, fully loaded with the new mhawk engine will cost close to 11 lakhs - slightly above my budget - but hopefully by next year, the dealers will start offering some discounts and offers. If any of you currently drives a scorpio, please let me know how your experience has been with the vehicle. Your feedback will help me a lot.
The other cars I've considered as my first car are:
1. Skoda - Way above my budget
2. Accord - Way way above my budget
3. Corolla - No diesel
4. BMW - I drive one in US, hopefully I can afford one in India someday, but not now
Second car was a pretty easy decision. The cars we considered are:
1. Santro - Had one until recently. Gets very expensive at the gas station.
2. Getz - ReviewS are not great
3. Fabia - Expensive, and the sales are going down the hill faster than the car
4. Honda Jazz - I really like the car, but no diesel and very expensive for a second car (7.5 lakhs)
5. Maruti Swift - Excellent diesel engine. Superb mileage. Great A.S.S. Wife loves it.
So it was a no brainer, Swift won the race handsdown. Top of the line version should cost around 5 - 5.25 lakhs. So its within our budget and satisfies the majority of the criteria. I understand there is still wait time to get the car. So we may have to initiate the process a month or two before we get there.
Now to the colors.....well, that's a post in itself for some other day..:-)
My R2I date is fast approaching, and everybody around me is asking what I will be doing upon my return to India. Most automatically assume that I"ll take a job in IT. Well I am not sure I want to. One of my earlier posts mentioned how bored I've gotten with a 9-5 routine. That feeling is getting stronger by the day. Though everybody around me is advising to take a job at least for the first couple of years so the transition is less painful.
Let me explain my take on it. Its not like I am completely against working in India. If push comes to shove, I may have to do that. But at this point, that is looking very unlikely. I am 35 now, and I realize that every passing year in my life is going to reduce my risk appetite further. So if I waste two more years working in India just to ensure a less painful transition it will mean that I am wasting two more years of my life. If I get into the job world in India, it comes with certain baggage and obligations which will make getting out of it difficult. Trying to do something while working is next to impossible. Spending half your time in traffic and the rest in office, all you have is weekends to do something when everybody is relaxing. So you have to quit the workforce to really do something on your own.
While I have some very specific plans as to what I want to do, I think it"ll be premature to speak about them at this point. I set the wheel in motion recently and it will take several months before they take a shape and I can be certain about those plans. But regardless of what I do, it has to make a profit of at least one rupee over what I would otherwise be making if I had a job. And I set that figure at 18 lakhs. Current market conditions not withstanding, I think its a reasonable salary to expect with my experience. So I'll be very happy with anything that makes more than 18 lakhs per year. I fully understand that I may not make any money in the first year or two, but what I am talking about is average amount per year.
Most people are going to call me stupid for leaving the workforce. But I know that if things don't work out I can always find a job even at 40 (though with a little bit of difficulty), but if I wait until 40 and then try to do something on my own, the "fire in the belly" would have considerably gone down by then. So its all about whether I want to take the risk now or later, and I am leaning towards taking it now.
