Moving checklist
Moving is always hard but moving oversees makes thing especially difficult. My return to India wasn't very well planned and there was just about a month between my final decision to move back and the day I actually fly out. I looked at shipping options. Shipping is done by weight and volume and it turned out that for most of my stuff, the cost of shipping was higher than the actual value of the item. So I decided to leave behind anything that wont fit in my 2 suitcases. Apart from shipping, there are many other things that need to be taken care of. Here is my checklist:
1. Cancel credit card. Check if account needs to be closed. -- DONE
I found out that you can provide an international address on your credit card and bank accounts. So I didn't need to close my accounts.
2. Ship books -- DONE
I had a lot of books and I shipped them via UPS. It costs about a dollar a pound. So it is fairly inexpensive. However it will take upto 6 weeks for the books to arrive in Delhi.
3. Sell car -- DONE
Selling car was my biggest worry. Fortunately I had a fairly popular car (Nissan Altima) so I got a lot of queries once I put out a classified. I got a fair price for it. I might have stuck out for a few hundred dollars more if I had the time. Selling a car is painless here and all the paperwork took less than 20 mins.
4. Transfer money to India
This isn't done yet and I need to research it more. I am not sure if money is repatriable or not once I transfer it. If not, then probably I will kep half in India and half in US. I found out that government bonds give 6.5% interests (tax free). So that is a good investment option.
5. Cancel phone and internet -- DONE
Cancel phone and internet. Verizon customer service isn't the best in the world. I am just hoping that they did actually cancel the service.
6. Cancel cell phone
Yet to be done.
7. Set forwarding address in post office
International forwarding address cannot be set. So I will have to give the address of a friend for forwarding my mail.
8. buy cable modem/wireless router
This one I added on suggestion from somebody who R2Ied recently. I hear that the cable modems are very expensive in India (apparently the ISPs sell them or rent them at out). So i was considering buying a modem from here. But given the space constraints this might actually drop out.
9. Transfer lease -- DONE
I had to transfer my apartment lease to avoid paying 1.5 month rent as penalty. This was my biggest worry
10. Company store visit
The Microsoft company store sells Microsoft software at huge discounts to employees. I will probably pick up a copy or two of XP and office for use in India. This is a huge perk of being a Microsoft employee! I will dearly miss the company store!
11. Gifts?
I would love to take gifts for friends and family. But I am really short on time and space, and hence the question mark.
Comments
As a recently returned NRI, let me applaud your decision. Keep the faith. That's all there is to it.
Regarding point 4: RBI has withdrawn the 6.5& tax-free bond scheme. It was a great option, but all you have now is the 8% TAXABLE bond scheme.
Posted by: Anil | October 24, 2004 03:35 AM
Hi Gaurav,
good luck with your move. I am from noida and went back last year after getting laid off from IBM in US.
It is not easy to adjust to life in Delhi, it is defiantely very constrasting as you have mentioned in your comments above.
Daily life hassles are still there. Electricity and water being the most chronic.
But nonetheless Delhi is Delhi, there is no doubt in my mind either. I will go back also but with a plan this time.
Keep in touch via the blog or email. I am planning to be there around diwali time, so maybe we can meet in delhi once you are there.
regards,
tony
Posted by: Tony Sidhu | October 26, 2004 02:01 AM