I've Returned to India. Here are my tips for Expats Living in India and Adjusting to Bangalore and Bombay

chillibreeze writer — Shalini Bahadur

Even though I have grown up in India, it was a very different scenario. I grew up in India's only planned city, Chandigarh and studied at an elite boarding school in the Simla Hills which gave me a very different perspective of reality in India. I expected nothing less from any other city in India. It was either the organization of the city or the quaintness of the hill towns I visited so often, nothing else.

Going to the US for college was one of the best experiences in my life, so far. I loved the way the towns and cities were so organized, traffic flowed so smoothly, everyone followed the rules, no one littered, there was easy access to the civic amenities like libraries, free musical and theatrical performances in the parks etc. It was so easy to find out how to do things, like get a driving license, file taxes, buy a car, rent an apartment, move to another city, all things that were mired in red tape and piles of paperwork in India.

I was extremely apprehensive to return to India after college and working there. I was quite sure I wouldn't be able to adjust to life here again; to the chaos, the chalta-hai attitude, the total disregard of any form of professionalism and also to no central heating and air-conditioning.

It took me almost 2 years to get back to driving again in India after returning!! I just hated the chaos and unpredictability on the roads here. Then, all of a sudden, something happened that made me realize that fun could be found in all the chaos, that it wasn't such a bad place after all. I think it was more of a mindset than anything else. One has to be very open to situations in India. Things will never happen as you plan them and to be able to live a happy life here one just has to go along with the flow.

As if Fate was testing me, as I came to appreciate life in India, I got married and we moved back to the States! This time around I had seen both sides of the picture as an adult and was able to make better decisions. Plus, by then 9/11 had happened and the US wasn't such a great place to be a foreigner anyways. The looks and stares one got at the supermarket were never friendly.

Returning to India, Bangalore was a great place to set up our first independent home (I can only say this in retrospective, as it was extremely hard and confusing at the time!). We found an apartment in the Defence Colony area of Indiranagar. It was a lovely location full of houses not apartments and lots and lots of trees. Of all the places to live in India, Bangalore has to be one of the best to adjust to life in India. It is still relatively small to get around, the people are friendly, most locals know English (in fact you get better service if you pretend not to know Hindi as they are not so keen on northerners!), the weather is fabulous, lots of very interesting nooks and crannies to explore, great places to eat and lounge, home and lifestyle shops around every corner and lots of bookstores and cafe's too.

Bangalore has a certain kind of warmth to it while Bombay is brash and proud to be so. The main advantage of Bombay is its network of trains and that it is relatively safe for women to use them even at night. Living and working in these two cities has been a very interesting experience. The main difference in India is that each city is so different. In the States, one can move across the country but there'll always be a wal-mart, kinko's, subway, home depot, starbucks etc.

The secret to a happy life in India is to have the cell numbers of a plumber, an electrician, a general dogsbody, an ac repair and serviceman, a good dhobi and milkman, a store nearby that delivers grocery items, a DVD rental place etc etc. Each time I move to a new city, my first priority is to compile this list.

Usually the best advice on moving is from army and air force wives who become experts within a few moves. Apart for the physical packing and moving, the hardest part is getting ones daily requirements fixed in a new place, as the setup of each city is very different. Moving and setting up a new home in India is one great big dance where it’s best to be innovative and imaginative.

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—About our writer:

Shalini says,
"An eternal student, I love learning anything new. I'm addicted to reading, word games, puzzles, traveling and researching trends. Bliss to me is to curl up on the couch with a good book/good site and a cup of cocoa. Currently working as an assistant manager in Retail Operations with a Children's wear retail chain called Gini and Jony. She is an NRI with a BSc degree in Clothing and Textiles from Kansas State University and worked with JCPenney and K-Mart before deciding to return to India."

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