A few questions about rent and living with a baby near Chennai

kyc

Hi Everyone,

This site has just been the best source of information.

My husband and I are bringing our 8 month old baby to Chennai for 10 months in october.

I have lived in India before (in a small village near Vellore)

I lived very cheaply and was immersed deeply in the culture as there were no other westerners around.

We have decided to just a break from our busy lives and spend some time with our son.

I want to live near the sea, perhaps ECR, somewhere between Chennai and Pondy.

Our budget for an apartment is about 15000 and i dont know if i am kidding myself but could we get a small flat with a pool in the complex for this?

Also does anyone know of the availability of good quality nappies? (diapers)

Also we wont have a car or a driver but I'm wondering if anyone who is in this situation has a car seat that you can strap into taxi's etc?

Many thanks everyone

Nick-H

We have members more up-to-date on property prices, but I fear that you would have to pay much more for a modern place in such a complex.

On the other hand, I feel that your budget would be ample for something nice but much less posh.

The rage here seems to be for disposable nappies. They are certainly available. Terry-towelling, I am not so sure; I think a thinner fabric is used here by tradition.

Chennai has a branch of Mothercare, a European baby-stuff shop, selling things at the same prices as in UK.

If you have the kind of car seat that attaches using a standard three-point adult safety belt, that would be ok, at least in theory. It would be so unusual for back-seat passengers (and not usual for front-seat either) to actually use the belt that the driver might have to dig for the socket thing, and might not be able to find it.

arunmp

Hello KYC,

My family lives in Chennai and owns a vacation home along the ECR shoreline. So, I feel I can give you some information.

Yes, there are beautiful and luxurious villas along the ECR that will meet your requirements. However, the rates you mention are way too low. Next, such villas/apartments are rarely advertised for rent. They are done more through personal contacts.

To give you a rough idea of the housing situation, a new 1200sqft. 2HBK house in Mylapore ( a residential middle class location in the heart of the city, close to the seashore )will cost you around 7000-10000 INR/month. (Indicative rents as of Aug 2009).

Wealthy people / NRI's own villas along the seashore (near Muttukadu). Most of the time they are empty or in the hands of caretakers. Within your budget you can rent a portion of these villas purely based on right contacts as money would not be a priority for such people.I suggest you live for a month in Chennai and make the contacts.

I do not understand your concern regarding diapers. There are many varieties of disposable ones from many manufacturers including Johnson & Johnson,Proctor & Gamble etc.

Laws regarding seat belts are not strictly implemented. So, you will rarely find drivers wearing them, let alone the passengers.

pibikay

At present for the reason of the global melt down rental values are coimg down.OMR is still going northwaeds.But ECR you may be lucky

LeoK

Any apartment complex with pool is starting from 15K to 20K. Check out Sulekha.com, magicbricks.com, 99acres.com and indiaproperty.

Diapers are available at all Spencer's, Nilgiris, Five Star in ECR and all baby specaility stores.

Car seat not needed in Chennai. Doubt even if you get, you will be able to fix it properly. Just make sure you are securely holding your baby in the back seat.

pnpathak

Sorry, but I am new on this site and want help as i want information about mussoorie? I don't know how to get help? will any one help me?

Nick-H

How come you picked a thread about Chennai to ask that?

Pleaser see the forum listing. Click on FORUMS on the main menu bar at the top of every page, or, this time, just click on -->this link.

Another approach is to use the Search Box, which you can find at the top of every page.

Nick-H

I guess you mean child seat.

You think it is a good thing for children to die in bits on the road, having smashed the windscreen on the way out of the car?

Child seat is particularly needed in Chennai --- due to a general ignorance of what constitutes safe driving.
I do not know if the recently opened baby shops will sell them, but Mothercare do, albeit at European prices.

I guess you mean "won't be able to fix it"? I don't know if the imported cars come with the international child-seat fixings, but seats are made that are secured using a normal 3-point safety belt.
--- you are not wearing a safety belt: You and the child both exit through the windscreen, or, you crush the child to death against the seat in front of you... you or the child kill the passenger in the seat in front of you...

--- you are wearing a safety belt: ...And you put it over the child as well. This results in the child being crushed to death between you and the belt. ...And you hold the child separately. child will be torn out of your arms, and possibly die in one of the previously mentioned ways.

Your advice is not only rubbish, it is the kind of fatally dangerous rubbish that keeps India at the top of world road-deaths statistics.

Contrary to appearance, I do not mean to be offensive. I just hope to encourage thought and awareness. Nothing personal: millions of people in India think the same.