Moving to Gurgaon from New Zealand

Hi,
My husband, myself and two children aged 3 and 5 years are moving to Gurgaon in 5 weeks time and would really appreciate some help with schooling and where to live.
My husband will be based on Golf course rd at the Ibis Hotel. Can anyone suggest schools in the facinity and also complexes with Villa's.

Also if there are any other new expats out there who are in the same boat would love to hear from you. Never lived in India before !!!

Thanks.

Can't contribute much on the school front, but one consideration about villas should be the security and electricity backup. You could hire your own guards for a villa, but the built-in 24-hour security at the larger apartment blocks relieves you of that concern.

There's also the side benefit of places for the kids to walk and play away from road traffic -- the Golf Course Road area is still undergoing heavy construction activity, and the already crazy traffic is even worse. The area has little in the way of public spaces like parks.

Gurgaon has lots of power cuts, and better apartment complexes will have 100% backup for power via diesel generators. This is much more rare with standalone homes. A multi-hour power cut when it's 40+ degrees outside is no fun.

There's another thread, Moving to Delhi, which you should dig through.

Join Yuni-Net, an expats group in Delhi where you can buy and sell stuff and get lots of advice.

Read Holy Cow by Sarah MacDonald and City of Djinns by William Dalrymple for realistic expats-moving-to-Delhi stories.

Check out MagicBricks and 99Acres for real estate listings. Remember that property agents are not your friends. There are several rental threads dealing with this.

Gurgaon gets a lot of power cuts some times 5-6 hours at one go so 100% power backup is a must and only large enough complexex have them... they are very few and rentals are sky high at those places. If I was you I would rent at Dwarka where power cuts will be lesser as its a part of New Delhi and its hardly a 15-20 mins drive to Gurgaon... Hiring a driver who wont get any days off .... is well! cheap.
Dwarka is going to save you a lot of money in rent... a 3 bedroom apartment would cost you anything between Rs15000 to Rs30000 depending upon the total carpet area and the sector you get your apartment in. All the apartment complexes have their own security guards guarding the gates 24/7.

Dwarka is well connected and is not as crowded as Gurgaon... Crowd is a lot better then Gurgaon and there's a lot of nice eating places as well now.

There are a number of expat families here _ i recommend looking up the Gurgaon connection. This is a network of expats / NRIs in Gurgaon and they are likely to have loads of helpful advice on where they send their kids to school, places to live and so on.

They also organise various socials and get togethers.

Website is http://www.gurgaonconnection.com/

There's also Yuni-Net, another metro Delhi expat group.

And since you are from New Zealand, there is an ex-pat group called ANZA for Australians and New Zealanders living in India. To find out about it and how to join etc you could write to membership at anzadelhi dot org. (I have put this in a form so they don't get ads or spam!)

Another network of ex-pats from all countries is Delhi Network here:

http://www.delhinetwork.org/

Thanks for all your great advice will definately follow up all the suggestions.
Katrina

Though there are power cuts but Gurgaon is a very good place to live in... You just need to stay at a colony which has power backup.. You can get very good options at Rs 15K to Rs 20K in Sec 56 which is 5 min drive from Golf course road and is happening..

Best to mention a budget actually.

I know of villas on golf course road which are anywhere between Rs. 70000 to Rs. 120,000 per month rentals. You could check out Central Park-1, Garden Estate etc.

Having said that, there might be cheaper options too. Really depends on your budget.

Hi there

Please do get in touch with ANZA! It has been a great life line for me! I had never lived anywhere other than NZ before so this was a huge change!!

We are having a pool party in the second week of may, so if you are here we would love you and your family to come!!

Cheers
Fellow Kiwi!

Thanks Fellow Kiwi, we would definitely like to try and come. From the temperatures I have seen the pool looks like the best place.
Will get in touch with ANZA this week. 3 weeks and we start our new life !!!

Kat.

I live in Auckland but am from gurgaon (my parents still live there)...have just returned form india from a business trip. can put you in touch with ANZA chaps and give you a few tips...

Thanks. Have been in touch with ANZA and will join when we arrive. Any other info would be great. How can we get in touch ?