Moving to Hyderabad for 1 yr with kids in Dec

wakeuprunning

My husband and I are moving to Hyderabad in December (we currently live in California) for a one year assignment with our 3 children (2,4 and 6). I am looking for any info that could be of help before we get there. My main questions (for now) are:

1. Do we bring our dog?

2. Should we purchase computers before we go, or in Hyderabad?

3. What food can we bring that is not available there and what is the milk like?

4. It is recommended that we look at gated communities in Gachibawli - does this seem right? And what sort of amenities are there for children?

5. Company also says we should bring all of our furnishings - even plates and glasses??

We are unable to do the "look see" trip, so any info would be greatly appreciated!

Haylo

It would be better if you browsed forums such as "India for beginners" then posted specific questions about anything you didn't see, but for now here are a few answers.

There has been a lot of discussion on here about the pros and cons of doing this, the travelling isn't easy and people have different attitudes to dogs in India. I suggest you do a search to find those threads.

Computers are not as cheap as you'd think in India, but why not bring your existing ones?

Can't think of anything really that you can't buy in India, though you may not get the same choice of brands that you're used to. There have been threads before asking this and every time someone's said "You can't get XYZ, someone else has come back and said "Yes you can, try this place"

Can't remember what the milk is like, apart from it being sort of white and liquid!

Some things like peanut butter are hugely expensive by Indian standards, but only slightly more expensive than you'd pay at home.

I know that in the South they serve food on banana leaves, but you can actually buy plates and glasses in India!

But if they company is prepared to pay for shipment, especially an air shipment, why not take your stuff with you rather than having it stored?

India's a great place to have furniture made by the way, I've seen some beautiful pieces which were custom made and the prices were ridiculously low.

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wonderwomanusa

Might be better to buy them there, unless you can buy one here in the US that will work on different voltage. (Transformers generate a lot of heat.) Check with one of those computer companies over in your area and see what's available.

Cranberry sauce! Pop rocks! Corn meal, if you like to make corn bread (or a bunch of those Jiffy mixes).

They have packaged milk in India, but you will want to boil it before serving. You can always chill it after boiling.

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Nick-H

You can find a lot of this already discussed in the ex-pat section of the forum.

To start with, I'm moving this thread to that section and the Moving to Hyderabad forum. There will always be cross-over, but this section is more for travel subjects.

Hopefully this will help you find your IndiaMike bearings (and Welcome, by the way ).

On whether you ship or not, a lot depends on who's paying! It really is cheaper to furnish a house --- but you may want to live with your own stuff. Be warned though, that some of it might not take kindly to the change of equipment, and the the change of voltage.

Think three times about the electrical stuff. Where you have adjustable voltage input, or a multi-voltage power adapter, it should work here just as well as at home. Indian power is not only a different voltage, it is very variable and unclean; your electrical equipment may suffer from being here.

Consider the import duty that you might have to pay. Depending on the basis that the Customs people charge, you may be able to bring in one each of many items. Computers will certainly attract attention.

Consider also that it is going to take weeks to get here. For a short-term stay, I wouldn't have moved my house-full.

nayan

As others have already answered
1. Sorry - not much idea about whether you should bring the dog.
2. Not much sense getting new desktops from the USA. A large variety(branded or assembled) is available at whichever price point you want. If you are talking of Laptops, then it makes more sense to bring your existing ones or buying new ones in USA.
3. A variety of western food brands are available in shops like QMart. As Haylo says they are expensive compared to Indian brands/products but usually only a litttle more than they would cost in the west. The only thing you may miss is a huge variety of cheese.

4. Gachibowli is in the outskirts of hyderabad. There a lot of IT and financial services offices nearby.... so quite a few large apartment complexes and gated communities have come up. The communities/complexes will have swimming pool/play area etc for the kids to use. Dont think there are too many hobby classes in the nearby area though.

5. If you are comming for just one year then its not a very good idea to ship in(and then ship out again)all your favourite furniture etc. You can buy decent,usable(good enough for 1 year use) furniture etc in reasonable price.

Any other questions welcome.

BTW I stay in hyderabad in a place near to gachibowli(though at present I am not in hyderabad).

edwardseco

I'll second Nayan on not shipping useless junk. One a lot gets broken, did this many times decades ago. Second, people who move their household seem less able to adjust to India on its own terms and sometimes just freak out collectively.

Many things will be different, milk, juice for example. Most you can adapt to. If you need a bit of comfort blanket take those few items. I take chocolate powder and have no problem with the milk accordingly. But, that was impossible for my long stays. Same for your favorite cereal, etc. Cosmetics are easier though to take than bulk items. Children are a pain as they may easily adapt or not readily adapt. My baba did both at different times. This is different for every family but was easier for mine because of having warm family relations there. I think it will be an advantage to get a car & driver. Hyderabad is a big city and you can find many, many things if you can travel enough.

As Nick implies a voltage conditioner is handy and will amortize over a year's stay. Most electronics now are either automatically or manually adjustable to different voltages. If you have a desktop its on the power supply.

Top on my list to take is at least a couple of bottles of wine. Last time I found an acceptable boxed type and saved some weight.

Last of all take patience, a sense of humor, and adaptibility..

capt_mahajan

Still working on that one.



Second Nick on the who is paying thing. For a year, you have to factor in headache/cost of buying furniture and other stuff and disposing it later.

I would leave the plates and glasses and such stuff, though.

Khak

2. Should we purchase computers before we go, or in Hyderabad? no point in bringing desktops....bring only one laptop eash for which you won't need to pay any customs....

3. What food can we bring that is not available there and what is the milk like?you get all international food in stores like QMart, Spencers etc..... probably you will miss fine wines in Hyd (India in general)

4. It is recommended that we look at gated communities in Gachibawli - does this seem right? And what sort of amenities are there for children? if possible go for company leased accomodation to avoid any hassles of finding on your own

5. Company also says we should bring all of our furnishings - even plates and glasses??
not recommended at all.......not worth the efoort

__________________
~Khak~

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

tish

Hi there, I'm also very new to Hyderabad, only moved here end of August. I have two sons, age 3 and 17months.
3. What food can we bring that is not available there and what is the milk like?
WINE! I really miss good wine. We buy the boxed milk, not my first choice, but I have a 17month baby, and I have been advised that this would be the best. Fresh milk you have to boil and cool down etc... My son is still on diapers, and it is really hard to find my brand of diapers, Pampers, in the big size Nr 5. You can only get them in packagers of 17. So maybe that is something you wanna bring with from the States. I have met a lady, and every time her friends and family comes to visit from the states, they must all bring Pampers Nr 5

Good luck with the move, and let me know if there is anything more you would like to know. Are you going to enroll the children in school?

wakeuprunning

Thank you all so much for your responses! I am a little daunted with the move to India. Considering all the advice given, here are some of the decisions we have made (again thank you!):

Computer: bring a laptop

Furniture: bring kids beds and possibly ours and furniture that can take a beating

Food: just go with it, maybe pack one box to be shipped with all of the kids favorites. (We are lucky to have all 3 out of diapers ) I'm assuming milk is boiled since it is not pasteurized?

Still don't know about the dog...

and about wine, how much can you ship?

More info:
My hubby's company is paying for whatever we want to be shipped, housing, and car with driver. As for residence in Hyderabad, we would like a place where the kids can ride bikes (they currently BMX race, but I don't think we will find that in India ) For kids school, we are thinking the International School, but have no idea how far that is from where we are staying.

Khak

you will get all sorts of furnitures in Hyd with little effort........ at best bring pictures of furnitures you want and I'm sure any reputed carpenter can reproduce that

no need for concern here

check with customs regulations...

Quote:

More info:

kids can ride bikes within any gated community.....
there are 1-2 schools (or may be more by now) that follow International Baccalaureate (IB)course

Mod Note:

Please follow the site quoting conventions.

We keep blue for, err... Mod notes!

nayan

Any packaged milk sold in shops will definitely be pasteurized. Indians donot drink cold milk. So we boil the milk before drinking/using it.

In case of milk in tetra packs(amul, nestle, vijaya) we drink/use it straight from the packet without boiling it.

wakeuprunning

A couple more questions:

1. Can I purchase a treadmill there or should I bring mine from home?

2. Is it true that most places do not accept Visa or MC and that American Express is the preferred card?

Thanks
Amy

nayan

1. Yes... you can purchase a treadmill in a variety of price ranges. from starter models costing a few thousand rupees to fully automated ones costing in hundreds of thousand rupees.

2. Absolutely false. Visa(most popular) and master card are way more popular in India than american express. I cannot remember any shop/website etc which would accept amex but not VISA.

wakeuprunning

Thanks so much Nayan, you've been a huge help