R2I Chapter 5. Moving Day – Executing the simple plan

My Return to India (R2I) story > R2I Chapter 5 

When deciding on the move several months ago, Suja and I had set an arbitrary date – 14^th of May for our move. Setting this date focused our attention on planning the logistics and there was a practical reason for doing so. I intended to book business class seats for our return back to ensure we had a comfortable journey and didn’t have to worry about ‘excess baggage.’ To get a good price or while booking using miles, one must search on a number of portals, varying date and routing options and do so well in advance; hence the 14^th May stood out.

I had accumulated nearly a million Sky miles and a medallion status on Delta’s frequent flier program, thanks to my frequent business trips to Europe during the past few years. Now was the time to cash in and travel in comfort.  While planning our trip, I logged in to Delta.com and searched for flight options. Delta had tied up with Air France and Virgin Atlantic. I decided to book the trip on Virgin with a stopover in London. This was an opportunity to visit Manoj, my younger brother who lived in London while showing Vijay the sights too.

Tracking through the plan

A month before our moving day, Suja and I penciled a plan for rest of the month leading to our trip. This simple plan helped us stay focused as we began ticking through it.

• Tickets and documents - The three of us had US passports and OCIs. As the OCIs are for lifetime validity, we just had to make sure the passports had sufficient days prior to expiry.
• US Phone Number – After a bit of research, I decided to signup for a Google voice account and redirect my cellphone to it. This way, I could continue to receive essential calls and texts to my US number in India.
• Mailing address – An American address is essential to continue basic services like receiving bank and financial documents, reference for property tax etc. While one can give an international address for such transactions, an American PO Box with digital scanning and redirect facility can be very handy for expats.
• Change of address - I began logging into my accounts of bank, financial institutions, and others to sign up for online account statements. In some cases, the financial institutions still need an address for correspondence, for which I gave my PO Box
• Digital documentation – I began scanning backup copies of my financial accounts
• Make sure the utility bills are paid and accounts handed over to property managers
• Vacating house – Move out of the house, have it cleaned and handover the keys to the property management. They would follow up with an inspection and bill for repairs and repainting.
• Vijay’s school – request transfer paper and academic records.
• Return rental-car and hotel booking for last few days
• Account of cash, jewelry, and essential documents we would carry in hand-baggage
• Meet and greet friends

 About a month before out trip, we packed up some curios, essential household and sundry items, books and Vijay’s toys. I took the few 4X4 boxes to the local post-office. I had them weighed and filled out customs forms marking them as ‘household items’ and booked them as “ground shipping.”

The next few weeks began to go by in a whirl. I began winding down my work activities and handed over to colleagues. We had a few see-offs by friends and social groups, the bhajan group at the temple.

The most common questions were over the audacity of our move and how we would settle into the “new life.” Indian friends admiringly asked details about our plan and were generally curious about the decision and what awaited us ‘back home.’ Many wished they could take such a bold decision but mused about the constraints that held them back – their jobs, mortgages, kids education, culture shock and the like.

American friends and colleagues were equally intrigued by my decision. Like their grandparents, we had jumped through immigration hoops and paperwork to migrate to America, but we were willing and able to just walk away from the ‘American Dream.’ The culture in the US has evolved over the years and there are a wide array of senior care facilities catering to every taste and budget. American kids generally move out of their home when they turn 18, either to move to college or to take up a job to live independently. Families gather for Thanksgiving, Christmas or holidays and support each other in need, but most of the elder-care is outsourced to such institutions. One might travel to visit an elderly parent, but relocating thousands of miles to be around for them seemed rather unusual.

 

Moving Day

About a week before D-Day, we had packed up our suitcases and left them in our garage while we checked-in into a two bedroom suit at an extended stay hotel in town. Extended stay hotels like Staybridge, Residence Inn offer fully furnished suits that include bedrooms and a kitchenette with basic pots and pans. While a few close friends had invited us to stay in their spare bedroom at home, I decided the privacy and flexibility of an extended stay was worth the money spent.

Moving out of the house gave us the flexibility to complete the formalities of handover to property manager. After moving out, I had the house cleaned by professional crew. The manager from property management firm came by our house for a walkthrough to inspect and video record the property before I handed them the keys.

The D-Day was rather uneventful, rather like most other trips to India during the previous years. The only difference was that this was going to be a one-way trip with an uncertain return date. We checked out of extended stay and stopped by our house and picked up the suitcases left in the garage and drove down to the Airport. I returned the rental car at the airport and took a sigh of relief after checking in.

Vijay was caught up in the moment and excited about the stopover in London with an opportunity to catch up with his cousin. He enjoyed the distraction in the kids area and video games at the business class longue while Suja and I went over our mental checklist, happy that the plan was moving forward per the schedule.

The high-point of the trip back was the stopover in London where Manoj, lived with his wife and son. Armed with our American passports, we were quickly waved through UK customs and after refreshing ourselves at the Virgin Atlantic longue, we decided to take in the sights of London before heading to Manoj’s place in Wembly. The beautiful sunny spring day, with the hum of singsong English accents in the background brought back memories of the couple of years I had spent in London a decade-and-half ago. We spent a couple of days in London catching up with Manoj and family before heading for the final leg of our trip.

It was early morning, around 1.30 AM by the time we cleared customs and collected our baggage in at the Bengaluru Airport. While it was springtime in the west, it was almost the end of summer in Bengaluru and early morning air was cool and dry.

My mom received us at home and said our rooms in the outhouse had been cleaned and readied for our arrival. Dad was resting and we could catch up in the morning.  

We decided to rest up a bit but were woken up early with the familiar din of urban Bangalore – hawkers calling aloud and the distant Azaam from the mosque a kilometer away. It was almost anti-climatic end to our return-to-India journey. After much planning and anticipation, we had landed back ‘home.’ A new day had already begun and it was time to move forward.