Tips And Tricks

01 Nov 2022 - Tanmay Jha

  1. Air Pollution and Dust
  2. Water
  3. Heat
  4. Ubers/Ola/Rapido
  5. Dunzo/Swiggy Genie
  6. Gated Societies and Bubbles
  7. US Calling
  8. Indian Mobile Providers
  9. Region Specific Apps and Subscriptions
  10. Identification/Aadhaar
  11. Digilocker
  12. Furniture
  13. Customs Duty Exemption

Air Pollution and Dust

Depending on the region, the season, and how long you have been away, this may range from a minor annoyance to full blown cough and sickness. In my experience, it takes around 10 - 15 days for your body to get used to the increased amount of dust and pollution. If possible, order an air purifier a few days before your arrival. I recommend the Coway Airmega 150. Amazon supports American Express cards (US Mastercard also seems to be working at the moment), and your family/friends may be able to set it up for you before you arrive. Wirecutter tested this model in 2020, and out of the available models in India, this one seems like a good combination of brand and price. It made a huge difference for me personally and let me sleep in peace for my first 10-15 days, after which I no longer needed it as much.

When Ubering around, have them turn the AC on. If on a two-wheeler or auto, wear a surgical mask.

Water

I had personally been a little extra cautious on this front, since I hadn’t been back in four years. Definitely stick to bottled water (prefer Aquafina/Kinley over Bisleri). At home, I would recommend sticking to bottled water for a couple of days and then switching over to filtered water. RO + UV is theoretically as good as bottled water, but depending on the quality of water in your area, condition of your filter etc. you may still experience a little bit of problem in the first few days. I would advise sticking to home cooked food for the first month or so. Your body is adjusting to a lot of things including jet lag and a higher level of pathogens/pollution, and sickness is best avoided.

Heat

I landed in Lucknow in the middle of the most intense summer season in recent memory, with temperatures regularly touching 44-45 degrees Celsius. The day I landed, temperatures were a little lower at 38-40 degrees. Now mind you, when I used to live here, the heat never bothered me very much. I didn’t feel too much of the heat when I got out of the airport to my car, but that was barely 3-4 minutes. As soon as I got out of my car at home, the heat hit me like a truck. It took me a few minutes to be able to breathe again. I hadn’t experienced this during my previous visits to India, but then in college I was going home at least once or twice a year for at least a month each time. This time I had been away for 4 continuous years. Given that travel to India has been hard for most NRIs over the last 2-3 years due to travel bans, covid and a lack of visa appointments, this may also apply to a significant portion of our readers.

If you are taking a vacation/break before starting work, my advice would be to spend the first few days mostly indoors. It would be worth your while to time your return so that you don’t do it during the peak summer season. If you do move back during summer, then at least stay somewhere with power backup so that you have access to air conditioning. The good news is that power cuts have become quite infrequent now, and don’t last very long. I think the longest I saw was half hour, and the typical duration was more like 10-15 mins. If you are expected to start working right after moving (I wouldn’t recommend this), then at least time your move so that you have the weekend to recover.

Ubers/Ola/Rapido

The good news is app based ride share is quite common and fairly cheap here in most cities (with Bangalore being a big exception). The bad news is they don’t quite work how you would expect them to. Depending on rush hour, drop off location etc., you may experience a long time getting matched with a ride, and even multiple cancellations. Even though both Uber and Ola accept debit/credit cards, in my experience you get a cab much quicker if you select cash as the payment mode (read more here). If you have UPI apps like Google Pay (beware this is different from the global Google Pay app), PhonePe etc. then you can just pay the driver directly via these even if you select cash. Most drivers are happy with this arrangement, they just don’t want their money to go through Ola/Ubers because it takes longer to reach them. If you can afford it, I highly recommend booking Uber Premium/Ola Prime cabs if they are available. Indian roads can still be quite bumpy, and the ride quality on these is significantly better than the regular Uber Go hatchbacks. The worst car to watch out for is the Maruti S-presso. This is a fairly common car for Uber Go because of its low cost/high mileage, but the ride quality is quite atrocious. Uber Go drivers may also refuse to turn the AC on to keep the costs low (even though they are not supposed to do so). Typically, these cars also have really bad sound insulation and if you are in heavy traffic, it is worth it to pay a small premium for a better car. This may sound like a fairly first world problem, but you will be surprised at how much this will trouble you for the first few months. When taking a long uber ride in rush hour (especially in Bangalore), take earphones/headphones along and book a sedan. The cost difference will be 50-100 INR for an hour long drive, but the better insulation, access to music and better ride quality over the potholes in stop-and-go traffic will take most of the pain out.

Dunzo/Swiggy Genie

These two services let you schedule a local pickup and drop-off, much like a food delivery service except you can do it between any two points locally. Great for getting stuff from shops that don’t do delivery themselves or picking up objects/documents.

Gated Societies and Bubbles

If you have an option, live in a gated apartment society. It takes a lot of pain of living in India out of the equation. Its almost like living in a first world bubble. Typically these societies have water and electricity backup, rules around noise, security and lawns/common areas. Living here means you can always take a nice quiet walk, even in the middle of night, and be safe. It is especially great for kids and women. There are generally plumbers and electricians for handling issues and changing bulbs, fixing drains etc. Typically due to boundary walls and trees, both road noise and dust are a lot lower inside these societies. Burglaries are also quite uncommon due to security guards and CCTV cameras. Electricity and water backup means you have uninterrupted supply. Most societies do at least some level of water treatment, so even if tap water is not drinkable its still good enough to rinse groceries and is less harsh than regular tap water. Trash disposal is also quite convenient - just leave it outside your door and someone will take it away. If you need to find a cook or a maid, simply tell your watchman and he will send someone who is looking for work. Apartment societies in India are a nice middle ground between the comfort of living in an American suburb and the chaos of urban Indian life.

US Calling

The best option is to get a JIO sim as your main phone number. You can call US phone numbers for 50 paisa per minute without any rate cutter plans, which is incredibly cheap. These days due to ubiquitous mobile internet connectivity and WhatsApp calling, you typically don’t need to make ISD phone calls too often. I mostly need international phone calls for calling my US bank or brokerage, and Jio works great for that. Skype also lets you make ISD calls for fairly reasonable rates over the internet, and you may already have 100 free minutes every month if you have a Microsoft Office subscription.

Indian Mobile Providers

In my experience, Jio seems to have the best network but this will vary depending on where you live. I recommend maintaining two numbers - Jio and Airtel. With this combination, its very rare to not have fast coverage anywhere you go. Typically with a single carrier, you will face a lot of variance in internet speeds and call quality but with two you typically have at least one working well in any given area. Mobile Number Portability is very convenient now, and you can transfer your number to a new carrier while sitting at home. Once you submit a request, most major carriers send someone to your address for identity verification, and if you use an Aadhaar card you only need to scan your fingerprint and show them the physical card. No more photocopies! They give you a new sim on the spot and it activates in 24-72 hours. There is no reason to stick to a suboptimal carrier anymore. Once you port to a carrier, you have to wait 90 days before porting out again.

I use prepaid plans. Here are typical costs -

~INR 3000 per year for Jio gets me a 2.5 GB per day plan for day to day use.
~INR 1800 per year for Airtel gets me 24 GBs for the entire year. I combine this with a INR 300 data topup that adds 50GB data which is valid for the entire year. I use this combined 75GB data whenever Jio isn’t working, or if I need hotspot in case my WiFi is down.

Region Specific Apps and Subscriptions

Some mobile applications have India specific versions (eg Starbucks). You cannot access them unless you have India set as the home country on your app store. Changing your home country on Apple’s App store is quite straightforward and can be done multiple times. I recommend creating a second Apple ID with its home country set as the US, since you may use certain apps that are not available in India (eg CapitalOne, Google Voice). When you need to update these apps, simply sign out of your apple ID and sign in with the US Apple ID. Its smoother than changing regions every time.

For Google Play Store, you can only change your country once every 365 days so you need to be more cautious. Luckily for Android, most apps are available as APKs so you can directly install them even if they are unavailable on the Indian version of Play Store.

Switch over your spotify and youtube premium subscriptions to India. They are substantially cheaper here. You will need an Indian debit card and an Indian billing address.

Identification/Aadhaar

If you don’t have an Aadhaar card, get one. Period. This is typically required for bank accounts along with your PAN card, but there is another reason I recommend this as your primary form of identification. You can order a plastic Aadhaar card from the UIDAI for mere 50 rupees and it gets delivered in a week. AND you can order multiple copies. Even if you lose one, you can simply use the backup copies. If you were to lose any other form of identification like a Driver’s License because you misplaced it or you lost your wallet, it would be a hassle to get it replaced. Typically that would require a combination of applying online and then visiting a government office in person, waiting for some verification and then waiting weeks for it to get delivered. Order multiple copies of your Aadhaar card when you have a chance (these will only be delivered to your permanent address), and then keep one in each wallet/travel bag/backup etc. This way even if you lose one, you won’t have to go through a lot of hassle. If you are not driving regularly, there is no reason to carry your drivers license. You can use the Digilocker app to show your driver’s license to a cop if needed, and carry around your Aadhaar card as your main id/address proof.

DigiLocker

DigiLocker is a government run app that can store soft copies of all your government issued documents like Driver’s License, PAN card, Aadhaar card etc. Issued documents shown via this app are considered valid for verification purposes. News article discussing this in detail

Furniture

There are two major furniture renting websites - Furlenco and Rentomojo. These can come in handy for a few months while you set up your place. Furlenco has better quality furniture, but Rentomojo has better prices. Rentomojo also offers free relocation within the city after 3 months. Furlenco offers free inter-city relocation (eg Bombay to Delhi) after 3 months. Rentomojo also allows you to return the furniture before your agreement is up by paying a months rent as penalty. Furlenco unfortunately provides no such option and you are stuck paying for the entire term of your agreement.

Customs Duty Exemption

If you are returning to settle in India, you may qualify for a customs duty exemption/reduction. I did not personally use this, but I know someone who used this to import some sound bars and speakers. Based on their experience, it involves a little bit of hassle since you have to go to customs to get your shipment cleared (and grease some palms along the way), but it may be worth it if you want to buy some expensive electronics