Take a breather...

Now that you're here (and yes, it's probably raining - oh - have you been to REI yet for gear? Kit yourself out for the rain. North Face and REI offer great, high-quality all-weather gear. We found our rain boots and warm waterproof coats and jackets invaluable. Here's the thing: Do not skimp on rain gear. It's the one thing you really need here to get out. Without it, you're pretty much stuck and wetter than, well, a wet blanket. Yes, it's grey most of the time, but there are shades and shades of grey (book? what book? no reference whatsoever!) and it's truly gorgeous on most days once you're out. They don't call Washington the Evergreen State for nothing. And Redmond is the bicycle capital of the Northwest, dating all the way back to the first Redmond Bike Derby in 1939, so get out that cycle, pop on a helmet and head out.   

What you really need to do if you're going to keep from going stir-crazy in the initial days, is check out what your city has to offer. King County has a fabulous network of superbly-equipped public libraries. Check out www.kcls.org. Up on offer is a whole bunch of activities: from story time for kids of all ages (including Hindi story time every alternate Saturday) to citizenship classes for adults (though you're probably still a long way away from there); a great selection of books and videos that you can check out (100 items at a time), computer / internet use  (2 hours at a time) and print outs (75 B&W pages a week), dedicated kids areas, quiet / study areas, meeting rooms that you can book in advance and use for activities... And it's all *free*.

Meetups are a great way to meet new people, connect with your interests and find new ones and the Eastside has any number of meetups happening from bikers and hikers to moms to essential oils and natural lifestyles, book clubs, writers groups, crafts, sports, DIYers, different sexual orientations... It can be extremely alienating to land in a new environment without knowing anyone at all, but here's the thing. First, people are friendly and pretty much oriented towards their interests, be they family and baking or crafting and hiking. Secondly, there are any number of desis here. While I was aware of this as an academic fact, it sort of came home to me when I was checking out preschools for my tot. A class went marching out and there were at least 7 out of every 10 kids who were desi. That's not to say that you will find your countrymen and women universally friendly. In the balance, I have probably had a better experience striking up a conversation with white Americans here than with Indians (when they are both strangers).

And my last bit of gyan is a total gem on Sunday nights. One place you totally have to check out is the "best Irish pub in Eastside Seattle" reliably reported by a lovely Irish lady who's been here for 15 years. I agree with her. Wilde Rover has this really cool band called The Herding Cats that plays every Sunday from 9pm onwards. They mostly play music from the 80s through to the late 90s covering everything from George Michael to Led Zep and more. And the coolest thing about this place one of their regulars: a 95-year-old called John Finch who sings with them every time he's there and totally rocks the place. 

Cheers to that and to your time here.

फिर मिलेंगे।

अब हम तो भये परदेसी - what to pack from India

Ms. Kolhapure had joyfully crooned these words from the Bollywood blockbuster Prem Rog in another era but I wasn't quite as joyous at the thought of leaving des  behind for a place which has three kinds of weather (raining, just about to rain or just finished raining) - Yup - Seattle, in North West US, or to be more accurate, Redmond was our destination.

So here I am, with dog, toddler and MIL in tow, joining the husband like a dutiful wife. And guess what? I ALREADY have advice to dispense. Of course, my friends complain that I am always dispensing advice, but hey, you can always skip to the next blog.

First things first. If you are moving here (presumably because someone in the family has got a job in either Microsoft or Amazon or Verizon or Boeing or one of those massive tech companies that dominate the landscape here) check your relocation benefits. I cannot emphasise this enough. Check your relocation benefits.

Chances are you'll get a container load of space (and that's a LOT of space). Make full use of it to ship out stuff that you either won't get here or will be horribly expensive. Yes, it's a pain to inventory everything and value it but it really helps to know what you have and what you'll need and chances are that it will be more expensive here. If you have stuff you're already using and the free space to send it, do your pocket and the environment a favour and ship it across. And really, if you have the space at this end to house it, send everything and you still won't be anywhere near half the container capacity.

We shipped out solid wood furniture to furnish our entire home (including a bar, a wall mounted desk - more on that in another blog - two double beds, a sofa cum bed, two sofas, some four or five chests of drawers, a collapsible dining table and six chairs) Why? Because wooden furniture is SUPER expensive here, it has a decent resale value (if you're packing up and moving back), it lasts and is much sturdier than particle board which is basically what you will get at IKEA.

You cannot ship out food stuffs or liquids - more's the pity, but do send clothes, good quality clothes hangers, solid steel utensils - make sure to include two pressure cookers in different sizes and kadhais (no woks are not the same despite what anybody tells you) Definitely bring over a chalni (the kind that you use to fry puris with).

Don't bother with any electricals excepting phones, tablets and laptops unless they specifically say that they can run on 110v. You'll blow everything including that beautiful FabIndia lamp.

Gifts are a great idea to send in the container so that you are stocked up. Desi gifts are also good talking points. Check out this online store for ordering really great traditional and handmade stuff.

If you have a dog and kid (basically, two kids) send the bulk of their bedding, all non-seasonal clothing, toys and books across in the container and make do with what you have.

Make sure your suitcases have the following for everyone:

• enough medication for EVERYONE (including the dog) for three months with prescriptions.
• enough changes of clothes so that even if you're reduced to washing everyday till your container arrives, you're covered (pun intended)
• one sensible pair of shoes
• some toys / books to entertain the kids.
• basic toiletries.

Time it: your sea container shipment will typically take about 2.5 months door to door. Air cargo is typically much smaller and much quicker (about two weeks). You need to finalise a house to rent around the time your shipment is coming in so that you're covered for the move. (Your relocation package will typically allow for warehousing your goods for a certain duration but may or may not including unpacking after warehousing - so do check).

TIP: What worked really well for us, though it was serendipitous, was my staying back for three months and shipping the containers out (managing things at the India end); hubby dearest identifying the house, renting it and managing things at the US end. This gave us a fully set up place to move into and equal slog for both parties. I love a fair distribution of labour :D

More later...