Which school is the best?

Don't trust a ranking which you have not made on yourself, is a saying, which should perhaps indicate that rankings are not objective. But nonetheless it is a chance to get a first start into a judgment of a topic. If at the end it is matching with self made rankings it gives a little more confidence. But as mentioned before, it can be only one facet of a personal selection process.

An additional help to select the school?

This is the most important question for families with kids coming to Bangalore, all are ready to experience a new part of the world, also with some odd things, but with the education of the kids nobody want to play. And indeed that is correct and there are very good international schools in the City, but as every time in India the challenge is to find the right one. Price and quality are not every time in direct correlation, for others the new curriculum names are new and at the end there is no control body to check if the schools live up to their promises

Horseback riding

In Bangalore you have a wonderful chance to try out or fine tune horseback riding. It is affordable and a nice counter balance for the city stress. Especially the kids love it and have great fun and it is educational wise valuable too.

There are some places where you can do horseback ride, for instance at the palace ground, the Princes Horseback Adventure or the HorseRiding Stables  or a little outside the Embassy International Riding School . 

Budget figures – the trust question

Because of the bad reputation of the real estate agent, coursed by some black sheep of the sector that question creates different reaction till to some no content answers. Because, so some feedback -  if we give a price range, the agent will anyhow make the price of his objects fitting to the high end of the budget. Here the good agents work different and you will find out very fast who is playing odd and to whom you can built up a trustworthy relationship.

Registration - an unavoidable paperwork

It can be the first challenge in your new home, the adaptation to the Indian paperwork or the first inside view to the Indian hierarchy. Most important is to register within 14 days after arrival for all long term visas and staying time of more than 180 days. So have a clear arrival stamp with a readable date of arrival because that is what all officers are after, because otherwise it cost penalty and that is income for that department. That means also in case they send you away because of missing documents let you give a stamp that you came for registration in the requested time. But let us go one step after the other through that nice topic.

The easiest way to get the registration handled is over an agent; he knows the latest adaptations and changes of the rules and knows the locations and the people responsible for the stamp and signature.

Bike fun with the Royal Enfield - 3D

A quite legendary fame under bikers has the Royal Enfield. Under Westerners the nostalgic design and the sound of that bike creates a certain puppy love and combined with the chance to explore the country outside of the city and the free ride feeling some people enjoy in their spare time common bike rides in and around Bangalore or if times allows

VISA - the base for your stay in India

Decision made to go to India means to start applying for a visa, only after that the new adventure should be planed further, without a visa not entry in the country and it is the base for registration, taxation, school, driving licence, rental agreements and so on. Although the rules of India should lead to uniform visa rules worldwide one can find different interpretations depending on the historic and actual political relationship of the country with India. Thus check the actual requirements with your embassy.

Fruit lovers paradise - 3D

Going to a market shows the big variety of the fruits available, yes coming from Europe and America some sorts are missing, thus you will not find plumbs, cherries, berries and peaches but you can explore so many new varieties. And for sure you find the fruits from the closer region and that means it is fresh and ripe and tastes by that like the real fruit and not a wax one out of the glass house. Many people confess that after having a ripe pineapple fresh from the market the smell and later the taste is so tempting

Fun Park - Wonderla

More excitement for the kids required, here we can recommend the amusement park Wonderla, at the outskirts of Bangalore in direction Mysore. From Bangalore it can take 1-2 hours to reach depending on the traffic. From northern parts you can try the road over Neremangala and over the Tumkur road and the NYCE highway both toll roads with smooth traffic. After you have seen India from all sides, traffic, villages, highways and your kids have asked 100 times when you

Pool day in Angsana Spa and Resort

For a relaxed family day for the people from the North of Bangalore we can recommend Angsana Spa and Resort. It is a five star resort and has all amenities for a pleasant weekend retreat. The pool is located in a nice landscaped garden; it is not a big Olympic size pool with swimming lanes it is small and nice and offers private areas and often there are not that

Drinking water

One of the most critical situations one faces in the first time in India is the drinking water usage. Here please be careful not to divert from the common rules, like only sealed bottle water from reputed brands, avoid open water, ice cubes from unknown source, salad, which is not washed with bottled water, and so on. One reason for stomach problems can be dirty water in the sense of chemical and the other can be batteries, to

Gas connection for your daily meals

For some countrymen the gas system is also a new topic. In India there is no gas pipe system, the gas for the stove comes out of cylinders. Beside some very rare multistory buildings each flat or house has his own gas cylinders to get the cooking gas. The infrastructure of such a cylinder gas system is the cylinder, a regulator, a more or less short pipe from the cylinder to the stove and the stove or oven. Common and advisable is to

Ice cream addiction?

Not such important, but as an ice cream lover I felt in my first years in India a bit lost. But in the last 2-3 years, means from 2008 onwards the situation has improved. First ice cream better packed came up in the grocery shops and then ice cream parlors have popped up all over the city and the people enjoy it especially the youth is meeting there and enjoys. It has become fashionable to go there, the outlets are open from 11 or 12 am to 10 and 11 pm. The shops

TV connection

TV connection is in city limits easy and well organized. Wide range of channels will be provided through private service providers like Tata Sky or Airtel TV. Here you get local and international channel and even 4-5 international HD channels.

To get it is quite well structured; you buy the set top box in any electronic outlet without any document. You will recognize the outlets easily, because they place point of sale adds nicely visible. Over a service line of the selected service provider, which are printed on the box, you can fix an appointment, when the

Internet and telephone connection

Slowly India is improving the access to high speed internet, although 1Mbps is considered as fast. One has to understand, that in the telephone history of the country the cable network was simply over jumped and the wireless connection has taken over in the big way. With affordable prices and good reach, thus you can see mobiles everywhere, from the farmers in the fields, over street cleaner up to the kids in school. In 2000 the whole communication infrastructure was in government hand,

The water supply as critical focal point for property investments

outlet of a natural water tank

Water is a serious matter in Bangalore, the growing city, the weak supply system, the poor maintenance and the missing awareness will worsen the situation in the future. Because of its rocky ground structure the available water is sitting in pockets, is not getting sufficient recharged in the rainy season and the demand is daily increasing, which lead to the highest bore well density in Asia and the first serious considerations about the future supply.

The water supply system is not everywhere in good conditions, leaks and

The daily water supply

Because of the increasing demand of the growing city, the more tide resources and an old water supply system there is no continuous water supply directly to the tap. The Indian system requires more infrastructure in the house or compound, which one should understand to handle it oneself or understands interruptions.

Starting point is a non-continuous corporate water supply and a missing pipe pressure. Therefor each house has a ground sump and a top tank. The

Kabab studio - at Goldfinch in Cresent Road and RT Nagar

One of our favorite places to eat either lunch or dinner, very nice concept and a pleasant place to sit outside and enjoy the evenings on a roof terrace under the stars.

The name is program, kebabs juicy and fresh from the table barbeque and as much as you can eat. Of course also for veges you have vegetable kebabs, fruits and paneer.  The buffet includes the kebabs served and kept warm on the table barbeque and an additional buffet with salad, main dishes and desert. Different Poories are worth to be tried as add-ons and

Agents, the professionals with the bad reputation

orientation meeting with new comers

Everywhere in the world people with that profession fight against a bad reputation, in the sense that people think that the agent is actually standing in between the house owners and the interested tenants and on the other side asking for big money for doing nothing.

Unfortunately there are also agents in the market, without training and professional skills to provide a value adding service or who do not follow clear ethical values.

The selection process to find your new home

Two inputs lead to your new home, the personal preferences and on the other side the location. The first you have to analyze for yourself and with your family and the second comes normally from outside through desk research, friends or help.

To your own analysis, here your preferences in the type of accommodation, the surrounding and the style are important. The type can be a flat, single house or a condominium. The size is determined by your family size are other needs like storage or representation. The surrounding can be the close