R2IR2U - you got it!

Yes - returning to the USA returning Indian... And now thoroughly confused.
We are heading back to the USA for a 1.5 year work stint. I'm rather excited. Things I'm looking forward to -
- Children's museums & children's theatre
- Infrastructure (sidewalks that work, functional pavements, roads that aren't pitted and raddled, lights on the streets, no garbage and people peeing on road corners etc.)
- Driving
- Getting home at 5:30 PM and not at 8 PM like I do now
- Getting in touch with family and friends whom I haven't seen in ages
- Not having to sign things in triplicate, 4 times over

Im going to miss -
- My mom
- Color of India
- Friendly inquisitiveness of neighbors and random strangers
- Kindness of strangers
- My maid Lakshmi - yes the very same one who destroyed my shirts, but she got the rats too and she makes me coffee every day.
- The sunshine of Bangalore

For those of you who are R2IR2U - here are some things to worry about.
Your kids school... with the best of intentions, our school cannot/will not hold our spot. So this winter, the war begins again. I don't know if we are going to be able to get our kids back into the same school. It's too bad as we LOVED the school. Positive thinking and praying, let's see what happens.
Homes - if like me you are looking at a short term move, and you like where you live - HANG ON for dear life. Setting up is a major battle. So leave things set up and either sub lease, find a house sitter or hold on if you can.
ECSS - A wonderful thing, most places offer the ECSS facility. Which means you can pay everything directly from your bank account automatically. So submit and forget it.
Taxes - Unless you are fully conversant with Indian Tax laws and the tax system, please do set up a tax lawyer who can handle your tax filing for you.
Cars - Sell em!! There will be many new, nicer models available for you when you return and car buying in India is ridiculously easy.
Furniture disposal - very difficult in India. The 2nd hand market just isn't that good, unless you have a good network of drivers, maids etc. who might be willing to buy. Plan on selling for less than 1/3rd and forgt about high ticket priced items.

Miscellaneous - think apartments that you rent, land you own, bank accounts etc. Unless they are strictly necessarily don't even bother being a remote owner... it's WAAAY too hard. Shut shop and reinvest when you are back.


More to come as we get closer to move date... In the meantime - Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.