A Canadian man shares his experience of permanently relocating to Bengaluru, India with his wife and how his first five months in India have been both frustrating and rewarding. Five months passed but the man could not open a bank account. He is a foreigner and now he needs Aadhar card and PAN in India, so he had to make a lot of trips to the bank. The man said, international cards are not accepted and no one has cash so his wife pays for everything.“I went to a bank to open an account. The lady at the counter told me they don’t open accounts for foreigners. That’s not true. Came back a few days later and was told I needed to register with the FRRO. This meant a lot of hooping on the government portal and asking my parents to apply for my marriage certificate in Canada. Got FRRO, went back to bank, now they need Aadhaar and PAN. 182 days are required for Aadhaar in the country. So 5 months in, I still can’t pay for things. International cards aren’t really accepted outside of delivery apps, and cash doesn’t work since no one has change. My wife pays for everything when we’re out,” he wrote on Reddit.The Canadian man is also dissatisfied with the products available in India, as he says there are a lot of lies and pretenses involved. On a regular basis, he faces a language barrier and has no real friends in India, but he said that both he and his wife had quit jobs before coming to India and now they are organizing outings at Cubbon Park, groups for rock climbing, etc.
‘Still the right call…’
The Canadian said that despite all the shortcomings, he thinks they made the right call. The cost of living is much lower than Toronto and it’s the startup energy in Bengaluru that they are liking. “Despite all this, I still think we made the right decision. The cost of living is much lower than Toronto, so our runway is quite long here. Hiring a maid frees up a lot of time. South Indian food is incredible. Genuine ingredients and very affordable. I can eat ghee puri masala dosa every day. Since I’ve been here, I’ve lost 14 pounds. And almost everyone I meet here is building something. So many founders. That’s the energy I wanted to be around,” he wrote.“It took 5 months, but I’m finally getting into a nice rhythm and working on something that excites me. No commute. No committee saying no to every idea. No panic attacks like I used to have at my banking job. I can go to the gym in the afternoon, take the afternoon off, work late, whatever I want. The bad things are mostly one-time annoyances. The good things are doing what I love.” Want to do every day on our schedule. This is the right place for us right now. Whether it’s forever, who knows. Air quality and traffic are real concerns, especially for children,” he said.