Passport application at Bangalore

Let me recollect my pleasant experience in geeting a passport renewed via normal (non Tatkal scheme) at the Bangalore Passport Office.

Summary: Indian government offices are way advanced and have worked hard to improve the End User Experience. Hats off to the Government of India. JAI HIND.

Process:

• Everything is automated. All activities can be completed online at rpobangalore.gov.in
• You need to first download the adobe PDF writeable document at http://passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/online/downloadEFormStatic
• Create a user ID
• Fill the downloaded e-form and upload the same.
• Schedule an appintment at your nearest branch. Satellite seva kendras are available which makes it more convinient.
• Schedule an appointment at time of choice. This will be a bit tricky and will need multiple iterations before your master. They generally open the appointment 2 days in advance (i.e 3rd appointments will be opened on 1st and 4th appointments will be opened on 2nd).
• Print out the completed application e-form as well as take a photocopy of the required documents.
• Walk in on day of appoitment at approx 15 min in advance.
• There is NO Need to walk in much in advance like the old time walk ins of 4-5 hours
• As long as you have the required documentary proof, the processing will be very smooth and fast
• step 1 is a person who will check whether you have the relevant documents.
• Step 2 is a person who snaps your photo, scans each of the document that you have submitted and also collects the payment. Note: Only cash was accepted and photo was taken on the spot.
• Step 3 is a visit with one of the passport officers who validates the documents.
• The surprising part was that the visit was very cordial and cozy as though visiting one of the privilege banking counter of  a overseas investment bank
• The cream of the cream was that the passport was dispatched in 3 days time and we received it within a day of dispatch. Information was to the point here was well. SMS and E-Mail was sent immediately on dispatch so that we could be at home to receive.

Overall, I am pleasantly surprised and will pray god that each service offered by my government becomes as good as this.

Schools in Bangalore

Schools in Marathahalli/ Whitefield (with my thoughts) - ONLY schools less with fees than 100 K per annum.

• Vinbgyor High - ICSE. 70 K per annum. Student numbers are growing very fast. Not sure whether quality can be sustained. Very new to Bangalore to comment. Has a history of activity based education with strong emphasis on extra curricular activities.
• Gopalan National - CBSE. 30 K per annum. Was very good originally. But, recent comments are not so encouraging
• Gopalan International - ICSE. 100 K per annum. Just started. Fees is very high and does not have any historical benefits to justify. All benefits explained are on paper.
• Deens Academy - CBSE. 45 K per annum - Looks good at the outside. New school. But, has lots of good review for education based focus.
• Ryan International - CBSE. 30 K per annum. Looks like turning out to be a mass factory. Heard that it has nearly 30 sections with each section having 50 students.
• Vagdevi vilas - CBSE. 30 K per annum. Huge campus. Did not visit to get details.

Return to India - 100 Days

100 Days review (Apr 1 to July 10)

Status / base of my comments:

• Home to office - 3 KM
• Home to kids school - 2 KM
• type of residence: luxury apartment complex of 1200 apartment
• location of residence: Bangalore suburbs
• Social life for Family - abundant
• Car - yes
• Maid - yes

All positives with NO regrets

• Job has been funtastic, more dynamic, more challenging and lot more satisfying.
• Lots of interaction with relatives. Atleast 80 of past 100 days should have had atleast one relative at home.
• Lots of new friends
• Satisfaction to read a local newspaper with all local content and spicy bits
• Lots of local topics can be discussed and debated
• Since apartment complex takes care of all "initial connections" and "bill payments", I am not forced to spend much time running for other issues.

Small negative thoughts:

• Roads are really bad with speed breakers that are really bone breakers
• Traffic jam makes you think twice
• Expenses - You will never imagine how expensive your monthly expenses can be. Even for the money spent, you are not sure whether is it really worth it.

Return to India

01.04.2009

Finally, took the plunge to return to India.

It was a long pending dilema where we were evaluating a 100 reasons to return to India and another 100 reasons to Not to return to India.

Few Positives (as I saw) in India:

• Closer to Indian culture and everything Indian
• Closer to relatives. Family bonding improves.
• Participate in all family events/ festivals
• Be closer and try to contribute back to Indian society

Few Negatives (as I saw) in India:

• Bangalore specific: roads are bad, traffic is pathetic, public transport is non-existent and neighbourhood community life does not exist. Your family cannot step out without you driving around.
• Outside life does not exist in India for family. Of course, this can be overcome by staying in a self sustained apartment complex
• Things do not happen as seamless as abroad. 100% of time is spent between office work and personal life. In India, we spend a lot of additional time to push things (EB, phone...)
• Schools - Mid term Admission is a pain. Fees is exorbitant and quality is not guaranteed. U need to start in the same place from LKG to get into good schools.

Factors that helped me overcome/Ignore the negatives:

• Bangalore specific - Stay close to office (whitefield in my case), have a car for family and drive them around even for nearby shops.
• Schools - Pay the exorbitant fees and be satisfied with what you get
• Stay in an apartment complex where there are people to take care of anything and everything for which you normally will be spending lots of time shuttling to government agencies. Your family also will have lots of people to interact with.

Bangalore Schools - Categorization

Found the below mentioned useful categorization at a r2iclubforums link. Very good and useful.

School Categorization:
1) Govt. and public schools - govt. schools, Army schools, central schools

• Fee - Free or very nominal?
• Donation/Bldg fee/Admission fee - none

2) Neigborhood and private schools - Ryan, DPS, NPS, Josephs, Cottons, Freedom Intl, Frank Anthony's etc., etc. Tons of schools in this category.

• Patronized by the Indian middleclass, upper middleclass, NRIs etc.
• Fee - INR 30k to 50k
• Donation/Bldg fee/Admission fee - Some require yrly donations

3) Academy's and wannabe intl schools - Gear, Greenwood, VIBGYOR, Inventure, Vidyashilp, NAFL, etc.

• Patronized by the Indian upper middleclass, NRIs, etc.
• Fee - INR 60k to 100k (a new school like VIBGYOR are exceptions)
• Donation/Bldg fee/Admission fee - Most don't take yrly donations and bldg fees. They do take admission fee and some refund part or whole.

4) Intl school - TISB, Canadian, BLR Intl, Sarla Birla, JIRS, Deccan, Valley(?), et all

• Patronized by expats, NRIs and the wealthy
• Fee - Over 1 lakh
• Donation/Bldg fee/Admission fee - Most don't take yrly donations and bldg fees. They do take admission fee and some refund part or whole.

Methodology: Most schools under category 3 and 4 seem to follow the western style of teaching up to grade 5 (i.e smaller class sizes, smaller units within a classroom, no tests and exams(?), one does not even prescribe homework. Each school seems to follow its own methodology. There doesn't appear to be any standard or benchmark.

Kannada exposure (at least as a third language) is a must for all schools (except Central/Army schools)? And that 3rd lang. requirement starts 6th std. onwards?

• In most category 1 - Severe Kannada "pain" for sure
• Category 2 - mild to moderate - Can be substituted w/ Hindi or Sanskrit pain
• Category 3 - mild
• Category 4 - Students can opt for Spanish or French pain instead?

Security?

• Category 2 - usually boasts of an old man in blue uniform sitting by the gate.
• Category 3 - could have restricted entry and an younger guy in full (shoes and all) blue uniform. (Some like Gear is very strict - Prospective parents are not even allowed inside to inquire, prior to admitting their ward. They are strict and I'm sure they have their reason for it...)
• Category 4 - Security rivals that of any large multinational S/W firm since they are residential schools as well.

Kids presence for admission:

• Kids presence and admission tests are dependent of school policies. Most require a test for higher grades.
• In the lower grades, one could get a child admitted w/o making the trip -we did.

Bangalore Schools

So, you want to admit your kids to schools in Bangalore and are searching for information on good schools within Bangalore.

Please do refer to my other thread on categories of Schools in Bangalore.
Please do also refer to the below mentioned links which has got an ocean of information on Schools in Bangalore.

• http://bangaloreschools.net/
• http://www.r2iclubforums.com/forums/f30/mt-schools-bangalore-259/
• http://www.r2iclubforums.com/forums/f30/housing-where-stay-how-close-school-work-please-advise-2773/
• http://www.indusladies.com/forums/bangalore-schools/?daysprune=-1&order=desc&sort=replycount

Singapore Primary Education

Few crisp words

competitive

activity based

Excellent

• Stressful (not fully caused by school. partly caused by school and majority caused by anxious kiasu parents)
• Starts slow from P1 to P3 when kids get accustomed and zooms fast through P4 to P6 when kids are put to real stress test

Positives:

• Amazing is the ONE word that I have got for the Singapore Primary Education.
• Focuses to create well rounded individuals and not mere academic bookworms.
• We pay 10 SGD. The government spends nearly 1 K per kid per month.
• School infrastructure is excellent and is always being upgraded.
• The entire curriculum is activity based and is improved every few years. The kids live through it, enjoy it, cherish it and learn it.
• Kids who are open and can speak will shine. Of course, it is difficult for average kids and kids who are introvert.
• The kids have an opportunity to excel as an individual.
• Kids are encouraged to speak out, to present topics, to lead classes, to play, to experiment.

Negatives:

• Yes. it is stressful since the kids have to face streaming at very young age
• Yes. Kids who do not start at very young age gets lost and it becomes very difficult to catch up later. this also leads to parents imposing more stress on the kids and the vicious cycle continues.