Help! I don't hava a residential address.

Getting a Bank Account

Scene: HDFC bank rep comes to my office to sort out corporate salary accounts for new joiners. In India, these guys tend to come to you to set things up, and often fill the forms for you as well, meaning we just have to sign in seventeen places at the end.

HDFC Bank Rep: What is your residential address sir?
Me: I don't have one, I'm staying in the hotel round the corner from the office.
HDFC Bank Rep: erm...
Me: Can I put my office address for now?
HDFC Bank Rep: We don't normally do that...
Me:


Scene: Airtel mobile rep comes to office to set up postpaid mobile connecction

Airtel Mobile phone rep: What is your residential address sir?
Me: I don't have one, I'm staying in the hotel round the corner from the office.
... (you get the picture)

In fact later on I got cut off by airtel for not having provided a residential address! within 2 weeks of arriving in Chennai! Apparently the rep should not have given me the connection without getting a residential address.

Arrival in Chennai

Well actually I arrived in Chennai from London almost a month ago, but I've been too lazy to start writing this blog.

So who am I?

I am a IT professional, born and brought up in the UK to Indian parents and I am married with 2 young kids. We have made the decision as a family that spending a couple of years living and working in India would be a good experience for us all (although my wife was actually brought up in Tamil Nadu, so she's cheating!).

I got the opportunity through my employer to come and work in our Chennai office for a 2 year secondment. (If anyone from my company has figured out who I am, don't worry I am not going to write about the company in this blog, only maybe cultural differences in the office).

What am I going to write about?

I hope to write about my experiences on coming to Chennai, the differences in daily life between London and Chennai and pretty much everything that happens along the way - good and bad.

Anyway, feel free to comment on the kind of things you'd like me to write about and I'll do my best to find the time.