I moved to Bangalore and here's what you should know
It's around that time when companies have asked you guys to come to the office. Naturally, everyone has a lot of doubts and confusion. I'll mention few essential things that may help you ease your transition.
How will I go? Where will I stay? Society or Apartment or PG, What will I eat, How will I travel? Scooty or bike or cab or office vehicle.
I'll try to mention the cost of everything so that you can choose the best :)
Let's cover all of them.
- Travel to Work Location: Some companies are providing travel arrangements/reimbursements. Get tickets early once your RTO date is fixed.
Recommendation : Get tickets early
2. Stay Location: Some companies provide hotel stays, and some do not. If you have a hotel stay for 10–15 days, it gives you almost enough time to find a place. Use this time effectively.
In Bangalore, you have a Flat and Flatmates Facebook group. This is an excellent place to find flats or flatmates: no third party fee, no bullshit. Owners post here, and you can directly contact them. Use this before coming, to find potential places to stay. Check them out when you arrive. Preferably take a few days off from work if possible.
Flatmates: With friends vs with randoms: I'm staying in a 3bhk with two random people. Both of them are working individuals and understanding people. You might get different, and it may not always be good. I've heard stories from seniors about very bad flatmates (doing parties on weekdays till 3 am with high music, smoking inside the flat, etc.). Go with 1BHK if that's what suits you.
Cost:= ₹5000–10000/month per person(shared flat 2BHK/3BHK), ₹8000–18000. (1BHK/1RK) *
*excluding maintenance+electricity+Internet Charges+Cook+Groceries+furniture rent if any.
PG: You see the Zolo pgs on the app and think it looks good. I can spend time here for a few months before moving to a flat. But no, it's not reasonable and barely manageable. Small rooms at a very high cost with 10mbps internet shared between 10 people (yes, that's small b, no typo). One thing to note here is women usually have much better PGs :)
Cost:= ₹10000–20000 depending upon private room type, ₹6000–10000 for a shared room.
Final verdict : Check you bank balance and comfort level you want.
Bigger space? multiple rooms and people? Personalised food? Good balcony? Green space for evening walks? = Go with a flat in a society.
Smaller space? Just food? don’t want to deal with cook/cooking/gorceries tension? don’t have time to find good flat? = go with a PG.Recommendation 1: Pre-decide before coming to work location on your type of stay if you are going to take 1BHK/PG or 2BHK/3BHK/sharing room. In latter case you need people. Do plan accordingly from the options Friends/Office People/Randoms.
Recommendation 2: Don’t take flat very far away from office. Upto 4kms is manageable but as it increases be ready for a lot of travel time. People spend over 2.5 hours daily in just travel. Choose wisely.
3. Food: This depends on your type of stay. If you choose pg, they usually provide food. For flats, the immediate option is to get a tiffin. Quality depends from provider to provider. The one I had given three roti+rice+mostly some aloo curry/bhujia for ₹70. The tiffin food is not bad, but the most healthy food you can get is via a cook. My cook takes ₹1500 per person/month, and we manage groceries. The daily food includes bean bhujia/lauki/veg kofta/Bhindi bhujia/aloo gobhi etc., + dal +roti.
Cost: ₹2100–3000/month for tiffin. ₹2500–4000/month with the cook.
Recommendation : Get tiffin until you find a cook. OR PG food. Best if your office provides food.
4. Commute from flat to office: With the hybrid model of work in many companies, working 2–3 days from office and rest from home, it isn't straightforward to give the best verdict on commute. Your options are Rental Vehicle/Owned Vehicle/Cab(ola,uber)/office transport. Now, none are without cons.
a. Cab: Gives independence of travel but is costly for a single person. I started using it first but beware; it's unreliable also. Found many instances where cabs used to cancel my booking after calling and asking drop location.
Cost:= ₹80 for around 3kms.
b. Rental Vehicle: I used this next after being fed up with cabs. This is, in a way, worse. Long term rental scooter is the cheapest. I choose the Vogo scooter, and dude, it has been such an embarrassing and tense experience. The rental scooter is all trash. I have changed three times and no use. It stops randomly on-road and starts after 10–15 minutes of constant kicking. Forget self start.
Cost:= ₹3800/monthly plus ₹300 deposit.
c. office transport: This is a reliable option but time constraints. Plus for any other place use it with cab.
Cost:= ₹0
d. Personal Vehicle: This is the most reliable option but comes with huge cost upfront.
Cost:= ₹100000–300000. (depending upon your prefered vehicle)
Recommendation : very personalised point. Do what you think suits you.
Check all options and decide what's best for you.
Good Day :)
