Hi there,

Welcome to India!

You may get loads of tips n tricks by simply browsing through this board, as well as browsing through the sites thrown up by Google for "India Expatriate".

Pune is a lovely place to be in - it has all the ingredients of a cosmopolitan city, yet it (still) retains its old-worldly charm. The weather is beautiful all round the year, and one gets to experience the four seasons consistently.

Pune is home to Osho, or Bhagwan Rajneesh's ashram. Koregaon Park, which is where the ashram is located, is now home to several hundred expatriates, so the moment you enter Koregaon Park, you feel as if you are in your own country! Perhaps you might wish to stay here? Chances are that you will get to meet quite a few people from your own country / region.

The rents in this area are, incidently, among the highest in Pune. A single bedroom appartment can very easily touch INR 8K and above.

At a stone's throw from Koregaon Park is a place known as Mundhwa, where a residential complex - "Satellite Towers" has come up. This complex too has quite a few expat families, so you might try your luck here, too.

Hth, and all the best for your stay.

Sanjay

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00abuse

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Hi, Try these sites http://www.virtualpune.com/
http://www.punelifestyle.com/
It would be a pity if one lived in Pune and never spent time at the BKS yoga center. http://www.iyi.org.uk/links.htm
cheers
dil
Manager Corporate Liesure Travel

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00abuse

We lived in Pune last year, and chose not to live in the traditional expat neighborhood in Koreagon Park for a couple of reasons. Both of our employers were at one end of the city, and traffic in Pune is horrible and getting more crazy every day. Getting from one side of the city's sprawl to the other can easily take 2 hours, and the trip from KP to our workplaces was usually an hour, each way. Find out where your boyfriend is going to be working, and take that into your planning. If he is likely to travel to Mumbai often, you will want to be on the side of the city closer to the Mumbai highway. If he is likely to travel to Delhi often, you may want to be closer to the Pune airport, etc.

I'd also recommend you think about the kind of housing you want. Most of KP's housing stock is old, and although there are some lovely buildings, you are more likely to run into leaking roofs, mildew problems, old electrical wiring, etc. Living in KP makes it easier to connect with the expat community, but that can be a good and bad thing, as you may find it easy to just stay within the expat community and not move beyond that comfort zone. If you live in a different neighborhood, you are more likely to have Indian neighbors and can easily get to know each other.

In one of the newer housing societies you will find good buildings (for the most part), amenities such a pool or community building. Your neighbors are likely to be families in the new Indian middle class, working professionals who have often spent years abroad and can be a great resource to you. Housing societies often sponsor their own holiday celebrations and community get-togethers and you are likely to be automatically included, and can get to know more about your neighbors and Indian life in general.

Satellite Towers is very high end, and caters mostly to expats. You will avoid a lot of the usual Indian infrastructure problems, but you may also find yourself isolated from the rest of the city. It's kind of far out from the main part of the city, and it's also very expensive - I think larger furnished apartments are renting for 100k INR (at least for foreigners)!

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00abuse