I am sure all of you that are planning to move back to India struggle through the questions - "What should I take with me? ", "Would I need this?", "Will I get this in India?", "Is it worth shipping it?". Of course its all highly personal needs and wants. But I would like to share my thoughts on what are the things that might be useful to bring - in my experience.
Furniture - You may hear that India now offers excellent furniture. In our experience, If you can afford it, bring your furniture with you. Main limitations is the size and price - the furniture here are slightly smaller than the US. The stuff you get here are designed for petite Asians and space saving. A lot of the good stuff is from Europe (Which is extremely expensive) and again space saving. A lot of the models are highly contemporary in style as well. This applies mainly to sofas, recliners, office desks etc.
Solid wood furniture is great here. Especially if you can find a good carpenter, you can create your own furniture. There are a lot of furniture makers and various materials available. But all of these work well for wooden, Mdf, painted, lacquered type stuff. Cushion based systems are not that great. You get a few lazy boy type stuff, but very expensive. Also, most of the custom ones which are cheaper also have a cheap look. Nobody understand "good finish" here.
Electronics - Everything you can get that works with 220V is good to bring - but the also have to deal with conversion issues for videos like region codes, ntsc-pal type stuff - its best to buy players India. But, beware - Tvs, players, speakers etc extremely expensive. Read my previous post on TV, HD etc.
One thing we did end up getting from the US is a blu-ray player - its 4 times more expensive n India. Especially if you own a lot of the blu-ray discs of region code A or 1 - you will need a US player to play them anyways. The TV you buy here will play everything - so the player is the problem not the TV.
Car stereo is also a good thing to bring. They work here (no power issue) and they are lot more expensive in India. Most cars don;t come with a stereo in its base model or they are ridiculously expensive.
Computer products - again pricier in India. Its best to get a small 110V - 220V transformer here in India and power up your printers, scanner etc. If you have a desktop - simply buy the power pack for Rs200 or so and replace it. Its really easy to setup computers and the peripherals and make it work here. The flat screen monitors are 220v compatible most of the time, so no issue with that either.
Books - Bring your books! If you are crazy about books especially children books of US or European authors - get them. You do get Everything and all the books here - novels and fiction is very cheap and locally published - but foreign author kid's books are expensive. And, the printing and paper quality differs when locally printed.
Kitchen stuff
Bring all your good kitchen stuff. The quality is way off. I can name a few must bring stuff for quality and pricing reasons
1. Cutlery, utensils, silverware, knives, all sorts of tools - scrapper, slicers, wine openers, bar tools etc. Bring your Calphalones and even the OXO tools are way better than what you get here. You don't get the newer silicon covered spatulas or ladles. If you are used to using silicon spatulas for cooking - bring them. You only get the cheap plastic. Same thing with the newer ceramic blade based stuff - knives, peelers etc.
2. Stainless steel stuff - Although SS is very popular here in India, some of the good German make ones you find for decent pricing in the US is unbeatable. A lot of the stuff here are not heavy bottomed. A full set of SS cookware is worth bringing - something like a Cuisinart or the likes. Same deal with hard-anodized stuff. There is only one company that makes it and its not half as good as the Calphalone ones there.
3. Get organizers, storage cans. Airtight plastic jars are better there. SS ones are okay here and slowly seeing wider choices, but I personally think the quality is better there. Some of them tend to rust as well at the joints.
4. Fabric based stuff - if you are into cotton - you get a lot of choices here. Napkins, runners etc are great here and can get a lot of custom made stuff.
5. Bar ware - bring your all your wine glasses, shot glasses etc etc. Pricey here and quality is poor. Bar tools, wine gadgets and bar gizmo are a bit hard to find here. Finding good liquor is hard enough - so don't struggle with finding good bar ware.
6. Serve ware - again bring them. Fine china is not that popular here. Most of them are ceramic, stainless steel or Corelle. You also get a lot of stone ware and bone china. If you are the Mikasa type person - bring it!
7. Tupperware is widely available here - you can skip bringing those.
8. You can get scrubbers, gloves, fancy kitchen towels, mitts , Ziploc, foils, parchment paper, baking sheets etc. Bring you silicon baking sheets and trays - they are not here yet.
Office Products
You get most of what you need. But, bringing the basics with you helps with transition. Good quality paper and stuff you take for granted may not be easily available here. Good writing paper, kids' drawing sheets etc are available for a premium price.
Kids stuff
All branded toys are here - fisher price etc. They are the same price as there. So if you see a closeout sale in the US, grab all that you can. If you find crayola, board games, art materials on a discount there - bring them Worth every penny. Art and craft stuff is terrible here. Bring your art supplies. You may get them here - but have to go to cumbersome process to locate a dealer and buy them. There is NOTHING like Hobby Lobby or Michael's. Just bring your art supplies for lasting a year or so before you get around finding the right places in Bangalore.
Tools
Bring your screwdriver sets, wrenches, hammers etc. Nothing can beat the variety of tools you get in the US. Its really hard to get the right tools for the right jobs here. Of course, you will find handyman type people for most things, but the reliability of these people is pretty bad. Even if you find one and manage to make him come on time, his tools will be pathetic and so will be his work. Here people try and manage with what have. Don't be surprised if your handyman tries to tighten a screw with a pliers..if that is what he has, then that is what he will use! This attitude doesn't work well when it comes to DIY stuff. If you have plenty screws and nails at home, just bring them. They come in very handy. Same goes with gardening tools (if you plan on gardening here). Remember, there is no Home Depot for rescue. If you need something, you have to find a local hardware store and hope that the store owner understands what you are talking about. You have no good self-service tools store to find what you want.
Cosmetics, bath and hygiene products
A good improvement in the brand options for all sorts of cosmetics and bath/hygiene products in India. You get most of the drugstore brands - Vaseline, Garnier, Olay, and the high-end brands at the big malls as well. The top brands come with a big price tag - if you wish to stock up on some- its good a idea. You do get lot of herbal natural products. Himalaya seems to be a big player in this market. Don't expect to get the latest and greatest of cosmetics and body care products in regular stores - but I think what you get here is more than suffice for the most part. For women, all personal hygiene products are available in a wide range - but tampons are practically unheard of. There is just one brand that makes a very basic option.
Sports Materials
Good idea to bring Bikes, road bikes/mountain bikes, Skates, Shoes, good sports wear clothes (like soccer shorts etc). Everything is available but quite expensive. All foreign brand sports materials are very expensive. E.g. a decent tennis racket starts at Rs 4K and a Wilson will start at 8-9K . If you are already serious into any sport - bring what you need. If you are planning to learn then bring the starter brands. Sometimes you don't get cheap stuff for beginners here. Its a good idea to bring kid's in-line skates, helmets, knee pads and even swim suits. These are all very expensive. E.g - decent pair of in-line skates starts at - Rs3500.
Clothes
Kids clothes - good idea to bring a whole bunch. Grown ups - you can bring some - depending on weather factors. Good wind cutters, sweats etc are good idea to bring. Rain jackets, Ponchos are also a good thing to bring. Jeans - if you are used to a certain style/brand - bring a couple. Its takes a bit of time to find a good replacement. Brands like Levis make slightly different patterns here. They always only come in Regular lengths - so for shorter people - need to get it altered - but good thing is. all stores will do that for you for free within an hour or two!
Misc Items that might be helpful to bring
Laundry baskets
Camping materials
Good backpacks - outdoor living stuff - Keen shoes type stuff
Handy solar lamps / led stuff
Surge protectors
Camel packs - this is extremely useful to carry water around here as you cannot get good drinking water in most places.
Photography equipment
VOIP options - magicjack type stuff
Phones - Most of the good ones here are imported and expensive.
That is all I can think of for now - Will add to this post when I come across anything that might be worth bringing.
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