Canadian man settles in India with wife's family: Cost of living way lower than Toronto, lost 14lbs in 5 months

A Canadian man shared his experience of shifting to India, Bengaluru, permanently, with his wife and how his first five months in India have been both frustrating and rewarding. It has been five months but the man has not been able to open a bank account. A lot of to and fro at the bank as he’s a foreigner and now he needs an Aadhaar card and PAN in India. International cards are not accepted and nobody has cash so his wife pays for everything, the man said.“I went to a bank to open an account. The woman at the counter told me they don’t open accounts for foreigners. Not true. Came back a few days later and was told I needed to register with FRRO. That meant lots of back and forth with the government portal and getting my parents to apostille my marriage certificate in Canada. Got the FRRO, went back to the bank, now they need Aadhaar and PAN. Aadhaar needs 182 days in country. So 5 months in, I still can’t pay for things. International cards aren’t really accepted outside delivery apps, and cash doesn’t work because nobody has change. My wife pays for everything when we’re out,” he wrote on Reddit.The Canadian man is also dissatisfied with the products available in India, as he says there are a lot of lies and knockoffs involved. On a regular basis, he faces a language barrier and has no actual friends in India but he said both he and his wife left jobs before moving to India and now they have been organizing walks in Cubbon Park, groups for rock climbing etc.

‘Still the right call…’

The Canadian man said despite all the minuses, he feels they made the right call. The cost of living is way lower than in Toronto and Bengaluru has this startups energy that he has been liking. “Even with all of this, I still think we made the right call. Cost of living is way lower than in Toronto, so our runway is way longer here. Having a maid frees up a lot of time. South Indian food is incredible. Real ingredients and so cheap. I could eat ghee pudi masala dosa every day. I’ve lost 14lbs since I got here. And nearly everyone I’ve met here is building something. So many founders. That’s the energy I wanted to be around,” he wrote.“It took 5 months but I’m finally settling into a good rhythm and working on stuff that excites me. No commute. No committee saying no to every idea. No panic attacks like I used to get at my banking job. I can go to the gym mid-day, take an afternoon off, work late, whatever I want. The bad stuff is mostly one-off annoyances. The good stuff is doing what I want every day on my own schedule. This is the right place for us right now. Whether it’s forever, who knows. Air quality and traffic are real concerns, especially with kids,” he added.