[narayans80]

I moved from the central part of city to the suburbs 40 km away, which depending on which government office you ask is part of Kanchipuram or Chengalpattu district.

A year and change later, am happy I did.

I've had the experience living in small towns and villages after my 20s. My better half too had a 4 year stint in a tiny Italian village. So we had an idea that we would have to use a vehicle for everything. The only thing we were concerned about was school, which we spent quite an effort on the lead up to our move.

I get a daily dose of driving entertainment commuting to work. I plan my timings, so I don't get caught in traffic.

The only disadvantage I see is low voltage in power supply. We got the power cuts part covered with an UPS.

I don't see life in a tier-2 or 3 city any different. As someone new, I might still have to buy a house outside the city, which isn't much different from what I am doing now.

I liked Bombay as a 20 year old for the lively nature. Am not really excited as a 40 something.

I won't consider places I just visited. Because visiting a place and being a resident are totally different things. And one shouldn't make a decision to move based on vacation visits alone. This has been my learning based on resident stints in and out of India.

[paragsachania]

1. Mangalore:

To me, Mangalore remains my first choice if I ever want to consider shifting base. Having born and brought up in the pristine Malenadu region in a temple town of Belur, Mangalore for us was the immediate choice when it came to shopping for some mega family events, 2 wheelers, 4 wheelers and most importantly education and healthcare where it is at par with most Tier 1 cities even today. While growing up, I may have visited more of Mangalore than Bangalore for the above reasons including bidding adieus or welcoming relatives and guests from Kankannadi station on the Konkan Railway line. 2 years of my education after 10th too happened in this region that Mangalore was a hopping point, especially when returning back home and boarding a bus.

The city is not too big nor too small and offers almost everything that one is looking for, has one of the most helping and honest population you will ever come across.

2. Bombay/Mumbai:

This city has a different charm and will always be the one. This is once place where you cannot judge someone who is an entry level clerk in a Govt office to a CEO of a corporate company as they would all talk the same way or behave indifferently. A close friend who was born in Bangalore moved to Bombay in 2007 and ever since never returned. We keep meeting either in Mumbai whenever I am driving that side or in Bangalore when he is here and he always tells "it is now too difficult to come back to Bangalore" and I know why he says that. This is a city that has seen cosmopolitanism much before corporates set-up their offices across the country and elsewhere. A city that is even considered second home to most entrepreneurs from Mangalore/South Canara region.

As for me, Bombay has many memories due to a lot of relatives here and it was one of the primary hopping station for trains heading to Gujarat (From Bandra) since childhood days. Today, I only drive and despite of the traffic here, one thing that still remains better than most of the other cities is the discipline (Bombay was always known for lane discipline earlier) which of course is slowly heading down. Many more anecdotes and experiences to share from every visit but this post won't do justice.

3. Pune:

The only city where I have even worked for couple of years but apart from that, this was the city I frequented maximum during growing up years, be that summer or winter vacations. So, Pune was the first "Big" city that I have seen before visiting any other. The weather here comes closer to Bangalore and so are the vibes. Rainy season and winters here have been the best experiences. While routine holiday visits showed me the classic/authentic Puneri culture, it was after I worked here I realised how he city had expanded not just in terms of area but also the culture. The only grouse I have about this place is the unruly 2 wheeler traffic which I can rank worse among all Tier 1 cities.

4. Gandhinagar:

What a beautiful city and this a fantastic example of a modern day well planned city after Chandigarh (which was busier even in 2014 when we drove). I visit here regularly and I am amazed at the way things have transformed over the last decade. Super wide roads, well laid out plan for Metro, perfect location for connectivity (Air, Rail, NH), brillaint residential sectors with perfect distribution among residentials, commercial and green spaces. After Baroda this is one place where I have found good mix of cosmopolitan culture in this state (Ahmedabad is too chaotic for me).

[androdev]

I'm someone who doesn't believe in calling any city or house as my home. I am happy to relocate at a moment's notice if I can find a better environment. Of late, family+kids+school, etc. has put brakes on this tendency :-) I have lived in few other cities like Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi before moving to Bangalore.

When it comes to cities, I'm happy with Bangalore. Thankfully the timing of my year of graduation and relocation to Bangalore, etc. was perfect and I got lucky on the housing front that helped me settle down comfortably. I took the difficult decision to leave the corporate world in order to avoid commute and growth-addiction - top two negative aspects of life in modern Bangalore. There are still many things to complain about but I like the pleasant weather, easy going people and travel options. I would be a misfit in Delhi and Hyderabad - too much flaunting of wealth and VIP power. Mumbai: great people but too hectic, expensive and congested. Chennai: weather sucks and outsiders don't feel at home.

I have not contemplated moving out of Bangalore but I have thought a lot of about having a river side holiday home. Even if I work out the aspects of flexibility, funds and motivation to camp there, there are a lot of constraints due to family needs that require us to be in the city most of the time. Beyond the fantasy of living close to the nature, I look at it as a necessity to address the concerns about the quality of food and water we get in big cities. This is a problem I continue to think about but I'm not hopeful of finding a solution due to lack of shared madness within family for such a lifestyle.

Originally Posted by AltoLXI

Milton said - The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.

It's impossible to enjoy life unless one possesses a sense of contentment and balances it with the desire to have more.

[am1m]

Out of any of our cities for sure!

I loved Mumbai when I used to visit in my 20s and almost moved there from Bangalore. Now I can't imagine living there, my priorities have changed. Looking to leave Bangalore too, even though I was born and raised here. Need somewhere where I have some open spaces to walk to, where I don't see too many people. Or cars! (Odd on an automotive forum, I know!) The past 3 years working remote have only reinforced my belief that that's the right thing for me. A lot of people (wife included) keep saying that when it comes to retirement age (still a long way away though), better to be in a city, near a hospital. My take is (and this is just my opinion, applies to me) I'd rather spend those years happy in a quieter place than forced to live in a city just on the chance that getting quicker to the hospital will extend my life for a year or so. I'd rather take that risk, and die in a nicer area, than continue to live miserable in a crowded place. (Again, just my opinion.)

Ideal would be 3-6 months in different parts of the country, in different cities and towns. Would love a few months in Delhi (outside of the 'air pollution warning' months!), that city has so much history and so much to see. A few months in the North-East. Definitely a few months at Havelock. A season in Leh. Who knows, with all the work culture changes, and connectivity improvements that might be possible someday soon.

(But if I absolutely had to live in one of our cities- Bangalore (weather still rocks!) or Kochi (great use of the waterways and vibrant Fort Kochi scene!) would be the pick.)

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by GTO

If you just had to move to another place in India, where would you move & why?

A new place to move to would, for us, have to have certain criteria that the place fulfils.
1. A place where relatives & close friends of both my wife and me live, with whom we can continue to socialize;
2. Should have excellent medical support when needed;
3. Not be a terribly expensive place to live in, especially in terms of real estate and household maintenance costs;
4. Should have easy supply of all kinds of edibles (a place where people are preferably vegetarian, or has prohibition, such as Gujarat, isn't a preferred place);
5. Less polluted than where we presently live;
6. Should have reasonably good civic infrastructure, including power supply, telephony, Internet, roads and transport network, including an airport within reasonable distance;
7. Good weather - the cooler the better;
8. Good service support and fuel supply within a reasonable distance for the vehicles we own;
9. No language barrier - we are averse to learning a new language just to move to a new place, and Hindi, English or Bengali should be the accepted languages in the area; and
10. A place where we can continue to work and earn reasonably well professionally (or retire in peace).

Based on all these, we have sometimes considered whether Kolkata would be a suitable place for us to move to, but points #5 & #7 (and to an extent, #10) have been a deterrent for us.

[Pequod]

I have a transferable job and have lived in Mumbai, Panjim, Chennai, Villupuram (TN), Cochin and now Kollam (Kerala). Did my schooling partly in UAE and partly at my native, Varkala in Trivandrum District and college in Trivandrum.

From a vagrant perspective, there’s only one place I would put my money on – Goa. It’s cosmopolitan without all the fuss of Mumbai or Bangalore, has an incredible food scene, great nightlife, and I have my best friends there. The infrastructure, schooling and hospitals may not be on par with the big cities, but that’s a trade-off I am willing to make.

[chinkara]

Because of work, we are constrained to Mumbai / Delhi / Bangalore. Of these, I am pretty agnostic. We have fonder memories of Mumbai as we spent the year before and the year after our marriage there (and also the much discussed issues around safety of women etc.). Kolkata being my hometown will always be special, but maybe more for my wife than me. Of cities I have lived in I liked pretty much all - Pune, Guwahati, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Ahmedabad, Chennai.

But if there are no constraints - Havelock island in the Andamans. Yes, education and healthcare would be a problem, but no constraints - right?

[NomadSK]

I did discuss this with my family some years back and finally we came to the conclusion after long deliberations of what everyone wants.

Personally being into oil and gas industry for the last 24 years and still few more years to go, my work has taken me to some craziest places on planet earth from offshore to onshore. I have mostly lived my life away from cosmopolitan cities, in company oriented townships. Now currently being into a GCC country, I have to eventually move back and had few constraints.

Work wise I can deal with any weather conditions to sustain, but to live our lives peacefully, we have zero tolerance for pollution, traffic, hot and humid weather (We hate life in artificially regulated environment), hence already have decided and purchased a place in INDIA, which is in a small village (Yol), near Dharamshala, to take the recluse in future, once I hang up my boots and being a single kid parent, we don’t have any inhibition too.

Here is what I wake up to

[srini1785]

I'm still searching for Malgudi for making my ideal home, only problem is that it is no where to be found. So i am stuck in Bangalore. I don't have any regrets though since the locality i live in is mostly traffic free and livable. Goa/Karwar would be good locations for a second home. Yeah, a fantasy of mine.

[GhostGrid]

Without a doubt, Bengaluru would be the best choice in terms of professionalism. I stayed there for 12 years, and I can categorically state that the atmosphere here is completely different. I've travelled to Hyderabad, Pune, and the NCR, but Bengaluru is just different.

If working is not a constraint, then I would love to spend my whole life either in

Manipal: Particularly because of its diversity, peace of mind, modernity, and climate.

Panna: A small town in MP. The town has a very low population, is almost crime-free, and has no train or air service. With a national park and temples nearby, it is in fact a getaway from the bustle of daily life. But climate is the issue.

[jkrishnakj]

Madras : Yes. That is the city where I finished my engineering and I can happily live there. The heat and humidity aside, I simply love the vibe of that city

Pune : My first job took me there. I lived 10 years there and I can easily move there without an issue. Simple city (used to be), simple food, lovely weather etc. And Bombay isn’t too far away.

Coimbatore : That’s where my dad hails from and currently lives, with my mom. Having visited there several hundred times, I quite love that city. It’s as cosmo as much as it’s small town, an amalgamation kind of a culture. A place for industrialists and a place where you get to see lovely cars too. While it can be slightly more expensive compared to other cities in TN, it’s a place that can keep
You modern and yet take you to century old temples the next day.

[am1m]

Interesting to see a few votes for Manipal. Did all those voting to move to Manipal study there? I did (though I graduated more than 20 years ago) and for some time I too thought I'd like to head there on a more permanent basis. But over the past few visits, seeing a lot of urban sprawl (Udupi, on the other hand seems to have had a more controlled growth). The main road through the town seems chock full of buildings and brands. Lots of big residential buildings. Obviously it has beautiful, very accessible areas just around the town, and it's still much better than most neighborhoods in any of our bigger cities in terms of quality of life, but I'm wondering if the place soon will have the problems of a bigger town, without the resources to solve them.

Same with Goa, lots of votes for that place. Again, don't get me wrong, I love several parts of that state, have spent months together staying in a couple of places in South Goa. Once you switch from being a tourist in a hotel to someone staying longer term, you see some systemic issues like garbage collection and increasing number of stray dogs, with no attempts being made to solve either, outside of the main cities like Panaji. Of course, all our bigger cities have those issues too and quality of life is currently still better. But again, wonder if the state has the resources to handle those issues as they grow.

[Not posting to start some sort of 'which is better' thing, just would appreciate more clarity from people who have a better/more recent perspective on these two places about these issues.]

[Lalvaz]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

If I didn’t live and work and enjoy my time in Bangalore, the only place which is to me, worth considering moving to on a permanent basis is The Nilgiris.
And the blue skies of the Nilgiris are legendary as can be seen. The sight of those sheets of tea always evoke great happiness in my heart.

Your pics are amazing, the blue skies are so alluring, that I'm really tempted to pack up and move there pronto. Will definitely plan a holiday atleast so that I can experience this idyllic location in person.

Originally Posted by Samba

My dream stay will look something like this with a 4wd vehicle parked in front!

Attachment 2457308

Lovely pic indeed. Can't believe this is in India. Where exactly is this? Would love to stay here.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Lalvaz

Your pics are amazing, the blue skies are so alluring, Will definitely plan a holiday atleast so that I can experience this idyllic location in person..

Thanks for the appreciation on the pics.
All credit to Mother Nature and the iPhone 12 Pro Max Camera.
Best time for a holiday in Ooty is early December through mid April. After that it becomes frightfully chaotic with the Summer tourist madness.

[Samba]

Originally Posted by Lalvaz

Lovely pic indeed. Can't believe this is in India. Where exactly is this? Would love to stay here.

Thanks, this is at Harsil, Uttarakhand. We stayed at Sundar Homestay in Harsil. This cottage was located at a walking distance from our stay.

You can find the details about our Harsil trip here-
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...uster-awd.html (Sailed through Uttarakhand in a Nexon & a Duster AWD)