Shifting of household from one place to another is a difficult task indeed. Since the time, I moved out of Chennai in 1994, I just keep on hopping from one place to another from time and again. As long as I was single, I had little or no problems. However, once I tied the nuptial knot, I find it difficult.
Yup. There are agencies that does the packing and moving job efficiently that they take care of your shifting hassles, blah, blah! It is a blatant truth, hiring such agencies add to your head aches rather than reducing.
It is easy to list down the activities, first being Sorting as we do in 5S. Dispose off all the unwanted items / junks collected in your house so long. This is quite easier to say than following. Decision making takes time and poses more problems. Re-visiting again and again gets rid of most of the junk. Such exercises, if repeatedly done, you will become a saint as you will lost an attachment with every item around you.
Next to organize. Classify the items as kitchen, grocery, make-up kits, dress, consumer goods, vehicles, files and papers, valuables (mostly gold ornaments), utensils, toilet kits, etc., If you had cartons with you, I would prefer, you do the packing yourself. The so-called professional packers seldom care for the items’ life and damage of the same is guaranteed.
Now number the cartons one after another. Make a separate list of which carton has what and keep it with you. It helps to claim with the movers if lost in the way!
It sounds easy but when I tried to do so, my wife screamed at me. “You pay them 10K and still you want to do all these. Leave it to the experts!” she said. It sounded right to me. However, what happened to me was totally different.
My first movement was to Kenya from India. However, as I was single and simply carried a suitcase and nothing else. Everything else was provided by my employer and I had not hassles. But 4 years later, I had to move to Ahmedabad from Chennai. This was my first experience and the agencies I hired did a good job of course.
My troubles started from Ahmedabad. A year later, I had to come back to Chennai. This time, the efficiency was only 75% of what I experience a year before. However, no damage occurred to my goods nor anything was lost.
My next move is to Pondicherry from Chennai. This was tedious. Though only 150 kms away, we had the toughest of the time as the movers did not have the right permit to enter Pondy. He took detour of almost all of Tamilnadu to gain entry into Pondy resulting in damages to my some household goods. It scored only 60% of my previous experience.
The next move is to Vapi from Pondicherry. This experience was smooth and no problems but for mild damages to my cup-board. Till now, I used to move at frequent intervals, say once in 2 years. However, at Vapi I stayed little longer say 4½ years.
Moving to Pune was a nightmare. I did not face much problems earlier though I was moving frequently. I do not know this is because I lost the touch in these 4 years or what, I had a ball of trouble in my stomach all the time.
The movers came on dot. However, they were too fast that they did not plan or organize their activities. They kept on dumping whatever they found in cartons and started packing. Thank God, I packed the most important things myself that saved me I think now.
The goods did not reach me on time. They had problems as the paper was not right (they clubbed commercial goods along with my household goods). My things were damaged. I incurred more loss despite paying them a hefty sum. I have to mention their name as I cannot forget them in my life time. I have to mention because, I do not want others to get cheated by them. Whoever reads this, will not choose him at the least. They are Singhania packers and movers. Please do not choose them if you are moving from one place to another in India.
My experience says, only hire a truck. You can pack your own goods. All that you have to do is to procure cartons that can be managed.
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