Expatriates love Bangalore for its cosmopolitan lifestyle, salubrious environment, food and people. Jenny Adlem, an expat from the UK, shares her experiences here.
When Jenny Adlem left Bristol in the UK and moved to Bangalore, she was only following her heart. She had no specific plans or visions of what she would do with her life here. She impulsively agreed to join her Australian boyfriend, who was getting transferred here — a decision she has come to thoroughly enjoy.
"Everything is new and exciting. I can just look around, wander and be fascinated by even the buildings around me," shares Jenny, who is taking her time to soak in the charm of the City.
While she has had a few moments of distress, her time here has been mostly good so far. "There have been no big challenges; just small things like crossing the road are very different from how it is at home. I guess it just takes a little time to adjust to it all," smiles the young expat. "I can't stand the mosquitoes. It's just not something I'm used to with their constant, annoying biting!" she adds.
The mosquitoes may annoy her but she is particularly intrigued by the animals on the roads of Bangalore. "There are cows and goats everywhere! This would never have happened in London. I love how casual the cows are — the way they just stroll and stop on the road whenever they want. It's incredible," she laughs.
Ask her what she does here and she replies proudly, "I'm teaching English to underprivileged students of grades four, six and seven in a school called Sukrupa (RT Nagar). It's a little hard because it's different from my teaching job in London."
"Initially, they didn't understand me because they probably hadn't heard British accent before. Now, the communication is much better. Here, the kids are always fascinated by me and crowd around wherever I go. They are a bit cheeky, but compared to London,
where the kids can swear at you and throw things, Indian kids are like angels!" she elaborates.
While a lot of people come to India and explore the food and culture, Jenny is attracted to something quite different.
She says, "What I'm really interested in is fabric and designs. I want to know about Indian block printing and meet the artisans who do it."
She is quick to add that her journey with Indian food has been one which she'll never forget.
"The first thing I had here was the masala dosa, which was very good. There's a lot of Indian food, especially curries, in the UK. But it's not the same. Even at the school, lunch is always an Indian meal with different curries, dal, rotis, rice and things like that."
She confesses that both she and her boyfriend are becoming big fans of Indian music, saying, "We've attended two classical Indian concerts with some father-and son-duo playing. We've been to some jazz bars as well. I like that there's a lot of live music here, but the bad thing is that everything closes so early. You don't get to enjoy it properly."
Like many others who have travelled from afar, she decided to maintain a blog, which she started writing before moving here.
The 29-year-old says, "Back then, it was just a way to keep my friends and family updated about what I was doing and where I was. Now, it's kind of like my dairy here. It's good to write down my experiences of a new place since I travel a lot and it's hard to remember all the stories from my travels."
Has her perception of India changed after moving here? "I suppose I always had an image of India of being very poor, with beggars everywhere. I thought it'd be full of hippies and ashrams. But these aren't true of Bangalore," she concludes.