Expatriates love Bangalore for its cosmopolitan lifestyle, salubrious environment, food and people. Laura, an expat from Germany, shares her experiences here
Having landed in Bangalore from halfway across the world —Frankfurt, in Germany, to be precise — Laura describes how her one-year stay in the City has undergone a spectrum of phases.
Taking a voluntary year to work with an Indian NGO, Laura admits that she hadn't arrived in the City with many expectations at first.
Now, however, after getting used to the system, the people and the language, she has gradually come to embrace the City for all its worth.
"The curfew was a bit irritating in the beginning," admits a smiling Laura, adding, "but you get used to it."
She now has an active social life and plenty of local friends.
Laura especially enjoys the fact that despite the City being so large, she ends up bumping into the same people, friends and colleagues, time and again.
"Who would've thought Bangalore had a population of about eight million
people?" she chuckles. "I love meeting people again and again, despite the large
population," she continues.
Besides the people, Laura is fascinated by the variety of Indian food available in the City.
"I keep trying different Indian food," she smiles. But isn't our desi cuisine too spicy for her?
"Oh, yes!" she replies, but she happily describes her newfound solution to the problem.
"By now, my flatmates know that they have to serve me extra curd," she counters.
Laura has even picked up a few commonly used Kannada phrases from her local friends and colleagues.
"Saako, saako," she demonstrates, proudly. Unlike most other visitors to the City, Laura states that for her, the language has not been a problem so far. "Nobody has problems understanding the way I speak," she says.
In fact — perhaps because she has no issues with the language — Laura is successfully able to navigate her way about the City, without any hassle. "I ride a scooter in my locality," she says. "And though I don't use the public buses, I am comfortable with traveling longer distances by autorickshaws," she shrugs.
As she recalls travelling on the City's roads, an amused smile creeps on to her face.
"I really love the cows running around here and there," she laughs. She then launches off into an entertaining story.
"One day I was sitting in the living room, and I was so surprised to see a cow stroll casually past my window!" she exclaims, adding, "and I nodded to it and said 'Oh, hi! How's it going?' as it walked by!"
Describing how different life in Bangalore is from her life back in Frankfurt, Laura thinks back to the time she first arrived in the City.
"Well, the whole City seems extremely chaotic at the first glance," she says. After introspecting for a few moments, she continues, "But if you take a closer look, you will see that there are systems in place, which work well behind the chaos."
Despite enjoying everything that the City has to offer, Laura does miss her home country as well.
"I will be leaving Bangalore in about four months," she says, mentally counting. "Though I am happy to go back, I will miss it dearly," she adds, smiling sadly.
She then recalls a German phrase, which describes exactly how she feels about her departure - "It will be a bittersweet farewell," she sums up.