Non resident Indians are found in almost every country on the globe and wherever they go they carry India within their hearts. They hold on tight to their food habits, their beliefs, their customs, language, dress, traditions etc. Shops crop up in distant parts of the earth to satisfy the NRI’s craving for their ethnicity. Festivals are celebrated with much gusto and zeal, in traditional dresses purchased for many times what they are worth in India. Tables are laden with every Indian dish and sweet and strains of Indian music light up the evening. Most NRIs, while enjoying the material benefits of different parts of the developed world, still long for India. Their greatest desire is that their children should be steeped in their own Indian culture, customs and traditions. To achieve this, many dream of returning to India and in recent years, with the developments and financial boom here, this dream has seemed attainable to many and a large number of NRIs have taken the step of coming back to their roots.
Has this move come up to expectations? We decided to ask a diverse group of NRIs that has returned from different parts of the world, what were the challenges and rewards of their move to Pune. Some were more open and forthcoming, others a little hesitant. A couple asked us not to use their real names. Most had many good things to say and also offered a few suggestions for improvement, for there is no reason on Earth why Pune cannot be brought up to par with other more developed cities of the world. And who better to offer advice than Indians who have lived aboard and enjoyed the facilities there? Our group consisted of Charishma Ramchandani who has lived most of her life previously in Muscat, Aparna Mazumdar, whose husband was a research scientist previously in The US and who had returned to India from Utah with her family after her husband had got a job in Pune, Neha Moorjani, a Puneite originally, who has returned from Zambia for her daughters’ education. Others were The Parmars who had returned to India from the US after 15 years, Naresh Budhrani who had been born and brought up in Hong Kong and had moved to Pune in 2005 and Neeta (name changed) who had lived all her life in Japan and Hong Kong and had moved to Pune with her husband and children.
Charishma Ramchandani, who lives with her parents, is very enthusiastic about living in Pune. Besides Muscat she has also lived in Florida and feels that India and Pune is for her. According to her it is a place where one can grow, earn, learn, care and share, and be with family and friends. It is a land where you don't feel the undercurrent of being out of place. She has had only good times mainly and thanks God each morning for that. She loves the climate especially the monsoons, finds the people helpful and friendly, environment peaceful and getting around, not that bad. She delights in the many festivals and treasures these moments of closeness to her culture and her people. Charishma has trained as a Nursery school teacher here and plans on opening her own nursery in the new Academic year.
Of course settling down for them has not been cakewalk. There have been horror stories and struggles with the likes of Internet service providers, gas agencies, telecom companies and even the MSEB, when they did not have power for over twenty days. Getting workmen for repairs as well as household help too has not been easy, but these have with help, been managed finally. Though she would like to see more regulated traffic, better roads, and toilets for men and women, over and above her life here has been an extremely positive experience and she is relishing every moment of it.
Arpana Mazumdar used to work as a lab specialist in the nephrology department of the VA Medical Center, Salt Lake City, Utah. Though her move involved the usual difficulties of internet, gas and phone connections, laid back attitude of the workmen, difficulty in getting maids and drivers etc, her real challenge has been helping her girls to adjust to what she describes as a drastically different environment. She has to give them more time and attention as they adjust here. She has faced problems with her family adjusting to the environment here, and managed by spending time with them and having her family as well as friends visit from Kolkata. She feels that perhaps the transition was harder for them as Pune isn’t their home town. She is positive though, that the results of the move will soon come up to their expectations.
When asked if they felt closer to their culture here than in the US, Arpana said that her family was in touch with their roots and culture in the US as well as Pune. They had many culturally enriching programs such as music, drama, and colourful celebrations of all traditional festivals in the US which they did together as an NRI community. Her family shares a common passion for music, which they continue to participate in, in Pune as well.
Arpana who is also trying to get more involved in NGOs and children’s organizations here in Pune, loves the weather as well as the people of Pune, but thinks the infrastructure here is not up to mark for a city of this size. She is certain that it can and should be better managed. She suggests that better roads, more flyovers and traffic lights, less load shedding, and preservation of natural resources, and more open air areas like parks, where people can spend time, can definitely raise the living standards in Pune. The many ancient vehicles on the roads, that release inordinate amounts of harmful gases, which are unhealthy to inhale and pollute the air unbearably, also need to be taken care of. Littering too is a major issue concerning the city. It not only makes the city appear untidy, but is harmful to the environment and strict action should be taken to prevent it.
She asserts Pune is a city naturally blessed with hills, lakes, and a pleasant climate, and we need to make use of it efficiently.
Neha Moorjani returned to India with her girls because she wanted a quality life for them, as life in Zambia was pretty lonely and there was not much to do after school. They did not face many of the normal problems that most NRIs have had to struggle with, as they already had their apartment and getting admission in school was not hard at all.
Things though are not the way she expected, as much in Pune has changed from what she knew and for the worse.
She worries a lot about her girls, as kids nowadays she says, want to hang out a lot and give less time to their studies. There is too much exposure to a lot of negative things. When they are out one doesn't know with whom they interact. It’s frightening to hear that someone met with an accident and got himself killed. She did expect India to be much safer. She adds that bringing up kids is a challenge anywhere in the world today. The girls do have a better social life with friends in their complex who they enjoy meeting and playing with in the evenings.
About the city she says that there is too much haphazard development and bad infrastructure. Pune is getting dirtier and the roads are pot ridden. Nothing is organised and traffic has increased by leaps and bounds.
She adds that though Zambia is a third world country and there is a lot of corruption and illiteracy, the people are more courteous. The infrastructure too is better and the traffic is more organised.
Neha’s husband is still in Zambia and comes down every two three months at which time they just eat out mainly. As she drives, she avoids traveling to the outskirts of Pune, which can be an ordeal due to the traffic. In general the traffic does put her off going out most of the time.
Mohini Parmar who was a travel consultant and lived in the US for 15 years, has been living in Pune for about a year now. She and her husband chose Pune for their son’s education; after all it is called the ‘Oxford of the East’. Another reason was that they wished him to learn and understand their culture. The climate too is definitely better than that of many of the bigger cities. Of course settling down has been fraught with difficulties. Getting admission in school for her son was a big problem. She was shocked by the arrogant behavior of the school administration. It was also difficult to get internet and gas connections. After making a payment for an internet connection, she was told by the company that the internet would be connected within 5 days. However, it took almost four weeks to finally get it. It took six months to get a gas connection. During this period she had to use a single electric stove since she refused to buy a gas cylinder in the black market. Transportation continues to be a problem in the area she lives in. What she really considers as a major problem is cheating and lying by at least 75% of the people she has dealt with. A frustrating experience she is still learning to deal with. Traffic too is a problem as the roads are bad and people normally do not follow traffic rules.
She would like to see a better planned and developed infrastructure. She says that wherever dishonest, corrupt and value destroying people are in charge of the development process, the people of that place suffer with haphazard progress.
Though the move has not come up to all their expectations, she does say that she has been able to bring her son approximately 60% closer to his roots, tradition, culture, spirituality, etc.
Naresh Budhrani has now lived in Pune for two years. He moved here for business reasons and also because his family lives here. For him the most difficult part was getting accustomed to the way the people handled things here. Nothing was systematic and it was hard for him to get used to that. Now, though it’s been two years, he does see some light at the end of the tunnel. Things don’t seem as bad to him as they felt in the beginning.
Naresh loves Pune’s greenery; though it is diminishing it’s still far more than Hong Kong. He is also happy that his children are learning the language and getting closer to their grandparents. He enjoys going to the gym and plans to take up ballroom dancing but wishes that there were more playgrounds for children and more recreational places for adults. He does add that that when they got here, there were hardly any malls or places to go to but now slowly there are more places to visit.
Naresh advises any NRIs who wish to move to Pune to be very patient as it takes time to get used to the people and the way things are done here.
Neeta who did not wish me to use her real name, is a paralegal who has now lived in Pune close to two years, with her husband and two children. She has lived in Japan and Hong Kong all her life before moving here. Their main reason for moving was the lack of educational and career opportunities for their two children and also because they wished to be closer to family. Neeta has been lucky as she has not faced many of the normal problems of household help, labour etc. She is also satisfied with the school. They did, however, expect it to be cheaper to live in Pune then in Japan but strangely in many ways it is not.
Equally strange is the fact that the everyday experience of culture and spirituality is far stronger in the little Hindu temples or Indian communities abroad. There is more “unity” and bonding abroad that is missing here. She feels that children in India do not like religion and prayer. She misses that part of her life in Japan – the closeness of all the Indians in the community and the coming together during certain festivals, weddings, births, and even deaths. Her children frequented the temple and learned the ancient mantras and prayers in Japan. When they planned moving to Pune, she had expected they would be coming home to the “roots of spirituality” but those roots are being uprooted and immorality taking over. Indians in India she says are aping the western habits in all the wrong ways. Instead of learning good HR, managerial and PR skills from the west, Indians are learning how to use guns to shoot their fellow classmates, expose their skin, use abusive language, disrespect their elders, teachers, and have attitudes not only with others but also with themselves. She finds this extremely sad.
On the whole though, Neeta enjoys living here. She has nice neighbours, likes the food and the fact that it is a quiet place unlike bustling cities like Mumbai, Hong Kong or Tokyo. She appreciates the peace and quiet. She likes to walk and swim in her housing society and enjoys reading. She has also been quite lucky to have found a home-based job in the legal field in Pune. She is also happy to be close to her family as her children can now spend quality time with their grandparents and uncles, aunts and cousins. This was something that they missed abroad.
She does however; dislike the pollution, the garbage on the streets and the nonchalant attitude of the people staying here, which seems to say that “yahan sub kuch chalta hai”.
According to her, the citizens need to be more responsible about their neighborhood and those living in it, not just themselves. Garbage control is very important. She advises the builders of magnificent housing complexes, to go a few extra steps and pave the street outside, rather than dump their construction garbage there!
She very rightly says that the general feeling should be of a PUNE for US. Not a PUNE for ME, which should generate a feeling of brotherhood and a sense of working together for the betterment of Pune as a whole.
In conclusion as an NRI who has moved to Pune myself, I can only add that Pune is a beautiful city; it has a climate one dreams about, is bright, colourful, vibrant, thriving and throbbing with life. It has its own many attractive characteristics and is a melting pot, within which so many diverse and interesting cultures flourish. Pune though is also on its way to take its place among the cities of the world and for this, care has to be taken that its offerings are equal to what they offer. Complacency should be avoided at all costs. With a little bit of forethought, proper planning and execution many of its shortcomings can be corrected. It would be great to find good roads, landscaping, proper services and facilities and all the other things that most residents of developed countries take for granted in their daily lives.
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