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INDIAN JOURNEY The Great Indian Vibes A tête-à-tête with Karole Csurgay, Project Director, Bombardier, as spoken to Surita Banerjee Twelve years back Karole Csurgay was to come to Delhi for a year’s assignment, but stayed on for seven years. He went back to his head office in Zurich and now is back in Delhi for another assignment. He has been here for the last 3 months, along with wife Patricia and 5 children from the age of 3 months to 12 years old. He cannot contain his excitement when he starts reminiscing about his days in India 12 years ago and what it is like now. Then and Now… Many things have changed; have gone the western way like other western countries. My wife explained it very well recently. She preferred how it was before with small markets and small shops. She loved the ambience then. Now with shopping malls it’s becoming like Europe. At that time we loved the fact that we could turn into a road without looking behind. But today the traffi c is so dense and we sit in traffi c jams for hours. It wasn’t so bad the fi rst time round. Professionally Speaking… Our company is in the transportation segment everywhere; we are into locomotives making high speed trains in the mountains, metros, trams, suburban trains and all kinds of transportation systems. I have been moving in various divisions within the company. I’ve always been responsible for projects abroad in Spain, Sweden, Germany, France etc. Now I’m the project director leading the side of production of metro cars here and acting as a central interface to the Delhi Metro, our customer. Now the people we are dealing with here are very professional. In my previous stay, we were dealing with Indian Railways and now we are dealing with a private undertaking that is focusing on solutions within the time-
One interesting aspect I noted was in India they want us, as foreign experts, to report to the management directly whereas in Spain we were in the background and they had their local managers in the forefront. Here we directly interface with our Indian cus-tomers. This is because here imported quality is very highly respected. Personally Speaking… My roots are Hungarian but it’s not important for me to be in touch with the Hungarian community only. I am very open to other communities. We have a lot of Indian people around us whom we love very much. Indians have a very special place in my heart. I have never felt so many emotions in other countries. Here it doesn’t have to be friends or colleagues. I meet people and I feel an exchange of emotions on some kind of spiritual level. We have very good memories of the 7 years we spent here. We met people here whom we loved very much. The people we loved most are the very simple people like our guard, driver, and people around us who gave us a lot of affection and vice versa. Recharging my Batteries… I am loading my batteries here much more than there. It’s easy to recharge your batteries because people here listen. I feel that there is a spiritual and emotional chord existing in India. There are so many people in the streets here but if you look deeper in their eyes they look happy as opposed to people in the west who are economically independent but so grim when you see them on the trains and that’s depressing. IT WAS IN 2003 WHEN I WAS GOING BACK HOME AT THE END OF THE FIRST LEG OF OUR ASSIGNMENT. OUR DRIVER RAVINDRAN TOOK US TO THE AIRPORT FOR THE LAST TIME. WHEN I LOOKED BACK TO WAVE GOODBYE HE WAS CRYING AND SHAKING. THESE KINDS OF EMOTIONS DON’T EXIST IN EUROPE ANYMORE. Karole Csurgay with wife Patricia and 5 children from the age of 3 months to 12 years old Strange Contradiction… In India you are not talking about many things like relationships and sex. There is a lack of openness. I am not sure if it is a tradition issue or an education issue or is it just plain ignorance. Even the educated refrain from talking about such issues. There are too many taboo issues for our understanding here. On the other hand, it’s an interesting contradiction – they maybe having taboo issues but emotionally Indians are much closer to us than many other Europeans who are so open minded. So this is a funny contradiction. Having our Daughter here… It was a very interesting experience when our second child was born here 11 years ago. It was a very professional, very well equipped and clean hospital. In Europe husbands can be there at the time of labour and delivery of the baby; this is fully normal for our understanding as it’s a very important time for the mother and she needs her husband there. But here it’s otherwise. This I tried to explain to the doctor here. They said “Yes,” but when the baby was born I wasn’t there. But overall it was a great experience for my wife. Children’s Experience… We have 5 children – 3 of them in the American School and 1 in the German School; the youngest one is only 3 month old. They love it here, especially because we stay in a farmhouse and they have a lot of space. But sometimes they do feel a little restricted. INDIAN JOURNEY In Europe they used to be on their own gowe are not used to that I won’t leave my children alone on the road on a bicycle. Firstly you don’t see too many kids on the bicycle here and secondly, the traffi c is too dangerous for them. They are always dependent on a driver. So they are not as autonomous as they are over there. Most Unforgettable Moment… It was in 2003 when I was going back home at the end of the fi rst leg of our assignment. Our driver Ravindran took us to the airport for the last time. When I looked back to wave goodbye he was crying and shaking. These kinds of emotions don’t exist in Europe anymore. Tips to New Expatriates… We didn’t have a specifi c perception of India or any expectations before we came here. We are both very open to almost anything that comes to us. In fact we try to keep our eyes open and jump to opportunities. India has been a pleasurable opportunity of learning and discovery. If an expat who moves to India accepts the challenges, it’s already a big step. Most people on earth want to stay in their own environment where they feel safe. But if somebody is ready to give up the home life and move to India, he should accept and assimilate what’s happening here and not try to change it because we don’t have to become Indians to enjoy the stay here. So keep your optimism levels high. The way to be happy here is not to be transformed and
Page 3 and 4: Vol. II • Issue 4 • November 20
Page 5 and 6: T E N T Delhi the City of Monuments
Page 7 and 8: Though relocation agencies assist e
Page 9: Apartment at Indirapuram, Ghaziabad
Page 12 and 13: ENTERPRISE but in 1972, Deborah’s
Page 14: ENTERPRISE COLOURS The Art of Mehen
Page 17 and 18: Singh. When Lisa and Dan Leonard ca
Page 19: law, education, IT, health educatio
Page 22 and 23: FESTIVE WATCH Politicians present a
Page 24 and 25: MELTING POT A Delicacy from the Sou
Page 26 and 27: HERITAGE WALK Red Fort inside view
Page 28 and 29: HERITAGE WALK Safdarjung’s Tomb S
Page 33 and 34: WHAT’S IN Oh! Calcutta By Surita
Page 35 and 36: WHAT’S IN Dreaming Vishnus Dreami
Page 37 and 38: O SON OF MAN! I loved thy creation,
Page 39 and 40: For the trailing spouse, getting in
Page 41 and 42: serene park down by the edge of the
Page 43 and 44: ‘Unprincess!’ has three stories
Page 45 and 46: Musical Instruments In India music
Page 47 and 48: Picture Puzzle Use the picture clue
Page 51 and 52: IN PICTURES The Expat Cup Qutub Gol
Page 53: IN PICTURES Glimpses of the Santa F
Page 56: CULTURAL CURRY A taboo throughout t
Page 60: Group of Delhi Expats camel excursi

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