His first visit to Bangalore was close to disastrous in 2006. “My fight was delayed and I reached somewhere in the wee hours of the morning. My car was attacked by dogs and I had to stay on the only mud-road I'd seen in Koramangala. However, from day two onwards, I actually took a liking to Bangalore,” says Benjamin Harink, a German who has now made this city home.
Back then he had only come to Bangalore for an internship but after finishing his MBA, a job opportunity in the city beckoned him to pack his bags and move to India in October 2008. “I've majored in International Management and Intercultural Communications with a focus on Asia which in theory sounds nice. But I was keen on getting some firsthand experience working and living in Asia. So when I got the offer in Bangalore, it was a perfect opportunity and I was quite happy about it,” the expat explains.
Currently working as an assistant marketing manager for Rentokil, a British pest control MNC, Benjamin is based in Bangalore but his position requires him to travel extensively.
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Stating that he hasn't been around long enough to witness major changes in the city, he laughs when he says: “Well, that mud-street has been paved.”
“I'm amazed at how fast constructions are done in Bangalore. The shifting of the airport was a good move although one loses quite a good amount of time travelling to the new one. Sadly, the city is losing much of its green cover. Thankfully, there are a lot more ‘foreign' food items in the market, such as different kinds of cheese, just in case I ever miss home,” he adds.
The one thing about Bangalore that fascinates this young expat is that he thinks there countless things one can do within and around the city. He also finds that “people are generally very approachable and helpful and it is easy to make friends. Compared to many other places in this world, and from what I have experienced so far, Bangalore seems to be a very peaceful city. I have not personally encountered any assaults or aggressions and I feel quite safe here.”
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Bangalore's weather and also the fact that people are very fluent in English here make it convenient for foreigners who decide to settle here. Considering he enjoys travelling, Benjamin takes off to places like Mandya, Mysore, Belur and Halebid whenever he gets the chance to do so. “Even though I have been to most of these places at least twice, I never really grow tired of visiting them again,” he states.
If he has any complaints about the city, it has got to do with the roads and the crazy traffic. He opines: The roads are too narrow for the amount of traffic they see daily so I prefer using public transport. It is also quite difficult to just walk from one place to another, as the condition of sidewalks, if present, is quite bad.”
But Benjamin Harink believes there's no place as good as Bangalore in India and if there's something he still wants to get a hang of about India, it's got to be “a complete culinary understanding of Indian food”.