Santanu Kundu: An Indian IT Specialist in Cologne

He only had a vague idea of Germany and did not speak German -- today he feels at home in the country.

DW-WORLD: You have been living in Germany for the past two-and-a-half years. How does it feel to be a South Asian in Germany?

Santanu Kundu: As a South Asian, I feel quite comfortable. When I initially came to Germany, I was a bit scared, since I was not sure how open the Germans would be. What I'd read about the Germans was that they keep quite close and normally did not open up to foreigners. So I was a bit anxious. But once I started mixing with the Germans, I realised that they are a quite warm-hearted people. Obviously it takes some time and the language is mostly the barrier. But slowly and steadily, once you get their mood and the temper, I think everything becomes all right. It took me six months to settle down and after that life has been pretty smooth for me.

Do you speak German fluently now, or how do you communicate?

No, I do not speak German. Actually in my office I do not require German to communicate. Our client is a multi-national, global client and the medium of communication is always English. So I have never faced any problems at the office. Outside the office and especially because I am living in a commercial and tourist-infested city like Cologne, I find that most of the people can speak English. And when I come across a person who does not speak English, he or she can always make himself or herself understood through body language or gestures. Besides, my wife has been learning German for the past one-and-a-half years at the Goethe Institute and she manages to do the groceries. Buying things in a supermarket was the biggest problem when we initially landed in Germany, because for that one needs to know the corresponding German names.

Are there other South-Asians working in your company or are they all Germans?

Our company, the German branch of Tata Consultancy Services, is called TCS Germany GmbH and its main branch is situated in Frankfurt am Main. Our workforce has a good number of foreigners, which include Indians, and also Germans. And currently they have started recruiting Germans on a larger scale. So we have Germans everywhere -- from the top to the bottom. But I am sitting in Cologne at the client’s office.

Have you ever faced any kind of discrimination at your workplace or out of it?

I personally have never felt any kind of discrimination at my workplace. And outside? Well, all the five fingers of the hand are not similar. Germans are generally gentle enough not to say anything to your face, but at times from the gestures one can understand that they are not really interested in getting close to you. Maybe it’s because of my skin colour. But then again that's a part of life.

Is life in Germany different from that in India?

Of course. From an Indian or a South Asian perspective, I would say the first difference that you face coming to a European country is that you have to do everything on your own. In India we are not accustomed to doing everything by ourselves. Small things, you know. For example, something is not working, you've run out of something at home, or you have to press your clothes, you have to make your bed, you have to cook your own food, you have to take out the garbage and dump it in the right place. All these little things. How you organise your work at home and at the office. It takes time to get adjusted to this system, you know. So that was a kind of challenge. But it is also fun. This is also the first time that I am in a foreign country with my wife. I have been to other countries. But I was a bachelor at the time. So it is also a new experience for my wife. Now, after spending almost two-and-a-half-years in Germany, I can say that we have really enjoyed this experience. We have a strict division of labour. I press the clothes and my wife Mou cooks for us and we never poke our noses into each other's territory. When she is cooking I never interfere and when I am pressing clothes, she never tells me how to do it properly.

What does Mou do in Germany apart from the housework?

Mou was a lecturer back in India, at the Rani Birla Girls College, and she specialized in education for spastic children, like children with cerebral palsy. But here you cannot get a job that easily. You need to do a certificate course in German, which takes a long time and we are still not sure how long we'll be staying here. So she has started working for her Ph.D. Besides she also works for Oxfam and maintains our social contacts.

These 'social contacts', are they mostly South-Asians or are they Germans?

80 percent of the people with whom my wife has made friends are Germans. Her German circle of friends is really large. She has been working for Oxfam for the past two years and most of her colleagues there are Germans. She actually enjoys being there rather than staying at home.

Back home, you used to be part of a Bengali music band as a singer. Don’t you miss that part of your life here in Germany?

Of course. But honestly speaking, it would have been difficult to proceed with my musical interests besides the work and the family even if there'd been a chance. I was active in the band only during my university days. But I have kept in touch with the group via e-mail, voice-mail, telephone and here, whenever I get a chance to sing, I participate willingly.

What do you like most about the Germans?

Santanu Kundu: I really appreciate their civic sense. A normal German would never spit on the road. The sense of cleanliness and the kind of sophistication they have, I would really like to see that in my own country. For this kind of discipline, you need strong moral sense. For example, the city I come from, there is a huge metro system. You can imagine what it takes to create such a metro system in a poor country like India. I think even if you cannot create something new, you should maintain the thing you have. But you will see people spiting inside the metro station there. I really feel bad about this kind of mentality. I'd really like the people in my country to adopt the German mentality. Even in countries like Switzerland, the UK or the USA, people know how to preserve what they have. They treasure them. That's what we should learn from the western world.

You have been to other countries. If you had a choice between staying in the West and going back to India, what would you do?

Home is home. No country can be compared to India. But if I am given a choice to go to the US or to stay in Germany, I'd prefer Germany because I see a similarity between the Germans and Indians. Their family values are very strong. Both the Germans and the Indians are very home-bound, family-bound people. I was in the United States twice before coming to Germany. But I could never get used to life there. I am really a family man and that's why I feel very comfortable in Germany. I have many German friends, apart from a world of my own.