'India is a place to rest and relax'

Expat zone

She introduced zumba training in Delhi for the first time in 2009. A year later, Dianne Cobb Pennisi moved to Bengaluru and introduced the fitness programme in the city as well. She gradually fell in love with the weather here and decided to stay on instead of going back to the capital.

Dianne moved to the city six years ago but time has not  diminished her liking for Bengaluru and she is cherishing every moment here. Hailing from the United States of America, Dianne was born in New York and comes from a family of five, including her sisters and parents. “I have practically lived in different countries for the better part of my life. I was in Africa for five years and then returned to the States to study. I spent 15 years doing modelling in Italy where I was also a horse (show jumpers) trainer for a while. I decided to move back to my native place and worked with the United Airlines as a flight attendant for 20 years. I retired after that and decided to come to India,” explains Dianne, saying that she has got the best of three worlds. Elaborating  that, she says, “I have my family in the US and I do my shopping there whenever I visit them. I also shop in Thailand where I pick up a lot of cooking ingredients that I can’t find here. And India is a place to rest and relax for me.”

She has visited many places in India like Chandigarh, Amritsar, Agra, Jaipur, Mumbai and Chennai. And Bengaluru, she says, has been treating her quite well. Though it took her a while, she says she has finally found her space  here and has found her way around the city.

So did she face any discrimination in the city? “Not that I can think of. It’s probably because I am so oblivious to it. But there was this one time when I was walking down a street with an African student who understood a little Hindi. A few local boys passed a comment saying ‘kaliya’, which the student translated for me as ‘black’.

I got a little angry but he asked me to be calm and pretend that it didn’t happen. That is another reason why I keep to myself,” states Dianne.

Reminiscing about her childhood in New York, she says that growing up there was wonderful, adding that the beauty of that phase was enhanced by her travels. “As a child, travelling to different places gave me great exposure. I believe travelling is the best way to learn new things. I learnt my second language, ‘Swahili’, when I moved to Africa,” she adds.

New York, she says, is a beautiful place where one can experience everything.
However, she doesn’t want to move back to the Big Apple as she feels that she is not meant for the city anymore.

So after staying here for so long, can she call Bengaluru home? “I define home as a space where one is most comfortable and where there are people who understand you and whom you can relate to. It would be nice to have the family here too, but
unfortunately, that is not meant to be. I think I would consider Italy as my home as I have relatives there, the culture is something I can relate to and I can also speak the language fluently. Also, the men there are so romantic. I just love their style,” explains Dianne.

Dianne terms the weather here as ‘phenomenal’. She loves how everything here is so colourful, be it the saris, the music or the festivals. For her, the Hindu traditions are new and the different ceremonies are a unique experience. She also finds the
temple structures very fascinating. She admires bharathanatyam and also finds the theatre scene in Bengaluru to be very vibrant.

Dianne says she doesn’t have many Indian friends as the culture here is more
family-oriented and she finds it hard to look for someone who shares similar interests. 

Though she has been here for quite some time, she has still not got used to the food. Somehow, she can’t get herself to eat food with a lot of ‘masala’ as it is too strong for her. 

However, she does like ‘naans’ and tandoori dishes.

“I love visiting Shangri-La Hotel for their buffet. I like visiting ‘Yataii’ there. Since the hotel is close to my friend’s house, this makes it an even more obvious choice,” she says.

So what does she like to do for leisure? “I swim four times a week and also spend time at one of my friend’s house. I like to read books and visit museums as well. I am presently learning Japanese as I got a job offer at a Japanese company. It is like a barter system with my friends; they teach me Japanese and I teach them English and take workshops on table etiquette. I love gardening and I am putting together a terrace garden too,” Dianne says with a smile.