'People used to stare at me'

Expat zone

Those who have been Bangaloreans for their lifetime may crib a thousand times about the City’s many ills. But Jescar Gonzalves, a Tanzanian who moved to the City to pursue her undergraduate studies, has fallen in love with the City.

The African not only speaks a smattering of Kannada, Hindi and Tamil but is all set to act in a couple of Sandalwood movies. She was keen to move to Bangalore and told her friend who had already settled in the City to get her admission in a good college. Now Jescar doesn’t want to leave the City for she’s more of a Bangalorean.

Ask her how many Indian languages she has learnt and it isn’t too long before she begins to rattle out what she knows: allavarkum vanakam (hello everyone) in Tamil, Ooota aiyatha (had food?) in Kannada, but she says she prefers talking in Hindi. “It’s an easy language and I have picked it up faster than any other Indian language,” she says.

Jescar too like any other expat took her time to settle down in the City. At first, she found the people really weird. She has a craze for experimenting with hairstyles and Jescar sports some of the craziest and weirdest styles, ‘salsa’ being her favourite style.

“People would stare at me and they would even turn back and glare at me. It was crazy at first and I even began to wonder if there was something really wrong with me. Slowly, I got used to people’s piercing stares and now I quite like the attention I get wherever I go,” says Jescar.

In addition to having loads of fun, Jescar makes sure she doesn’t mess with her studies. “I have no backlogs and have managed to get a first class in every subject. In addition to exploring the City and making lots of friends, I am keen on doing well academically,” she says. Jescar is in her final year degree at Indian Academy. And once she’s done with her graduation, she’s keen on returning to pursue her higher studies in MBA in the same college.

This young lady is conscious about the way she dresses  and makes an attempt to match her clothes to her accessories.

“I am crazy about shopping. I overshoot my pocket money every time.  I pick up anything that catches my eye — from clothes, shoes, make up and accessories — I’ve lost count of the number of clothes I have,” she says.

And what's more Jescar does part time modelling and has travelled to Mumbai and Delhi on modelling assignments, “I was very interested in modelling and soon I was flooded with offers. After getting my parents’ consent I signed up for a couple of shoots. And what's more I’ve got offers to act in two Kannada movies as well," she beams.

Talking about her role in the Kannada movies, she says, “A Kannada producer liked my hairstyle and that’s how he chose me. There’s a scene in the movie where foreigners are featured and I have been asked to make an appearance in that scene,” informs Jescar.    
And she can’t stop raving about Indian food.  “I love Indian food but sometimes my stomach can’t take so much. I am pretty adventurous and interested in trying out everything. I have gotten used to idli-sambar for breakfast and cook chicken biryani myself,” she sums up.