'Our circle of friends has grown'

Expatriates love Bangalore for its cosmopolitan lifestyle, salubrious environment, food and people. Rita, an expat from the UK, shares her experiences here

Rita West-Morris and her husband Jeffrey West moved to Bangalore from the United Kingdom in 2004.

 They came here purely for business purposes. They confess that, initially, they had a tough time adjusting to the City and its ways.

Now, after seven years of living here, they say the City is like their home. They have their favourite haunts and a growing circle of local and expat friends.

The biggest lesson they learnt here was to be patient and the results have certainly not left them complaining. Metrolife caught up with Rita and got her talking about the City, its food and culture.

It was after giving up a lucrative career that Rita moved to the City with Jeffrey but she says she has no regrets.

“The City has changed significantly since then. We moved here with just a couple of suitcases, so setting up home was a little challenging as there was not much of a choice available then as it is now,” recalls Rita.

 But friends pitched in with their time and resources and before Rita knew it, she started discovering the City.

“Going to Russell Market during those days was bewildering, let alone crossing MG Road. It was probably after three months that I started to feel comfortable in my surroundings,” confesses Rita.

The City has changed Rita in many ways. She says patience is the key to getting things done here.

“Patience was the key word. As soon as you let go of expectations with regard to time, the stress level comes down. I enjoy my daily interactions with people here,” she says.
“There are times when things surprise us, but that makes life interesting. We
try not to ask the ‘why’ question too much and if we do, we have learnt to look at situations from different angles. Getting around the City has been a tedious task,’’ she says.

Rita observes that unlike many other cities in the country, people in Bangalore speak English.

But she always wanted to learn a few other Indian languages, “Learning Hindi and Kannada has been on the list every year. We have also had some fun doing visual demonstrations when words fail. When we speak, we think the local people don’t understand but they say they do.

And there is complete understanding! But auto drivers are a challenge,” she says. 
Rita and Jeffrey have explored the City and its eating spots. They have their Sunday brunch at one of the star hotels, once or twice a month.

“When we first arrived here, we did go out a lot more than we do now. Now we like to eat at home or at other people’s homes. We also like to try out small restaurants in our neighbourhood. Our circle of friends has grown — both local and expat,” explains Rita.
When it comes to food, Rita thinks Bangaloreans are spoilt for choice.

 “We love the Italian food here,” she says without a second thought and adds, “We like Indian food — but not too spicy, even though our spice tolerance has improved over the years. Jeffrey likes malai kebab and my favourite is dal makhani.”

The couple have tried their hands at cooking Indian food as well but only the vegetarian variety.

“We cook when we have time and find grating ginger and making fresh garlic paste quite therapeutic. Jeffrey cooks good rajma and I make simple starters like dahi kakdi or aloo pyaz,’’ she sums up.