'People in Bengaluru are always happy'

Nothing can bring more happiness than fulfilling a dream to work in a growing economy. For Karine Lafont from Nice, South of France, it was a dream come true, when work brought her to a city like Bengaluru and a vibrant country like India.

Her stay in the city has been enriching one. Karine lives here with her husband Julien and is blessed with four children, Anaïs, twins Malo and Capucine and Corentin. While Malo, Capucine and Corentin stay with their parents, Anaïs is studying in France currently.

Karine, who works at Amadeus India as a software developer, says her life here has been a very eventful one. “When we moved here, it took us sometime to adjust to the work culture and the school system. However, we are doing great now. This city has been a box full of surprises (both good and bad). Over the past one year, we have come across many good things. For example, when demonetisation happened last year, people had a smooth transition to digitised tools like Paytm. This shows that people here can easily adapt to any situation. This kind of adaptation is difficult to find in France.”

“The heavy traffic, however, is something that we were not expecting. It has just grown heavier compared to last year,” says Karine. However, she points out that Whitefield, where she stays, has all the facilities required.

Elaborating on her stay here, she quickly says, “The weather is great, though this year seems to be a little more special. People in Bengaluru are always happy compared to people in France who are always complaining,” she laughs.

Adding to this, Julien who works with a French bank Societe Generale, says, “Bengaluru is crowded but lively. I have made many Indian friends here and spend quality time with them.”

Karine and her family love to travel. Despite relatively new to the country, they seem to have made quite a few domestic trips.

The family has visited Mahabalipuram twice already. This apart, Yellagiri Hills, Goa, Chennai, Mumbai, Varanasi, Rajasthan and Agra are the other places they have visited.

Since she has lived by the Mediterranean Sea, she now misses spending time by the sea. According to her, going for a swim or climbing the mountains was an easy thing to do back home. She says, “We have different kinds of cheese available in France and it is difficult to find them here or even if we do, they turn out to be expensive. Above all, I miss my family dearly.”

Learning English, Hindi and Kannada has been a challenge for her, but being the optimistic person that Karine is, she says, “I was already working on my English and it has proven to have a positive impact on my diction.”

The family tends to remain busy with work and school during the week, so they make sure to spend their weekends in a fruitful way.

While Karine practises her regular sessions of yoga, Julien and the kids indulge themselves in some kind of physical activity.

“My friends in the apartment and I get together and play volleyball in our compound almost every time we are off from work. However, I wish there were more options available for outdoor activities in the city, especially as weekend escapades,” says Julien.