'I have made a good number of friends here'

Expat zone

Bangalore has time and again emerged as the best Indian city when it comes to the quality of living for expatriates. Metrolife interacts with Mustafa, an expat from Kenya, to find out about his life here .

Mustafa Ganijee, an expatriate from Kenya, studies in BMS College of Engineering. He has been staying in the City for nearly three years and his stay has been very comfortable here. He admits that he didn’t have any inhibitions while coming to a foreign country.

“I had been to India earlier along with my family members. And at that time, I had fallen in love with the country. When one of my senior friends, who had studied in BMS College, advised me to join the engineering degree in BMS, I didn’t think twice,” he informs.

Like any other expatriate, Mustafa too faced a language problem in the initial days. “Though I knew English, I couldn’t understand the accent of the people, both inside and outside campus. It was difficult to follow what the lecturer was teaching in the class. Many a time, it led to funny situations because of my pronunciation problem,” says Mustafa, who knows Swahili, Urdu, Gujarati, Hindi and broken Kannada.

He joined the English course, conducted by the college, which came in handy for him in brushing up his language skills.

He regards his initial days in the college as the most memorable days in his life. “There were a lot of funny incidents inside the classroom because of misunderstanding. I used to say something and the lecturer used to understand something else, and vice versa. The whole class used to laugh at our conversation. Though it was quite embarrassing at that time, I can laugh at it now. Those are the good memories to cherish for a lifetime,” he expresses.

He also adds that adjusting to a new food habit was also a major challenge.

“Though we also eat rice in our hometown, the taste is quite different. For the first time in my life, I tasted idli and dosa here. I have started liking them. Now, I like to have masala dosa and kebab whenever I go out to eat,” he adds.

He says his friends and hostellers helped him get acquainted with the new environment.

“As I am staying in the international hostel, which is exclusively for foreign students, I don’t feel lonely. I have made a good number of friends here,” he says.

Mustafa is all praises for Bangalore and the people here. “Bangaloreans and Bangalore weather – both are really cool. People here are kind to others. It is quite a nice place to stay. I have seen Mumbai also, but it’s not as good as Bangalore,” he avers.

Brigade Road, M G Road, Wonderla and Forum Mall are his favourite hangout destinations in the City.

He feels both travelling and shopping are expensive in Bangalore. And he doesn’t like the rude behaviour of auto drivers.

“I have seen that most autowallas are unfriendly with commuters. First of all, we have to wait for a long time for an auto. And even if we get an auto, the driver is never willing to go to our destination. If we get one, the driver asks for more money or he doesn’t give back the change. It’s really irritating,” he laments.

Mustafa is a big movie buff and has watched most of the Bollywood movies.

“I haven’t missed any of the latest releases. I am a big fan of Ajay Devgan, Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone,” he exclaims. However, despite all this he misses his family and home food a lot, and wants to go back to his country after completing his degree course.