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Monthly Magazine – August 2008 2nd Year Number 016

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III n a country whose population is quite homogeneous, where is unusual to receive foreigners from remote countries, a group of

people with dark-colored skin and a peculiar language does not go unnoticed. Their presence becomes especially evident in some areas of Montevideo, such as Zonamérica and Downtown, where they work, and Pocitos, where they live. They travelled across the globe from the Asian sub-continent to undergo a work experience –and also a life-changing one- in a place that is, at least for them, completely unknown. Not knowing Spanish, or only a few words as their solely communication tools, and without other information than that “here we eat a lot of sandwiches” and that there have not been wars,

about 40 or 50 Indians decided to embrace the adventure of living in Montevideo. Arpit Dawda arrived here in February and speaks some Spanish. The interview is performed in English, but Arpit is eager to sneak some of the words he knows in the conversation, when his rudimentary knowledge allows him to. -What is a “cortado”? - Un café con leche (Coffee and milk). - Ah, OK. un cortado por favor (Ah, OK. A “cortado” please). “¿Van a querer comer algo?” (Would like something to eat?), asks the waiter. Arpit and Umang Chaudhary look at each other. Umang is Arpit’s friend, another Indian he met here in Uruguay a few months ago. They both look at me

asking for help, but do not say a word, maybe because they feel embarrassed in front of the waiter. “We can order in a restaurant, we know the names of some fruits and vegetables, but if someone answers in Spanish speaking really fast, we don't get it”, they explain. Kind, nice and eager to know more about our culture and habits, they try to learn and store information every minute of the day. At times, the roles of interviewee and interviewer are exchanged. Language is the main obstacle they find when they try to become more integrated to the Uruguayan society, and they would like to interact more with the local people. Hence, they cannot let this opportunity pass them by. “Which is the main career youngsters study here?”, “Why aren’t there more engineers?”. Coming from two specialists in information technology (IT), their concerns are easy to understand.

The Tata Guys. About 50 Indians, according to Arpit and Umang, are working for Tata Consultancy Services in Uruguay. The Indian conglomerate arrived in Uruguay in 2002 and since then, people living in Montevideo got used to see -and some to smell-, their presence. “A couple of Indians were living in the same building as my mom, and the smell of their food was unbearable”, tells me a friend of mine before going to the interview. “We have never received any complaint from our neighbors”, tell me Arpit and Umang. “People are very polite here, and if the smell of our food bothers them, they do not say anything. Of course, if they wanted to complain, they would have to learn English first”, they say joking. “Some people look at us as if we were aliens, but we do not feel discriminated at all”. They find it really funny that when somebody looks at them in a shopping center or a supermarket, they immediately identify them with the company. “Tata has become our brand, our identity”. This commercial group comprises several businesses, such as car manufacture and chemical products. Its

IT division is known in India by the acronym TCS. This is why it was difficult for them to understand that in Uruguay everybody referred to this branch of the company, the only one with a subsidiary in our country, as Tata. “When people told us: oh, you’re the ones from Tata, we at first thought ‘¿What is Tata?'. Now we know that we are the ‘Tata guys'. The funny thing about this whole confusion is that many people think we work for the Ta-Ta stores in Montevideo Shopping", they tell among, laughing. Actually, they are habitués of that shopping center, it is one of their favorites. They visit it when they want to go “window shopping”, but also when they want to buy some chocolates (one of the most common gifts they like to give their families when returning to India), leather jackets and any kind of kitchen utensils they might need for their homes. They actually go to Ta-Ta to buy these.

Do I know you from somewhere? Most Indians working in Uruguay met here. In a country with 300 times the population of Uruguay, it is unlikely for them to know each other from college or work, even when most of them are engineers and work in the same field. They all come from different cities and regions, and even though they share a common language, Hindi, that they use to communicate, their mother tongue is usually a different language or dialect from their hometown. This is in addition to English: “When some guys from the state of Gujarat (in the northwestern area of the country) get together and they start talking Telugu, for us is the same as if they were speaking Spanish, we can’t understand a thing!". Driven by a feeling of solidarity, they are always on the alert for the arrival of new fellow countrymen to our country and they try to help them through the adaptation process. Usually, three or four persons share an apartment. When they have a vacancy, they are on the watch for a new arrival needing accommodation. If there are no vacancies in any of the shared apartments, someone will take the responsibility of renting one before they arrive.

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But beneath this thoughtful behavior, lies a convenient reason for them to care for the newly-arrived: they want to make sure they have enough players for their favorite hobby, cricket. Many have to work from their homes during the weekend and are not able to commit to attend all the games. Hence, it is convenient to count on a diverse staff. Imitating the typical Uruguayan habit of playing football in any green space one might find, Indians get together every Saturday or Sunday afternoon by the “rambla”, near Trouville. The difference lies in the fact that they do not play with a ball, but with tennis balls and wooden sticks. And that's when the fun starts. "It has been impossible for us to get the authentic leather balls”, they say explaining why they use tennis balls. “Anyhow, we do not have the entire protection equipment we should wear if we were playing with the leather balls, for their impact may be really hard".

Faith travels along with me “Indian" and "Hindu" are not the same. “Indian” refers to the nationality of those born in India; “Hindu” refers to their religion. Not all Indians are Hindu. Hinduism is the third most numerous religion in the world, after Christianity and Islam. From a total of 920 million Hindus, 890 millions live in India. Indian people passing through in Uruguay are all Hindus. In order to be able to practice their religion, even though they cannot go to the temples they attend on a weekly basis, as many do in the hometowns, they brought along with them images of their gods. These are small statues with which they build altars in their homes or offices. They pray to them and make offerings.

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Coming back for Diwali Diwali, known as the festivity of the lights, is the most important celebration for Hindus, and it lasts for five days. It celebrates the victory of good over evil. It commemorates the death of a devil, Karakásura, in the hands of Krishna, a Hindu deity, and the release of 16,000 maids that were kept imprisoned by the former. It also celebrates the victory of Prince Ram over Ravana, the king of all devils. According to the legend, Ravana had captured the wife of the Prince and had kept her in the jungle for 14 years. Ram, finally, managed to find his wife and bring her back to the city. The inhabitants of the city covered the walls and rooftops with lamps, to ease the return of the Prince. That is why during this celebration, people light up all kinds of lights: oil lamps, candles, etc. Families get together, they cook special sweets, use new clothes for the first time and light up fireworks. Besides, an altar is built in every house with images of the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi. They offer flowers, incense and coins to her.

More than once the ball ends up in the beach, which during the summer becomes a great excuse to observe “the view”. “Uruguayan women are very pretty”, the two friends assure, “and they show a lot”, they add laughing. That difference becomes obvious just by comparing the traditional and colorful saris, the dresses women wear in India, with the low-cut and tight western clothes. Nevertheless, they have never heard of any fellow countryman that has had a close encounter with a Uruguayan female. "Sometimes a girl starts talking to us in a restaurant or a pub”. The fact that women take the initiative is really something that calls their attention. They quickly explain that these conversations do not evolve into any other kind of relation, and that these are no more than trivial encounters. They are eager to clarify that the role of women in India has changes a lot in the last years. They think one of the main causes of this change is the influence of the Indians themselves, who travel abroad to work, especially to California in the USA, and they are quite “Occidentalized” when they return. “Women are becoming more independent. Many work in the big cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, and are forced to live alone as their families are far away”. Even though there are millions of women in India that work on a daily basis, there are occupations that remain being reserved mostly for men. “We could not believe that here you have women working in service stations or in restaurants, and moreover, women that smoke!” they comment, a bit shocked. They explain that “in India you can't find a woman that smokes in public".

Cooking: a world of difference. Most Indians living in Uruguay are single, with the exception of four or five married couples, some with young children. “Women here do what they have always done in India: they get together to gossip and cook”, says Arpit laughing with his friend, who quickly explains that the wives themselves are the ones that offer to, once a month, throw a banquet worthy of a maharaja for the male majority. "Food is what we miss the

most", they add quickly. India is comprised by 27 states, and each one does not only have its own languages, but also different dishes. That’s why when they get together, many end up trying for the first time new recipes from their own country. One thing they have in common is that none of them eats beef, since cows are considered sacred for Hindus, nor pork, that is forbidden for Muslims. Some eat chicken and mutton. In their varied vegetarian menu, spices have a paramount place. Dishes may include six or seven ingredients in powder that are brought from India. “Here we cannot find all the spices we use and those that are sold, are not of good quality,” they tell me. All new arrivals bring two kilos of several different powders with them to be sure they will have enough provisions for a few months. Powder of coriander leaves, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, red chili powder and other hot powders that give their name to traditional dishes, such as garam masala, are some of the condiments arriving in the luggage of any worker coming from the south of Asia. “In general we can find here all the vegetables we use to cook, with the exception of three or four that we have never seen here and that we don’t know how to ask for”, they explain. One of them is called “ladies’ fingers”. We assume it must be long and thin, but cannot help.

“It’s really mouth-watering”. When they go out to eat, the number one choice is pizza. And the good thing about this is that enables them to eat as they are used to do: with their hands. "When you eat with your hands you can taste the real flavor of the food. There’s nothing like licking your fingers to taste a good meal”, they assure. They eat anything, even rice, with their bear hands. Of course, they use cutlery in Uruguayan restaurants, and they prefer to use a spoon, if the dish allows them to. They explain: “through Hollywood movies we learnt that there are some habits that may be interpreted as offensive or bad manners in other countries”. Besides, some of them received trainings on good manners. “In addition to the language lessons we received, they usually advice us on table manners”. “Before coming here I received a training in which they

explained to me some characteristics of Uruguay", tells Arpit. "They told that here you ate a lot of sandwiches, and since in India we also eat sandwiches for lunch, I assumed it would be easy for me to find something to eat. But here everything comes with meat or ham!”, says Arpit complaining. The sandwiches they eat include lots of potato, onion, tomato and different types of chutney. Here, they often go to the fast-food restaurant “Subway”, in Zonamérica. There, the people working in Subway could not believe that their lunch was comprised only by bread with tomato, cucumber, lettuce and any other vegetable available, without ham, cheese, tuna or any other product coming from animals. “Now, when they see us coming, they start preparing our sandwiches without asking anything. They already know us”, explains Umang, who discovered mayonnaise in Uruguay. Of course, since they do not eat meat, they have not tried a “chivito”, the most representative Uruguayan sandwich. Arpit says he has tried a similar version, “as if it was a chapatti”, comparing it with the Indian traditional bread, “with no meat, ham nor bacon”. A long distance from the “canadiense”, no doubt about it.

Friends will be friends. The concept of friendship is really different for them, and they think this is one of the main reasons why they have not made friends among Uruguayans. Nevertheless, they explain that they have a great relationship with their work colleagues and that many times they celebrate birthdays or organize Indo-Uruguayans gatherings. Umang gives an example: “I can call Arpit at 2 or 3 in the morning and ask him for something. I do not have to ask the question of ‘could you do this for me’, I just ask him to do it. This is very different here". But would they want to have more contact with the locals? “Of course we would! We would love to have more people come up to us so that we could know more about this country. We have a hard time approaching people because we don’t know what they are thinking about us.

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∗ Powder of coriander leaves, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, red chili powder and other hot powders are some of the condiments arriving in the luggage of any worker coming from the south of Asia.

Is not that they reject us or fear us, but everybody is really busy. During the weekend they all try to be with their families or friends and it’s not easy to find the time to get together”. They are mainly talking about their workmates, but also about any other people interested in sharing a friendship. Once, they exchanged telephone numbers with a group of girls and boys they met while playing pool in the shopping center. “We didn’t call them because we thought they may not want to go out with us, and we didn't want to put them in an awkward situation”, they explain. Another reason why they would rather not get involved with the locals is because they do not know their background. "We have a lot in common, we know that the Indian guy arriving here comes from a good culture", they tell me. The word "caste" comes to mind. “It’s not a matter of socio-economical level or caste”, they rush to explain; “it’s just that we know that the person is not a criminal, he/she is a good person”.

Looking for the significant other. Both explain that even though most Indians get married with people from their own caste, they would not mind for their children to marry with someone of another caste. But they themselves are single yet. What would happen if they fell in love with a woman who does not belong to their caste? “For us it's the same, to get married in an arranged marriage or not. If we manage to find a wife on our own, great. But if a guy is becomes 28 years of age and does not have a girlfriend, and a girl turns 25 or 26 and is single, the parents will start looking for a couple for them. What also happens very often is that one already has a girlfriend, but the parents do not accept the relationship because they feel she is not adequate for you, mainly due to her family background. Then they ask you to finish the relationship. Many youngsters still respect the opinion of their parents and end the relation", they explain.

What calls their attention? - Old cars. “Even though we have vintage cars in India, there aren’t as old as those we have seen here in Uruguay”, they comment while pointing at a Mehari of the 70s that passes by the rambla in Punta Carretas. - Many people have dogs as pets. “In India there are many dogs that run free in the streets and bark all the time. Here we have seen many breeds, and they are very spoiled by their owners”. - The thermos and mate. “It is similar to the tea we drink. We don’t mind sharing it with our workmates since in India we many times share a cup. If someone leaves some in his/her cup, many times someone else drinks it so as not to throw it away.” They can’t believe how Uruguayans take the thermos and mate to the shopping centers and drink it while driving. - The weather may change many times in one same day. India has extreme weather: it is either very hot all day, or it rains cats and dogs during the monsoon season, but it does not vary in one same day. “The good thing is that here there is no pollution", they highlight, comparing Montevideo with the big cities in their country. - Many people speak English, even those you wouldn’t expect! “Many people ask where we are from, but we were shocked by the amount of taxi drivers that ask us things about our country in good English. Once we were in Ciudad Vieja, and a homeless guy asked us for money. We answered 'No Spanish’, and surprisingly, he answered: 'Oh, no problem!’ and he started speaking English to us”.

Arpit and Umang still have three more years to look for their significant others. For now, they know they want to continue travelling around the world, since they are sure that after getting married it would be difficult to travel. Once the project they are working on in Uruguay is over, they will return to their hometowns, Arpit in Mumbai, in the centre of the country, and Umang in Kanpur, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. “Sometimes, people ask, surprised, why we came to Uruguay”, tells me Arpit. “Just as many Uruguayans would like to travel abroad to work or study, this is an experience for us. You want to go

away, we want to come here”, they explain. Australia and USA are other appealing destinations for a short adventure. “We have many friends in USA. Anyhow, the idea is to make career to finally return to India, especially once the time to get married arrives”, they admit As it usually happens to any person that emigrates, when the time of having children arrives, the hometown acquires special value. “It is not easy to raise children with the values of the Indian culture when you're living abroad, away from your family and friends. In India we have a lot of celebrations and festivals that are really important, and are impossible to be recreated here”. In fact, many of the Indians that are living in Uruguay now hope to be back in India for Diwali, which will take place in

October this year. "It's just like the case of all those Uruguayans living abroad that wish to come back home for Christmas". The analogy seems to work. In average, the Indians coming to Uruguay to work stay from six months to one year. Before saying goodbye, they assure they will take a copy of the magazine to India. “We want to show this article to our families, for them to know that in Uruguay they were interested in us”. They say they will read with the help of the Google translator, a fundamental companion in their daily lives, which helps them to get through each day in this forsaken corner of the globe.

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