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Bhavana, a 24-year-old computer engineer, has like
many Indians found opportunity overseas, but she came to
out-of-the-way Uruguay, far from familiar crowds and the tastes of
home.
"I like Uruguay," said the young Bangalore native,
flashing a brilliant smile in the cafeteria of Tata Consultancy
Services's modern facility at its Latin American regional base in
Montevideo.
The culture clash between India and Uruguay might seem potentially
daunting.
This smallish country sandwiched between Brazil and Argentina has a
population of just 3.4 million people, most descended from
immigrants from Italy and Spain.
Its open rural areas are home to ranches and cowboy culture. It is
fabled for serving up beef, beef and more beef. Spanish is the
language, and not too many locals speak English.
But "my husband lives here, and works in Tata, too," added
Bhavana.
And it's a good thing she has someone to remind her of home.
In the 11 months she has been in South America, Bhavana acknowledged
she had not tasted any local-style food. She and her compatriots
have had a very tough time finding the spices they need for home
cooking, she said.
Still, she says, she is happy.
Certainly her workplace is impressive: dubbed the Jamsetji Tata
building in honor of the father of modern Indian industry, it is a
2,630 sq meter facility in a trade zone known as Zonamerica, just
north of the capital, which was built for about three million US
dollars.
Its walls are decked out with weavings and banners brought from
India. Many of them bear company mottoes such as "lead in
changes," "respect for the individual,"
"learning and sharing," and "excellence."
The company employs about 500 people at this facility and another
250 at a downtown Montevideo office; among them there are just about
60 Indians, as well as people who have moved here from Peru,
Colombia and Argentina to work, said regional manager Mario Tucci.
At the downtown office, another computer engineer, Charandjit Pabla,
a 28-year-old Sikh from Punjab, works with a western style suit and
a sky-blue turban.
Pabla, who has been here just over a year, said the Indians at TCS
seem to be the only OIP (overseas Indian person) community in
Uruguay.
"Food is a real problem; there are no spices," he
confessed, though he said he "enjoyed the local dishes"
that did not contain beef.
In this mostly Catholic country, Pabla said his faith -- though
basically unknown here -- was not a problem.
"I have my holy book; the only difference is that we don't have
a temple," he said. Generally speaking, Pabla said "I feel
comfortable.
"People see my turban and ask me 'where are you from?'. People
like me. People are very friendly," he said, noting "I've
got very good friends."
Pabla also burst out laughing as he recalled one time "I went
to the (football) stadium and people watched me instead of the
match."
On the down side, Pabla said communication at first can be a
challenge.
"I was feeling very scared because people here don't speak
English. I felt as if I were dumb and deaf," he said.
He also said that Uruguay in some ways can be very expensive.
But "people share apartments," he said, and "we can
save good money."
TCS, from Uruguay, works with clients across Latin America on
building new software applications and guaranteeing proper
performance of existing ones. It has invested 10-12 million dollars
in the past five years, Tucci said.
-- AFP
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