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Indians find success and a new home in China
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An Indian man in a white shirt and neatly combed hair sits in a restaurant, and while enjoying a cup of coffee, he is also observant, sometimes saluting others with a big smile, sometimes asking waiters to help customers who are speaking in dialect.
He understands Shanghai and Hangzhou dialects, and speaks good Cantonese and Mandarin. He has been working and living in China for 20 years, employed by only one company — Indian Kitchen Restaurant — starting as a waiter and ending up as operations manager.
Siva Ranganthan, 42, is one of the many success stories among Indian people working in foreign countries. As China has developed internationally, more Indian people have tried a career in their giant neighbor to the north.
In second-tier city Hangzhou, more job opportunities have opened for foreigners as the city has expanded recently. Shanghai Daily interviews three Indian people working in Hangzhou to see how they have adapted to local life.
From waiter to operations manager
Motivated by a wish to work abroad, Siva Ranganathan, at 22, received his bachelor’s degree in accounting and moved from his home in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu to China’s Macau, for a job as a waiter.
On the flight crossing the Indian Ocean, the young man did not have any idea he would work for the restaurant company, and in China, for two decades.
His career also has tracked the increasing popularity of Indian food among Chinese people: Indian Kitchen has grown from one eatery then to a chain of 13 today.
Siva began his career at the company’s first restaurant by washing plates. He then became a cook and later chef. When the Hong Kong branch was ready to open, the young man, who spoke good English and Cantonese, was picked as manager.
After success in Hong Kong, he was sent to Zhongshan in Guangdong Province to develop a new market. The next destination was Henan Province, and soon he was sent to Beijing, Shanghai and then to Hangzhou.
During that time, he married an Indian woman and they had two children.
Siva was a quick study with new cultures, and he studied Chinese cuisines to learn how to please customers. He noticed that southern Chinese people did not put much spice in their dishes, so he asked the chefs to reduce the spice in the restaurant’s Indian dishes.
When he arrived in Shanghai and Hangzhou, Siva was amazed by people’s “open attitude, hospitality and creative ideas” and decided to stay — he has spent 13 of his 20 years in China in Shanghai and Hangzhou.
He now shuttles between the two cities four or five times a week, and he can even distinguish between Shanghai and Hangzhou dialects.
The manager starts work at 10am, and usually leaves the restaurant at midnight. He’s always the last one to leave, and is the one to lock the door, which he says is “a habit cultivated since I was a waiter in Macau.” He seldom takes weekends off.
Siva believes his hardworking attitude is due to his passion for the job. “Working in the restaurant industry allows me to meet people from everywhere in the world. Every day I meet new people and have new conversations.”
Bollywood dance teacher
After seven years of learning and three years of teaching, Anilkumar Appikonda has proven his ability as a professional Bollywood dancer to Chinese students in several cities.
Appikonda, 25, who teaches at the Yogawave Club, is in his second location as an instructor in China. Last year he was teaching in Shenyang in northeast China.
“Bollywood dance is getting popular among Chinese,” he says. The dance is an amalgam of styles popularized in Indian movies. He had more than 100 students in Shenyang and his client base has been growing in Hangzhou as well.
“Bollywood dance is about passion, and it can be easy or difficult,” Appikonda explains. Since belly dancing and jazz dance are widely accepted by Chinese, he says he does not worry about the market for a new kind of dance.
Appikonda is from Visakhapatnam, in southeast India. He acted in advertisements and TV shows in India, and came to China three years ago to see what a foreign country was like.
“Maybe someday I will perform in Chinese advertisements and shows,” he says.
He has been impressed by Chinese hospitality. “I am flattered that so many members of the club have invited me to have a meal or go hiking.”
Appikonda has been getting used to Hangzhou and often visits “cool and beautiful” West Lake. “If I am sad or bored, visiting West Lake heals my soul,” he says.
“When I first came, I was not used to the food. Now I like Chinese food as much as Chinese people do,” he says, laughing.
Yoga teacher
The clear eyes and peaceful smile of Holi Prasad.G let people know this young man is an advanced yoga teacher. The 26-year-old has studied yoga for 18 years.
A colleague of Appikonda’s, Prasad.G is in his second year in China, working in Shenyang in north China and then in Xiamen in southern Fujian Province before coming to Hangzhou.
He is from the town of Anaparthi in Andhra Pradesh, in southeastern India.
Before he came to China, the yoga teacher had a variety of job opportunities from around the world, but he picked China because “the country is big and should have a huge market for yoga,” he says.
He says his life isn’t too much different from when he was in India because of the strict rules he follows. He gets up at 6:30am, does morning yoga meditation, and after breakfast goes to work. Before going to sleep he does his yoga practice. He cooks for himself since he is a vegetarian.
“In many countries, people take yoga as a basic stretching exercise or take yoga to burn fat, but in India, yoga is totally different. It involves meditation and is done in the early morning or late evening.”
Prasad.G is planning to show his midlevel Chinese students how to meditate to help them “learn the authentic yoga and gain peace.”
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