Pleasant Experiences
Vasudevan Rajagopalan, Regional HR Manager - Benelux, Tata Consultancy Services, came to live in Amsterdam in January this year. Between managing their two kids, Pranav (3 years) and Vishakh (1 year), Vasu and his wife Gouri spoke to us about their experiences as an Indian expatriate family in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
How you did you come to be in the Netherlands and what was the reaction of you and your family when you heard you were going there?
Back in India one doesn't really hear about the Netherlands too often. People were excited at home because they knew we were going to be in Europe. They consider Europe at the same level as the US and UK in terms of the facilities available, but very few have explored it.
I started my preparation for the Netherlands by trying to find out what was available and what wasn't. I was told before moving here that there are around 20,000 Indians living in the Netherlands, which was something we found very comforting.
Having said that, our living so far in Amsterdam has always been very pleasant and each experience is only adding value. We moved and stayed in a temporary accommodation for 1-1.5 months. For housing, there are a lot of choices available, if you look at the right time for the kind of accommodation you want. But yes, it is a bit expensive than the other cities in the world.
Gouri: When we were in India, we were staying with my in-laws so we miss that support, obviously. But things are a lot easier otherwise. When we came, we moved into a furnished house, so we had everything except for the groceries.
Also, the medical facilities here are very good, which is important for me as a mother of two small kids. If you have any problem they immediately take care of things, so that really made me a little more relaxed.
Vasu: Amsterdam is a city where there are a lot of international employees and expats. We have five to six stores in and around Amsterdam where you get the complete stock of Indian food items. There is a large Turkish population, and the Turkish shops stock lots of fresh vegetables, so as vegetarians, we really appreciate them.
Every other person here speaks English, which is a great difference from other countries in Europe. The Netherlands as a country is open to all international communities. You do not see any instances of any discrimination or any kind of abuse. And your family is absolutely safe. Sometimes we return at 11 or 12 in the night, and sometimes even later and there is a great sense of security.
Gouri: And they allow you to remain Indian with all the bindis and everything, which is really comfortable.
Vasu:In the summer it is very common to see a lot of visitors come to Amsterdam and they are very comfortable with sarees.
Did you know of the Expat Centre and did you avail of its services?
I have never seen an agency like the Expat Centre in any other country-even countries as mature as the UK and the US haven't come out with something as friendly as the Expat Centre. All companies here in the Netherlands that have a good size of expat population use the services of the Expat Centre. The Expat Centre recently completed one year.
Vasu: In India, we are used to domestic help. Here, there is very limited availability of that. It is very uncommon for people to go for it. But if both the parents are working, there is day care. That mostly covers the work day. You can leave your children at 8 and pick them up at 5 or so.
Another option is now emerging. The Dutch schools have started an international section as a pilot in Rotterdam and Haarlem. They also want to start this in Amstelveen. There is also something called the Amsterdam International Community School (AICS). But again, it is just starting off in a small way. Most schools offer French as another language. Hindi or any other Indian language is not available. So some of us carry school books from India and educate our children at home.
The Netherlands also has a wide variety of restaurants. I have been told that there are as many as 140-150 countries' restaurants here. So we are not necessarily limited by the choice of going to an Indian restaurant. We have tried many things, Thai restaurants, Indian restaurants, Chinese restaurants. There are about 12-13 Indian restaurants in and around Amsterdam. In most restaurants you get choice in vegetarian food. It's not so much of a problem. McDonald's, however, does not serve veggie burgers here!
Gouri: There are a lot of Indian families. And in the place that I am staying I know nearly 22 families. We have formed a club, and we meet for celebrations and maybe once a month go for outings with the families and kids. We have a potluck party and for the kids we have dance or something. We went to the Amstelveen Diwali Mela and were there from 11:45 till the fireworks!
Vasu: The Amstelveen event was great a gesture and definitely signifies the importance of India for the Dutch.
Did you participate in the cricket tournament on India Day in June? What was your experience?
Gouri: It was for the first time that I met so many Indians here!
Amsterdam is a very small city compared to the other large cities of the world. But within this small city you have access to all facilities that you would need. That's a great advantage. My office is just 6 minutes from home. Many of our employees stay within 10 minutes of office and cycle to work.
Also, for those on the Knowledge Migrant visa, all the dependants are on the same kind of visa, so other family members are also free to work. A lot of the spouses are working here and there are options available in the local market for them to get into. And since they have the visa, it is a great advantage for any company that is employing them. The first thing that they do, if they are qualified, is that they start looking around for opportunities.
Gouri: My kids enjoy the dairy products here, they will really miss that.
Vasu: Doctors here do not believe in prescribing unnecessary medicines. They believe in natural cure and building the immune system and that is something I will definitely miss. Along with a lot of chocolates, biscuits, milk, yoghurt and I can go on!
Post A Comment 
