Great expat-ations

Name: Sandeep Bahl

Age: 45 years Nationality: Indian Australian Time spent in China: Six years

Why China?

Having lived in India, Australia and Japan earlier in life, moving to China made perfect sense. I moved here from Japan where I was working on issues pertaining to deflation, cost control, low or no growth etc. so I grabbed the offer to work in a culture that was diverse and an economy that was steadily growing.

Doing what?

I came to China as general manager of Northwest Airlines, after its merger with Delta Air, of which I was the director of China (mainland) and Hong Kong.

Language proficiency?

I can speak Hindi and two other Indian languages, Urdu and Punjabi, English, Japanese and conversational German. My Chinese is negligible but good enough to get by. I just need to put in time and effort to learn Mandarin. During my first year all three teachers gave up on me, as I was failing consistently to attend classes.

Relationships?

I am married with two daughters. Junko (my wife) and I met while we both were living in Australia. She can converse in Chinese pretty well and is devoted to Chinese tea. First thing she did after coming to China was to learn about Chinese tea and is now a certified Chinese tea server.

Food?

China, and Beijing in particular, is a paradise for people who enjoy eating out. You can probably get food from every country in the world, besides the huge variety of Chinese cuisine.

I miss the good thick plain yoghurt that complements Indian spicy curries, and have to keep asking friends from the Indian community to get me the homemade variety.

Future?

I feel I have experienced the real China - different from the notions that people living outside the country sometimes have. I would like to stay at least another three years. The aviation industry is growing in China, so it's good to stay as long as the boom lasts and second I would like my daughter to finish her schooling here.

(China Daily 07/06/2009 page10)