Natalia Sanchez –Infantes represents the company in Spain. She refers to the people of India as the Latins of Asia. Read on to find out why.
Not in many countries other than your own you happen to feel at home –at least, this is my experience- a Spanish middle aged woman. You may like the landscapes, the people, the culture as a visitor, but you hardly have that sense of belonging, or feel the affection you feel for the place where you live. But India is different. Whenever I’m lucky enough I go back to India. I feel at ease, I feel at home. Over the years, many people have asked me about the reason for such a passion… why being so far, do I feel we are so close?
Well, the truth is that we are almost 8000 km apart, but this is nothing when we start talking of the things we have in common. India and Spain or rather Indians and Spaniards have more similarities than one would think. Ok, maybe we are not big fans of spicy food, don’t know anything about cricket and almost the entire population of our small country would be equivalent to the population of Delhi and Mumbai put together. So when we say the metro in Madrid is crowded we probably don’t know what we are talking about. I agree.
Our festivals and traditions may seem a little odd to you (as some are to me as well) but hey, it seems we both love throwing things be it colours during the Holi or tomatoes in the famous “ Tomatina” and what is more important, we enjoy and celebrate life. There is always a good excuse to hang out with friends and family and celebrate, we just do it differently. We probably have the biggest number of bars per inhabitant in the entire world and you probably have the biggest concentration of temples of various religions and several festivals per day (LOL).
I always refer to Indians as the “Latins of Asia” and this is because I see in you the temper, the passion, the capacity of improvising (what you call jugaad) that marks our character and that is a natural talent we share.
The importance of the family and the support we give and take from this institution is another similarity we have. We need to share and there is no joy for us if this cannot be shared with the people we love.
Are we that far in the end? I don’t think so…
