NETWORK INTEGRATE ENJOY

PUNE EXPAT CLUB
The motto of the Pune Expat Club is “Network. integrate. enjoy … make wonderful friends along the. way!” That’s what Preeti Roongta, co-founder of the club, explained to us. She and her husband wanted to create networks for newcomers in the city, to bring them together by organizing special events. Their 750 members come from 32 different countries. There are mainly German and American expatriates, but also French. Italians, Spanish, Japanese, and Korean. Indians. Mainly global citizens – industrialists, people who support causes, and artists – can also be a part of PEC.
PEC also has links with HHH, Alliance Francaise, and Goethe Institute, for language training and cross-cultural integration. But their main activities are sports, travel and leisure or art, and cultural events are organized twice a month (they are now restructuring but they still inform their members on what’s going on in the city). WOW is an annual photo and paintings exhibition, for expats to showcase their impressions of India. Simone Hesse. from Germany, captured a picture of her daughter enjoying her first Indian monsoon. “It rains much harder in India than back home and we enjoyed every raindrop of it,” she said.
Patricia Shoubben came here from Belgium two years ago. to be with her husband. This dynamic lady enjoys the time she is spending in Pune. “We have so many friends here, there is always something going on”, she says, She happens to be a member of the Pune Expat Wives, through which she got to know about the Pune Expat Club. They often get together with the ladies from Expat Wives. Otherwise, they get together with other families, do nice barbecues on Saturday evenings and brunches on Sundays.
“In the beginning, you depend on these clubs, for the administrative basics, but after a while, you get to know a lot of people and organize your weekends on your own,” she says.
Some expats spend some years in India for work, go back home, and finally return to Pune to retire. Some others are just in love with India and have decided to extend their work contract for a few more years. Finally, others invest in property, a good excuse to come back regularly then!