Christine, 36 Thiruvananthapuram
A Swiss wife has brought her Malayali husband back home. It may sound strange. When Christine married Antony Johnson Pereira, who was working in her father’s resort in Interlaken, Switzerland, her exposure to India was limited to the land of snake-charmers and spices.
“I never brought her here but she brought me to my country,” Johnson explained. During their marriage ceremony at Palayam church in Thiruvananthapuram she shook hands with everyone including her father-inlaw but later she realised it was not the way Indians do. Now more than her husband she’s an Indian. Her children Alexis, 6, and Darius, 2, speak Malayalam besides English, Swiss and German. And she enjoys cooking Malayali dishes. “Here family bonds are strong. And you never feel loneliness or depression,” she explained why she made India her country. Christine is now working as a guest relations manager with a travel firm in Thiruvananthapuram.
After his school, Johnson, landed in Switzerland to study hotel management. During his internship he met Christine. “I wanted go back to India but was a bit afraid. When my wife backed me I felt it is time to pay back,” Johnson, who left a cozy job in Switzerland to settle in his country, said. “But both Christine and Johnson have a word of caution for youth. “Please don’t go for immediate gains. And don’t take things lightly. Chart out a long roadmap with a vision and everything will be perfect.” —