We moved to Canada in the mid-90s from Hyderabad, India. Friends who had moved here a year before us, picked us up at the airport and we spent our first week in Canada with them. They took us to check out furnished apartments and with them as guarantors, we signed a six-month lease for an apartment. It was in the heart of downtown Toronto, close to where we thought we needed to be in order to get going on our job searches, my wife and I both being in the IT field.  While we spent the days getting our educational certificates endorsed at the University of Toronto, resumés printed at copy centres and mailing out applications, we spent our evenings getting to know our...

Most educated Indians believe they know English. We study in English-medium schools, some of us in what are called convents (and there’s a story there, too, but I’ll come that in a bit!), and are fluent in English.We were no different, but there’s English and then there’s Canadian English, as we were to discover after moving to Canada.Many words that are in common usage in “Indian English” either do not exist in Canadian English, or have a totally different connotation.I was looking for thermocol at an office supplies store to pack a few things.When I couldn’t find any, I asked a sales associate for help, but he had no idea what I was talking about.“It’s white, like a hard...

Minister Kenney congratulates the 20,000th graduate from the Canadian Immigration Integration ProgramMore than 20,000 people are arriving in Canada better prepared for the labour market, thanks to the Canadian Immigrant Integration Program, said Minister of Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney.“Canada is committed to helping newcomers succeed,” he said at an event celebrating the graduates. “By giving immigrants a better understanding of what to expect before they arrive in Canada, we can help ensure they can more quickly contribute fully to Canada’s economic growth and long-term prosperity.”The Canadian Immigrant Integration Program (CIIP), which has been...

We were invited to a cultural show organized by our community’s cultural association soon after we moved to Canada. We had joined the association as a way to get to know members of the community and were hoping to meet other newcomers and exchange ideas and information with them.The event was held at a suburban hotel on a Saturday evening.In late November, so it was already rather cold. Or, I should say it was nippy for old-timers, but positively freezing for us as we had just moved from warm and sunny Muscat. So we arrived at the venue dressed for the weather, wearing our newly-purchased winter coats and hats and mitts.The young girls at the check-in desk looked a little amused, and told...

You know the side-to-side movement of the head that South Indians do that is a cross between a nod and a shake of the head? I’m from the south and have heard jokes about the South Indian head wobble all my life.When I left Bangalore to study in Delhi many, many years ago, my new friends used to tease me about it. “You move you head in a funny way!” they’d say.It was never an issue, because they soon got used to it and anyway, they understood what I was trying to say.But when we moved to Canada, I realized my old habit was cause for some confusion.“Hey, Krishna, want to join us for drinks after work?” asked Joe, a colleague, during my first week at work in Toronto.I nodded...