Berlin’s growing Indian community | DW Documentary

Berlin’s growing Indian community | DW Documentary

A brand new city to call Home Berlin has been a big change for Amit and yogita kamlapur there are among some 10,000 Indians in the last year alone who’ve moved to Berlin it’s a chance to make new friends from familiar places they may come from all over India but are

Bound by a shared culture and memories and a need to support each other that’s the beauty of this place that everyone comes together but not as you know different communities but as one Community we follow Amit on his journey to make Berlin Home the slower pace of life that’s the first thing Amit kamlapur noticed in Berlin life in the German capital is a far cry from his bustling hometown of Pune in India back home Amit felt like he was always on high alert always in a race to an unknown Finish Line but here

He gets to breathe it’s quite rewarding you can uh focus on your on self be it health be it learning it’s a historic city um by by all means and it’s great to be here meet meeting people here the experiences how Berlin has changed now are a part of it

So it’s a yeah a great feeling for us rituals are becoming important to Amit too he never performed this morning prayer or Puja back in India it was always his mother’s task now in Berlin he finds comfort in this Hindu ceremony as does his wife yoga it’s always a great start uh for

The day and just puts you probably in the right mood right right track for the day finding the right place for this piece of home even played a part in their house hunt we visited a lot of Apartments of course Berlin is a difficult Place difficult City to get an apartment in

But whichever apartments that we visited the first thought used to be that okay where where is the place for our ritual for our Puja homecooked Indian meals are a comfort too a lentil pancake here a special nutty Hala for dessert there it makes amit’s first time living away from

His parents a bit easier turned out really well I don’t think I’ll be able to study after this but the move to Germany has also been a new chapter for their relationship their first independent home to themselves we knew each other before we got married but you know when you live

All by yourselves you are trying to battle the daily struggles right from you know which cupboard should we choose how should we manage the finances it’s an allog together new um way of understanding your partner in a different way yeah I think uh the bond between us has kind of like grown

Stronger and deeper that way so that’s what Berlin did to us I would say in in a sense Amit a data analyst and yoga a product manager are amongst a surge of Indians who have moved to Berlin recently an estimated 10,000 have arrived in the last year alone some are

Students many like Amit and yogita are young professionals Germany is in the process of easing requirements for work visas to draw Talent from countries like India it remains a popular choice for those looking to immigrate despite the challenge of the language we have Mana we have man the

Way they speak the way we pronounce it is quite different and then therefore it is we say ah we couldn’t understand anything and that’s where we really uh struggle in the listening part right yeah both Amit and yoga took up studying German in their universities back home

In India years later it made their move less daunting Amit liked how the language sounded but that wasn’t Germany’s only draw Germany is uh something a little uh close to us my my father he studied mechanical engineering so he always had this in his mind that okay German engineering German working culture so

That kind of also built up the whole uh narrative for us that okay maybe we can try Germany yog Echoes amit’s feelings about a better work life balance here that’s how you learn right we’re always in India you know on our toes so there’s always something where there’s some sort

Of Silent race that we are always running and I think uh the here in Berlin or in maybe in Germany outside uh the two of us we we learned to set sit back and you know relax for a while it’s it’s okay to take a break breaks

Outdoors are of course getting a bit harder to take one thing we find a bit still difficult is the weather so even even right now it’s a little cold for us fortunately the couple have found warm this evening they visit their new friend the gamber hello he moved to Berlin 5 years

Ago everyone here heals from their home state of Maharashtra they share a common language food and festivals so you’re coming for that Diwali program yes yes yes I I heard there are a lot of programs there are going to be like six six or eight Diwali celebrations in cooking in eating familiar Foods

Together plays a big part here the friends prepare some vas a popular Indian snack made of potatoes luckily Indian groceries are easily available it allows for a taste of home we knew how it is to be in the new city new place and you know and when we

See someone uh you know from our our area our country and you know getting connected just to be there for them it’s a great great feeling and kind of um reassuring for us that we are now part of this big community and that’s why we feel at home some of the people here

Moved to Berlin three decades ago these connections are a handy way to learn the ropes from dealing with German bureaucracy to finding each other new apartments for amth the gamber and his wife dsha now feel like family and offering that comfort to the couple is important for the

Hosts I always think when my daughters grow up and they go some in some other country for education or jobs or anything uh if they feel lonely it will be really bad so that is my motivation to always connect to new people and make them feel that comfortable so yeah that

So yog hasn’t been home since their move she says her and amit’s families are very grateful to this New Berlin family you would never visit in the last one and a half year I think we are giving them too much love that they do not their parents started cursing us

Now yet they don’t want to isolate themselves we don’t want to live here uh in ghettos yeah because that’s that’s not uh why you you come to a new country you come to a new country uh to explore to uh integrate to learn their culture or maybe also impart some of yours and

Impart ing Indian culture is a key part of the intention behind the Shri Ganesha Hindu temple in Berlin this is the entrance of the temple which will called as a rajagopuram it has been started in 2009 on the the temple has been a pet project for wiat and Krishna morti a member of

Its executive committee he explains the unique details of the structure with the passion the Hindu gods on the facade the way Temple Artisans flow in from India worked for years to carve every detail right here but it’s also caused delays that is a reason we are waiting because

In the cold country’s time the Indian workers cannot work the Indian workers working with with a bare hands so that they’re telling this cool too cold for us another reason for delays is the financing of the project it relies entirely on donations only in the past limited funds have held up Construction

Now in its 14th year will be but with the surge of new arrivals and a growing demand for a place for worship and rituals the finish line is finally in sight getting the donations the Indian Community before 20 years it was very less now it has been increased double

And double so we are now in the better position to get the uh donations to complete the temple it’s the finishing touches now the floor heating for the cold winter and the final deities will be brought in from India by SE Krishna morti says the inauguration is planned for next summer

Have you heard the song but already the grounds of the temple are a place of togetherness hundreds gather on a cold November evening to celebrate Diwali the Hindu festival of lights Amit joins in as well with his wife yogita Al ready on her way to India

For their first visit home the temple is a place to celebrate the festival with the community instead and this is already a familiar place for Amit every month he attends prayer Gatherings Here he says it gives him comfort and confidence to be here Namaste Namaste very much wish you a very happy diali happy Diwali sir happy happy that Indian community grows up of course and it’s always warm to be here it feels very homely very close to our home our

Country organizers say everyone should feel at home here even if they are a curious passer by that’s why entrance costs for these events are kept low says Krishna morti everybody’s welcome because our Temple is open for everyone not only for the Hindus over 25,000 people of Indian origin now live in Berlin there are 10 times as many spread across Germany sharing their culture is important for Them that’s the beauty of this place that everyone comes together but not as you know different communities but as one community and that’s what uh I’ve always loved about back in India and here also so that really kind of makes me feel that okay there is hardly any

Differ Diwali is the most important Festival in the Hindu calendar and this is amit’s second Diwali away from Home he’s excited about being on his way to India soon for his first visit since his Move it’s a trip he has waited for for a long time but it’s been a much easier wait than he’d Expected

The Indian community in Germany is growing fast, especially in Berlin. How difficult is it to find a new home in a foreign country?

Germany is infamous for its bureaucracy – yet it remains a popular destination for many skilled workers. But it isn’t just a good job in the IT sector that can make a strange land home – Amit Kamlapure and his wife Yogita find that it takes a village. A community of close friends, familiar foods, traditions, and festival celebrations with a flavour of their home country of India. Flights to the Indian city of Pune, their home town, are expensive – its not a trip the young couple, that moved to Berlin in June 2022, can make often. We follow Amit in his quest to make Berlin home – setting up his house, commemorating rituals he grew up with in Pune, preparing meals with his wife that remind him of India, and celebrating major festivals like Diwali, the festival of lights, with other Indian Berliners, a growing and thriving community. There are new joys in Berlin too – the couple has grown closer through setting up an independent house for the first time, they are learning the language to make Germany their own as well, and they are adapting to a slower, more thoughtful pace of life that they enjoy much more. We meet Amit just before his first trip home – and hear why such a long time away has not been as hard as he expected, after all, in his new home city. 

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