No place like this on earth: Icelandic Indians

The surroundings are stark, the earth is effete, living is exorbitant and taxes are high. It might thus seem logical why the Indian communit...

The surroundings are stark, the earth is effete, living is exorbitant and taxes are high. It might thus seem logical why the Indian community is almost non-existent in Reykjavik, the Icelandic capital located on the fringes of the inhabited world, where the arrival of President APJ Abdul Kalam marked the beginning of ‘‘highest-level’’ contacts.

By most accounts, the number of Indians may be 30, or 35 people, people living on a barren volcanic island, which is fast emerging as a fascinating land of moonscapes, geothermal spas and go-karting.

Talk to the Icelandic Indians and they will tell you there is no place like Iceland on earth. Dr Girish Hirlekar is one of two Indian doctors working in Reykjavik, who landed here way back in 1976. He was recently appointed Honorary Counsel of India in Akureyi, the second largest city in Iceland, with a population of 16,000. ‘‘Back home, people may feel there is no purpose in living in Iceland, that there is nothing much to do here,’’ he says. ‘‘But look at what we get! We get fresh air, the midnight sun and we get to see the Northern Lights.’’

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Besides the two doctors, there are one or two software engineers, a few workers in aluminium factories, one masseur and a handful of chefs, who, put together, represent India in Iceland.

Reykjavik’s Indians stress that besides living amidst one of most fascinating landscapes in the world, there are advantages like free education, free medical treatment and a crime-free society. Plus a very good quality of life.

A few years ago, some Indians formed a friendship society, but its not a very active organisation any longer.

Perhaps, the ‘Indian success story’ in Reykjavik is Chandrika Gunnarsson, a 41-year-old from Coorg, who, while studying at the University of South Carolina, met an Icelander, Gunnarsson, married him and settled down in Reykjavik in 1992.

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The couple now run an Indian restaurant, called ‘East India Company’, which has been rated the best Indian restaurant in Europe, three years in a row, by Lonely Planet. Chandrika, incidentally, did the catering for the Indian Ambassador’s party (the Indian Ambassador in Oslo doubles up for Reykjavik) being held in honor of President Kalam on Tuesday.

‘‘Life in Reykjavik is magical. It’s beautiful, perfect. I would not exchange my life here for anywhere else in the world,’’ she exclaims. Four years ago, she brought in a group of 13 Indians—mostly chefs and kitchen helpers—to work in her restaurant. Which means that one-third of the Indian population in Iceland is employed by her.

The other well-known Indian in Reykjavik is Pratik Kumar, a software programmer from Pune, who came here on a six-month exchange programme five years back, fell in love with a local girl, and stayed on.

‘‘Besides being paid good money (he admits to earning Rs 3 lakh a month), life is a party in Reykjavik,’’ he says.

Ritu Sarin

Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption. Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More