1
Shane Foley New York, USA to Bangalore, India

• I have spent the last twenty months working as a
  Senior Manager within Assurance - SPA in
  Bangalore, India, serving one of our largest
  multinational clients, after spending the first
  eight years of my career with the US firm in New
  York. My time here has been extraordinary from
  both a professional and personal perspective.
  The speed at which this emerging nation is
  growing each and every day and the opportunities
  presented by this growth has given me the
  experiences that I will draw on for the rest of
  my career. Each day presents challenges, and
  opportunities to provide value to our clients in
  India, working with them as they continue to grow
  and expand their own footprint in India. The
  deep industry and cultural knowledge acquired
  through my time here will also be an asset in
  driving value with our clients in the US upon my
  return. Certainly an journey worth considering!

2
Bart Bradley New York, USA to Bangalore, India

• I have always been interested in international
  business and joined PwC with the idea of doing an
  international assignment at some point in my
  career - little did I know that experience would
  be in India! I first joined PwC in the New York
  office where I spent most of my time servicing
  one of our largest global clients. As I became
  more acquainted with this client's international
  operations, and expressed my interest in doing an
  international assignment, a need arose with this
  client in India and I accepted it. I knew the
  type of experience I would have and knowledge I
  would gain in India would be impossible to
  duplicate elsewhere. Although the client is the
  same, the challenges are very different,
  especially given the dynamic nature of the Indian
  economy. Nowhere else in the world is this
  client facing some of the issues, in the same
  magnitude, than it is facing here. The
  challenges and rewards of an international
  assignment, especially to a place as dynamic and
  diverse as India, have been tremendous. I look
  forward to leveraging what I have learned here,
  for the benefit of my future clients, for the
  rest of my career.

3
Anthony Dias Toronto, Canada to Chennai, India

• The thought of going to India on assignment was
  an interesting concept. In a sense my wife Manavi
  and myself were coming "home" but then again
  "home" is a very relative term. You see we're
  both from here but not quite. Being born here and
  spending vacations in the country does not really
  constitute belonging, but we did see enough
  during those brief vacations to convince us that
  this was a place we both needed to live in for a
  while. Having worked for PwC in Singapore and
  then in Canada, India is my third assignment with
  PwC.
• The reasons for moving to India were
  obvious......well at least to me. I wanted to
  truly see the country of my birth, revel in
  experiences that I had only seen or heard on TV,
  be closer to the family I had last lived with
  when I was 16 and most importantly work in one of
  the most dynamic and exciting economies of today.
  So in effect personally and professionally India
  was the place to be. Convincing the partners back
  in Canada took a while but they encouraged me to
  take on the challenge and eventually the move, a
  year and a half in the making, finally happened
  in December 2007.
• 6 months later I can see that India is all that I
  had expected and more. In the work sense PwC (or
  PW as we call it in India) at least retains a
  level of consistency across the globe that allows
  one to adapt without a significant amount of
  struggle. Global mobility ensured that we had a
  place to live when we arrived and as smooth a
  transition as possible.

4
Anthony Dias (contd..) Toronto, Canada to
Chennai, India

• However it is life outside the office that truly
  surprised me......there are certain aspects of
  living in a country that one never experiences
  when on holiday and I find that living here has
  truly made me open my eyes to the world around me
  and stop taking things for granted. The level of
  poverty here is as expected beyond
  description....however what truly amazed me is
  the common man's capacity to smile despite their
  circumstances and hardships. Recently on my way
  in to work in my comfortable air-conditioned car
  I noticed a family of 3 on a bicycle. As they
  were crossing from one side of the road to the
  other, they came within inches of being run over
  by a much larger vehicle. Their only reaction was
  to check that their child was still holding on
  tightly to the bicycle, turn to one another,
  smile and then move on. Now thats something that
  I need to take lessons on.....its this and
  experiences such as this that are truly making me
  look at things from a fresh perspective.
• As you will no doubt here repeatedly an
  international experience is all about being open
  minded and having a willingness to experience a
  completely different culture. But in my case as
  it will be for many of you out there, its a
  chance to re-acquaint one self and reconnect with
  ones own culture. So go on.....take the plunge
  and sign up. Whether its the country next door or
  all the way around the world, there's no doubt
  you'll learn something new and make a whole lot
  more friends while doing it.