Lutfor lives in Ukraine for 26 years and during this time he managed not only to learn Ukrainian and get used to our culture, but to open his own Indian institution in the heart of Lviv – the bar Elephant. Here we agreed to meet. While I’m waiting for Lutfor, I order a fragrant masala-tea.
– Please, tell me, where you are from and how you got to Ukraine.
– I am from Bangladesh, and I came to Ukraine to study in 1992. I studied Computer Engineering at Lviv Polytechnic, and then I got to work there as a computer networks engineer. I have been working for 18 years.
– By the way, how did you adapt here?
– I did not know anything when I was going here. I am the first student to study Ukrainian at the University. At that time, in 1992, there was not a single manual or any other textbook to help foreigners study the Ukrainian language. Only due to the high professionalism of teachers and intense self-motivation I learned the language. Although I was not perfect in Ukrainian at that time, at the level of communication I was able to come to a mutual understanding with people.
– What was very unusual for you when you get here?
– I thought how you can eat ice cream in winter? The first two years I could not understand it. For 18 years of life in Bangladesh, I thought that ice cream is eaten only in the summer, because it is hot. And now I do it myself...
– Lutfor, did you plan to return home after the study?
– There was such thought, but somehow it turned out that I did not come back: when I was studying, I got married. We once planned to return, but then my wife got a job in the Medical University and I in Polytechnic, so we decided not to go anywhere.
– Were you satisfied with your job?
– This is a state job, and for me prestige is above all, as well as an opportunity to work in a competent team in the field of Computer Technology and to share and implement in practice my own ideas concerning the work of the computer network of our institution.
I asked Lutfor whether he loves Lviv, and in reply I hear his sincerely «Yes, of course. To be honest, I have never thought to go to the other city except for Lviv».