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Expats are lying low in Vashi

Even as Kenneth Haywood is making the rounds of the ATS office and dealing with police officials investigating the Ahmedabad blasts, the issue has come as a shocker for expats.

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Firms are asking them for NOCs

VASHI: Even as American national Kenneth Haywood is making the rounds of the ATS office and dealing with police officials investigating the Ahmedabad blasts, the issue has come as a shocker for the 1,700-odd expatriate community of Navi Mumbai.

From cutting down on social commitments to sprucing up security arrangements, the expatriates have retreated into a shell ever since the Ahmedabad email was traced to Haywood’s residence.

“My immediate concern when the news about the hacking of the email got aired was to change the password of my internet connection. Even the organisation where I work has asked me to get an NOC from the local police officials at the earliest,” said English teacher Nicholas Kasparek, who is an American. On the social front, Kasparek is lying low at his Vashi residence.

But there are some who are taking things in their stride. “In any case, I never went around the malls and parks of Navi Mumbai. For me, weekends are for catching up with friends from back home in the western suburbs, where we dine and chill out,” said another NRI-Colony-based American national, who requested not to be named.

While the Chinese have the strongest presence in the satellite city — with a count of over 1,300 — the Americans come in second with over 300.

But expats from other countries too are caught up in the events. Russian national Zakir Bakive said: “Terror attacks are not an unknown thing back home in Russia. But Navi Mumbai was the last place I expected to be affected by terrorism.”

British National Ivan Andrews, who is on deputation in the city, was equally shocked: “That somebody located hundreds of miles away can be drawn into such a dastardly act is disturbing. It’s scary the way terrorists have misused technology; anyone can be their
next victim.”
k_sameera@dnaindia.net

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