Yousuf Rangoonwalla, 25, hails from Calcutta, India. After studying mass communications at university and in between bids to work in Cairo and almost Russia, an opportunity through a youth organization saw him head to Jakarta in 2006 for just eight months. Two years later he's in his second advertising job, climbing the ladder, and absolutely loving it.
I was about to become senior brand manager at home when I decided to take this opportunity and come to Jakarta. I was working on blue chip-brands and I was on a decent salary for Calcutta standards. But I just decided I'm going to do this, because if I don't now, it will never happen.
I was offered two opportunities - one in Singapore and one in Jakarta.
In Singapore, I would have had the opportunity to work for DHL, or in Indonesia there was the opportunity to work for one small advertising company.
But the job in Singapore was boring and the guy in Indonesia was interesting. He didn't have a lot of money - but he wanted to hire a foreigner because he knew the people here needed a push.
I'd never heard very much about Indonesia. A friend had told me it was a beautiful country. He used to live in Bandung. He told me not to expect too much in terms of modernity - but he said I wouldn't be dissatisfied with the experience.
I didn't leave Calcutta to become part of an expat community. I wanted to come here to learn about the country, to learn the language, to become part of the social fabric.
That's also a very big reason I didn't want to go to Singapore or Malaysia, where every fourth person resembles an Indian, or is Indian.
My friends ask me, why Jakarta. They say it's a bad city - it's poor economically, it's not doing well, and India is moving.
If you tell anyone at home you're going to Indonesia, their first question is why, there's no economic reason to go there.
And I tell them you cannot judge something based on popular opinion.
Every country has its problems, but every problem has a solution.
Jakarta's expat community is cosmopolitan, it is diverse and it's a working community. There is a beautiful diversity here.
And Indonesia is back, hotels are competing, Jakarta is back.
There is a huge sense of optimism. Jakarta is Indonesia's best-kept secret and that's what has kept me here.
