Beginning Again in Basel

When I moved from India to Basel at the age of 59, most people reacted with a mix of surprise and concern. "Moving countries now?", "Starting from scratch at this stage?" One friend looked at me as though I had announced plans to climb Mount Everest in flip-flops while carrying my retirement plans in a plastic bag.

To be fair, even I wasn't entirely sure what I was getting myself into. After decades of building a career, raising a family, leading teams, and feeling reasonably competent at life, I suddenly found myself in a new country where buying garbage bags required research, household chores came with instruction manuals, and even the supermarkets seemed determined to educate me.

Basel didn't just give me a new job. It gave me a chance to become a beginner again. And let me tell you, beginners make a lot of mistakes.

Learning Independence All Over Again

One of the first lessons was independence. In India, many things happen almost effortlessly. Family is nearby. Support systems exist. Life has familiar rhythms.

Then I arrived in Basel and discovered that the household help, grocery planner, cleaner, laundry expert, chef, maintenance department, and occasional emotional support team were all the same person. Me.

I have spent years helping organizations solve complex business problems across countries. Yet I found myself standing in front of a washing machine trying to understand symbols that looked suspiciously like secret messages from NASA. Nobody tells you that living alone means constantly having meetings with yourself.

And grocery shopping became a strategic exercise. Forget one item and you couldn't simply pop out at 10:00 pm because the shops had already decided you should have planned your life better. Back in India, convenience often arrives before you even ask for it. In Switzerland, efficiency quietly expects you to behave like a responsible adult.

The experience gave me enormous respect for people who manage households every day. One of my biggest leadership lessons this year may actually have come from trying to fold a fitted bedsheet.

Sustainability Isn't a Department

One thing that immediately impressed me was how deeply sustainability is woven into daily life. In many organizations, sustainability is a function. In Basel, it is a lifestyle. People walk, people cycle, people use public transport...a lot.

In India, if someone suggests walking three kilometres, the first question is usually, "But why?" In Basel, people walk three kilometres and describe it as "just around the corner."

I have also never seen a society so committed to recycling. For weeks, I lived with the constant fear that I might place cardboard in the paper bin and trigger an international incident. There appears to be a dedicated recycling destination for every object ever manufactured by humanity. After a month, I felt qualified to launch a consulting practice in waste segregation.

Yet slowly I began to understand something powerful. Sustainability isn't created by campaign slogans. It's created by millions of tiny habits repeated every single day. What fascinated me most was how natural it seemed. No speeches. No reminders. No dashboards. Just behaviour.

The Swiss Summer Surprise

Before moving here, I had a very clear image of Switzerland. Snow, mountains, cool weather, Possibly people skiing to work. What I did not anticipate was heat.

During my first summer in Basel, I began a determined search for a ceiling fan. Now, if you're Indian, you'll understand the emotional importance of a ceiling fan. A ceiling fan isn't merely an appliance. It is family.

It has comforted generations during power cuts, summer afternoons, exam preparations, family dramas, and afternoon naps. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that ceiling fans were surprisingly rare here. I spent weeks looking for one with the determination of an explorer searching for a lost civilization. Eventually I accepted that in Switzerland central heating is considered essential infrastructure while ceiling fans seem to belong in the same category as unicorns and dragons.

I found myself wondering how a country capable of producing some of the world's most precise watches had collectively decided that spinning fans were optional. Every warm day increased my appreciation for Indian engineering.

Cultural Surprises Around Every Corner

Image: Wiki Commons

Switzerland taught me that every culture has unwritten rules. The first is punctuality. In India, when someone says, "Let's meet at 10:00," there can occasionally be room for interpretation.

In Switzerland, 10:00 means 10:00. Possibly 9:58.

I quickly learned that arriving two minutes late is not evidence of efficiency. It is evidence that you are two minutes late.

Then there was public transport. The first few times I used the tram, I still ran towards it. Years of Indian conditioning had taught me that transport schedules are more like optimistic aspirations. Swiss transport arrives exactly when the timetable says it will. The system became so reliable that eventually a three-minute delay felt like a national emergency. I was changing.

Fresh Bread, Fresh Thinking

Photo: Good Food Stories

One unexpected joy has been Swiss supermarkets. I know that doesn't sound exciting but hear me out. The freshness of the produce is extraordinary. The fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and especially the bread often feel as though they travelled directly from a farm rather than through an elaborate supply chain.

The bread deserves special mention. My relationship with bread has become significantly more sophisticated than it was six months ago. I now spend more time analyzing bakery options than I do some business presentations.

Finding Joy in Basel

Despite the adjustments, Basel slowly began to win my heart. There is something magical about walking beside the Rhine after work. The city encourages you to slow down, to observe, to reflect.

Ironically, all the walking that initially felt unusual has become one of the things I enjoy most. Somewhere between the tram stops, riverside paths, and weekend explorations, Basel quietly improved my health too. My daily step count increased, my resting heart rate dropped. And for perhaps the first time in years, exercise became a part of life rather than a scheduled activity.

I also learned that making friends at 59 is very different from making friends at 19. At 19, friendships seem to happen automatically. At 59, it sometimes feels as though networking has escaped the workplace and followed you into your personal life. But kindness, curiosity, and openness still work surprisingly well. A place starts feeling like home not when you know every street, but when you begin recognizing familiar faces.

Reinvention Has No Age Limit

Looking back, I realize Basel has taught me far more than I expected. I arrived thinking I was learning a new role. Instead, I learned independence, adaptability, sustainability, patience, humility, and the value of staying curious. I learned that expertise in one area offers absolutely no protection from being completely clueless in another. Because beginners pay attention, beginners learn.

At 59, I expected to contribute my experience. I did not expect to become an amateur recycling expert, develop strong opinions about public transport, search for mythical ceiling fans, or discover that walking can actually be enjoyable, yet those small experiences delivered some of the biggest lessons.

If Basel has taught me anything, it is this: reinvention is not reserved for the young and growth doesn't stop when our hair turns grey.

Sometimes life quietly hands us a brand-new chapter just when we think the book is heading towards its conclusion. And if that chapter teaches you how to recycle properly, appreciate fresh bread, walk everywhere, and become friends with discomfort along the way, that's not a bad deal at all.

Namrata Gill

Namrata is a people leader, mentor, and lifelong learner who currently leads Human Resources for Global Consumer Health and Europe Generics at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, based in Basel, Switzerland. An engineer by education and an HR professional by passion, she has spent more than two decades helping organizations navigate growth, transformation, and change while keeping people at the heart of business decisions. Known for her belief that careers, like software, need regular updates, Namrata is passionate about leadership, talent development, organizational culture, and continuous reinvention. She enjoys sharing lessons from work and life, often with a touch of humour and honesty.

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