Multitasking, the Swiss Way



Multitasking, the Swiss way A model after dark, a teacher for a charitable school by day, and a desi cook in between... neuropsychologist Christa Diezi has her hands full

year ago, if you were to ask Christa Diezi to point out Chennai on the map, she would have drawn a blank. Today, the stunner from Switzerland says that she loves exploring the small shops around her, and is completely at home in Thiruvanmiyur. A quick flashback: Diezi was still studying, when her boyfriend, Lukas, was transferred by his company to India. "He called me up and told me that the place was Chennai, and to look up Google Maps and find out where it was," she laughs. And what clinched it for her? "We saw it had a long beach, and I said OK," she says. Trained to be a neuropsychologist, this 6-foot Swiss national has a finger in every pie in Chennai. She has modelled for designers like Jyothi Rajai, Satkrit Krishna, Sujata Singh and Julie Vergis, and recently modelled at the launch of Toni&Guy at Express Avenue. "Yes, I just got into modelling, and it exposed me to a Chennai that I had never seen. It was

	only then that I saw what an incredible night life this city has," she explains. So what keeps Diezi busy during the day? "I teach English at the Hope Foundation, a charitable school for under-privileged children. It is located in Thoraipakkam, and the kids come from a slum nearby, Kannagi Nagar," she explains. The medium of instruction is English, so Diezi has not had	difficulty communicating. But Tamil is the least of her challenges, which Diezi can speak fairly well, thanks to her students. "Every week, my students give me a cooking challenge, and they rate me. This week, it's lemon rice," she smiles, saying that she can cook quite a few Indian dishes now. And this is why Diezi prefers to cook at home. When she does eat out, it is at Food Fiesta, an Indian restaurant in Thiruvanmiyur. "My favou-	rite is anything with kofta in it. Tandoori chicken and chapattis are some of my other favourites," she says. As for getting some retail therapy, Diezi hardly shops but has good things to say about Grapevine and Fast Fashion, both located in Besant Nagar. "For shoes, it's Express Avenue," she adds. —MithraSuresh indulge@expresshuzz.com