For Adwait Patil, from Mumbai, the best thing about living in Ireland is time. He works nine to five, then “the rest of the time is mine”. Compared with India’s long hours, a normal working day here allows him time for other things, and he makes the most of that. As well as working full time in IT, Patil makes short films, learns piano and performs stand-up comedy.
Patil (28) spent two years of his four-year IT degree abroad at Penn State University, and has lived in Ireland for five; his experiences abroad make him reflective about cultural differences.
Mumbai is “exactly like Dublin is, but only on the western coast”, with great seafood. “I thought that’s what I would get here. But sadly not.” It’s not that he won’t try unfamiliar fish, “it’s more a mental block, because I can’t pay that much when I see fish. It’s too expensive.” He bemoans lack of value generally. “I think it’s like a bubble, an inflated market, where everything, you have to pay more than what it’s actually worth.”
The scale is different – Ireland’s five million to Mumbai’s 20 million – but he loves living in Dublin. “I like the chaos of Mumbai. Initially when I came here it was very village-like, because it’s scaled down. Now I’m used to it, I know the streets, the places, how to get places without Google Maps. It feels more like home. There’s a certain sense of belonging I have now.”
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He has lived in a two-bedroom apartment for more than two years, enjoying the convenience. Although it costs €1,860 a month between three people, it is not as expensive as some (”some of my friends pay €1,000″), but still feels like bad value. The landlord is responsive to issues and “that’s kept us there. It’s not worth the money. I’ve gotten used to it. I love the place where I live, because it’s right in the city. I’m from Mumbai. And I need that, honestly.”
He’s an only child. “I definitely come from a privileged family. It’s not like my parents always had money. My dad worked his way, and they gave me more than they could afford, because they wanted to see a better life for their child. They’re putting their life savings into me.”
He returned to Mumbai after college, “looking for a job, without great commitment. In that year, I didn’t do anything, which is a very rare thing in India. My parents gave me some time and space to breathe, and I decided I wanted to go out [abroad] again.” His parents encouraged this. “They told me I should go because if I stay in Mumbai, my life’s going to be not good, which is true.” Now, “I’m more of a tourist in my country”. Ultimately “I want to go back. I want to settle in India, but I don’t know when that will be.”
Patil moved to Dublin for a master’s degree in information systems in UCD. He graduated during Covid, and initially work was scarce. At one stage he worked as a commis chef. He was a food runner at Urban Brewing in CHQ. “I like cooking, and I used to hover around the kitchen and ask, what’s this? Things I had never seen. One of the chefs asked if I wanted to be in the kitchen since I was so interested. I didn’t want to pass that opportunity. I was cutting onions. It’s a great place.”
Since then, his IT skills are in demand. He works for an IT solutions company, with contracts in several companies.
“At home in India I was very poor academically.” In his school finals he got 51 per cent. “I was very happy, because I thought I was going to fail, but I passed. But my parents weren’t happy at all.” University allowed him to flourish. Whereas in India, the focus was on “getting things by heart”, in university in the US understanding the concept was more important. “It’s a postcolonial thing. You are trying to learn in a different language, and you don’t really understand the concept. Indians are great at English, but it’s not our natural language, so you kind of have to memorise the words, even if you don’t get the meaning behind them.” In college they didn’t want long speeches he had learned off, but proof he understood the concept. “I’m great at getting concepts.”
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The experience “shifted my perception of myself, because now I knew that I was smart, even academic. I started to get more confidence. I was very shy as a kid, under-confident.” Living abroad for eight years has been a further boost. That confidence, and his free time here, means he can indulge the fact that “I’m interested in everything”. He has been on stage in Irish National Opera’s Salome at the Bord Gáis Theatre (“I was on stage for 10 seconds at the very end, throwing the stone”). He made a short film with the Dublin Filmmakers Collective. He recently did an open-mic spot at a comedy club. “If I stayed back home, I wouldn’t have had these opportunities. In India, with nearly 1.5 billion people, the competition is very cut-throat. People are just ready to take your place. You have to put all your eggs in one basket. You can’t diversify.”
He found life in the US “very transactional”. Here, “people are nice, and there’s a sense of community. Not everyone’s running behind money. There’s a recognition of life outside that.”
“Ireland and India, we both share our colonial past. I see a lot of similarities. There was the Celtic boom here, and in India there was globalisation and privatisation. My father’s generation, the middle class, started to see real money coming in. There was an exponential boom in the quality of life”, like in Ireland.
But he’s mystified why in the middle of a housing crisis, the construction he sees in the city is commercial or for tourists or student hostels. “I don’t understand what’s happening. When there is such evident need to build homes, why would you then go and build a hotel instead?”
But “the one thing that separates India and Ireland is availability of time for yourself”. That’s the attraction of Ireland for Patil.
“I love Ireland. It’s a small country going through major changes, and it’s got a lot of things to decide. But Irish people are really great. Almost every interaction I have, there’s someone smiling or asking: how are you? It’s very nonjudgmental society in general. I’m not trying to take India down, but it there’s more judgment there, more people, more opinions.”
We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland in the past 10 years. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com or tweet @newtotheparish
