Ireland was not Keerthana Varma’s first choice when moving abroad.
Varma, who is now 33, was born and raised in Bangalore in southern India and initially moved to Michigan in the US for university. While the economic opportunities were definitely part of the US’s appeal, she says: “Growing up I watched a lot of American television and movies and I had this idea of what life there would be like. I imagined huge houses, roaring muscle cars, and people who were welcoming and full of energy. In my mind everything looked very scenic.”
Life in Michigan was not like the movies. First there was the weather. “I used to joke that living in Michigan in winter was like living beyond the wall in Game of Thrones. We would have months of blanket snow, and any time you wanted to go somewhere you would have to scrape the snow off the car and shovel it out of the driveway. You had to drive everywhere as there was no public transport.”
Varma’s issues with life in the US went beyond the weather. “There’s no culture there. All the buildings look the same. You go to work, you go to a massive supermarket to do your shopping and then you go back home.”
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It was during her four years studying engineering at Michigan Technical University that Varma first heard people say, “I’m one-eighth Irish. I’m one-fourth Irish. I was confused by this: what is this one eighth and one fourth? I swear everybody there was Irish.”
Intrigued Varma found herself researching Ireland in her spare time.
While as a child she had romanticised the US, during college she began to romanticise Europe.
“I was watching a lot of Nigella during that time – I’m a big fan. She was a great introduction to western food as in India we eat a very different type of food.”
Finding out that Ireland was English speaking and in Europe sealed the deal for Varma, who moved to Dublin in 2018.
“Back then in 2016-2017 Ireland was not such a popular destination for international students to come and study, not like it is now. It was a new place to come and explore.
“I didn’t know anyone when I moved to Ireland but when you’re young, you’re a lot more ambitious. I don’t think I have the same guts now.”
She was accepted into TU Dublin for a master’s in energy management. Moving from an American university to an Irish university was a culture shock.
“In Michigan everyone would just wear tracksuits and hoodies to class. Girls would just put their hair up in a bun and move on. When I turned up to my first lecture in Ireland looking like that, I got a lot of looks. People here are very serious about how they dress and present themselves.”
She found friends and community at TUD.
“Making the transition from student life to being a working professional during Covid was a bit lonely. Suddenly I lost the support system that I had around me. My friends from the master’s also started to move away to different countries for jobs and things’.
During this period she was also feeling the pressure to find a partner and settle down. “Back in India if you are not married by the time you are 27 or 28, your parents start to say, ‘Let me arrange a marriage for you’. And that was scary, I did not want to do that. While it’s not like it was back in the day when you would meet once and get married, it was still too much.”
She decided to take matters into her own hands and download the dating app Hinge. “After only spending a week on Hinge – I found my partner.”
Her partner is originally from Chennai in India, near Bangalore.
“It’s strange because he used to work in Bangalore and live very close to where I grew up.”
By the time Varma met him, he had been in Ireland for seven years: “In his mind he thought he was Irish”. She lights up when talking about him. “I think the universe put together the exact package for me. He is everything that I think I wanted him to be. I’m not religious or spiritual but I really think that I was meant to find him.”
There’s never a day where I wake up in the morning and think oh god, I have to go to work. I really enjoy my work.
— Keerthana Varma
Rohit (36) is an investment banker at JP Morgan. Referencing the social media trend where women say they are “looking for a man in finance, 6ft 5in, blue eyes”, Varma jokes that, “He’s not tall and doesn’t have blue eyes but I got it all”.
The pair were married in 2022. “We joke that I married him for the passport as he was already an Irish citizen.”
After graduating from TU Dublin she worked for an environmental scientist based in Mullingar. “It took me two hours to get to work every day because of all the different buses I had to take.”
She now works for the Irish Wheelchair Association as its national energy and sustainability manager. Her job is to ensure that the public body reach net zero by 2050 in line with the Government’s deadline.
“My job is very varied. It can be anything from the type of energy we use, the better sorting of waste or putting in a more sustainable design in the office.
“There’s never a day where I wake up in the morning and think, oh God, I have to go to work. I really enjoy my work. It’s very meaningful to work for such a vulnerable group; you actually have a feel-good factor at the end of the day.”
[ From Mumbai to Dublin: ‘Ireland has been cold, yes – but not the people’Opens in new window ]
She appreciates how much Irish people value having a good work-life balance.
“On one of my first days in Ireland I saw people walking on the beach in the middle of the day. At first, I was puzzled by this but then I realised that it was okay to take the time to go on a walk during your lunch break as you can always just work a bit later in the evening.”
She found the work culture refreshing as, “in the US people would say, ‘I am going on holiday, but you can always reach me’. I was like, hell no.” Varma believes that Irish people, like other Europeans, “take their holidays very seriously”.
Varma and Rohit plan to stay in Ireland long-term. “I’m actually very happy here,” she says. “I know there are a lot of problems like the housing crisis, but there are a lot of good things that people can focus on. We always tend to focus on what’s bad here. I am grateful for the clean air, beautiful greenery and great people around me.”
“I even love the weather here. I know it’s very strange, but as I can still see greenery in winter, I can appreciate the climate here. Having lived in Michigan I would never complain about the weather in Ireland.”
We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland. Email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com or tweet @newtotheparish
