After recovering from the potato farming experience, life soon returned to normal. My friend Billy managed to get a job in a Chinese restaurant, and I spent time driving around, visiting different places and socialising. In time I came to know and understand the culture, customs and attitudes of the Irish people.
The friendly welcoming smile, stopping for a chat, being invited into homes with open arms – it reminded me of Malaysia, where I come from. I immediately felt at home, just like many of my colleagues. And how could anyone not experience the craic? If one did not have a passion for life, Ireland was the place to find it.
Many of the multicultural Malaysian students in Dublin in the mid 1980s – Malay, Chinese and Indians alike – spent much of their spare time in ‘Malaysia Hall’, our residence at Leeson Park in Dublin 6. There we had a TV, a snooker table and other games, and dining rooms. We had subsidised meals that cost us only about 50 pence then.
Often we took part in inter-varsity games which included Nigerian, South African Indian and Middle Eastern students, and of course our Irish counterparts. My, was there tough competition, especially when one comes from a different continent altogether! No matter how heated things got, it was all smoothened out it the bars afterwards – though things got competitive again in the nightclubs as we vied for the ‘local talent’.
There were also many cultural or friendship societies or clubs, initiated by different ethnic minority groups. They were a great way for such groups to introduce themselves to the wider community, through sharing, educating and sharing their culture, exchanging views and ideas, food tasting, singing, poetry recitals, readings from famous authors, discussions on religion, philosophy – you name it.
There was always something going on, especially during different festive celebrations. I learnt more by mixing with people from different origins, with a view to educating myself without having to travel far and wide.
It was so exciting to participate in any of their events, and definitely a great way of exploring the backgrounds of others, getting an insight into how life is conducted away from home. Moreover, it was an easy and relaxing way to make friends, and it didn’t cost anything but time.
The insatiable urge to learn, the inspiration to strive for more knowledge, the attraction to absorb something new and different empowered me to realise that I have many roles to play in life. One of them was and still is to find a creative rhythm to motivate others to understand people better. We have to embrace change – something different but delightfully new.
Logan Raju is a Malaysian-Indian entrepreneur living in Ireland for 30 years.
