Indian Talent, Global Content
|
Indian Talent, Global Content |
New and Improved: May 2012
Just Launched - New eStore selling travel guides, editing courses, ebooks and special offers |
The Road Less Travelled: The Challenges of Living and Working Overseas: From Oxford to India
Etched permanently in my memory is the moment of my departure from the US twenty-one years ago. I had just graduated from Boston College and was heading off to study for my D.Phil. (Ph.D.) in Literary History at Oxford. Nothing could have been more exciting to me at that time. I had no ties, no possessions, nothing whatsoever to concern me beyond my ability to survive the pressures of the course and the distance from home. Oxford, about which I knew virtually nothing--never having been to the UK before--seemed unimaginably romantic and stimulating from my perspective in the departure lounge at Logan Airport in Boston. My parents were beside themselves with grief (there is no better word) at the departure of their youngest child. From the moment I turned from their embraces and entered the aircraft I knew that my life had changed forever. Gone was all that was familiar. The people, places, activities, customs, and expectations were all new and different. I learned very quickly that romanticism is rarely satisfied by the hard facts on the ground. From one perspective Oxford was dirty, noisy, unfriendly and expensive; from another it was stimulating, fascinating and full of cultural opportunities and interesting people. The tension between those perspectives was always there during my five years in the town, as were the limitations borne of living on £50 a week! After the degree there was then Aberystwyth, a one-horse town on the extreme western coast of Wales, in the heart of the Welsh-speaking community. A job at the university there came up; I took it, never having been to Wales in my life, because the idea of a complete change attracted me and because I could also continue with my rather pleasant student’s life (and get paid for it!) until my late twenties, learn how to teach, get a few things published, and enjoy the wonderful Welsh countryside and people. Footloose and fancy-free I arrived, anxious only about the state of the heating in my apartment and what the fishing was like on the coast. What I hadn’t prepared for was the girl next door: when she arrived three days after me, I knew once again that my life had changed forever! Now firm believers in Romanticism, Katie and I took to the Welsh hills and had the time of our lives, never really considering carefully that I was on a short contract, that she was on a law course, that the contract ended a year before the course, that I was on a work-permit and that there was no guarantee at that time (the height of the recession of the early 90s) that I would find gainful employment in rural Wales for the additional year in question. Casting about for a solution, I accepted a university teaching job in Bangkok! I’m afraid it just caught our fancy. Having read far too many Victorian adventure novels during my frigid Boston childhood, the lure of the East proved wholly irresistible. Katie had grown up in Hong Kong and was game for anything. We still had no money, no kids, no possessions, and our year in Thailand (with Katie travelling back and forth to complete her degree) turned out to be an astonishingly stimulating experience. This was a step beyond in the unfamiliarity stakes: the tastes, the sounds, the sights, the climate were all incredibly vivid and unforgettably exciting. But the short-term contract there and our consideration of the real demands of marriage sent us back to England the following year. The whole concept of ‘settling down’ reared its head. Katie finished her degree and was on her legal practice course. I took a job at an ancient private school which I unexpectedly loved. We bought a 14th-century cottage on the seacoast and before you could say Jack Robinson our first son was cooing by the fire; then a 17th-century cottage on the river bank and another outstanding son; then off to an even more venerable school, a Victorian townhouse in a classic English market town and another beautiful son. You get the sense of Responsibility Writ Large and the years flying by inexorably, but at the same time we sensed the need of Otherness, Mystery and Excitement, of learning something new and facing down challenges. Nothing could have been easier than to have stayed put. I was sitting on one of the most secure and prestigious jobs in the teaching game and the children were thriving and happy. We had a large circle of friends and were perfectly at ease with our surroundings. Why change the world now? Why India? To teach well you need to be prepared to learn well, and to keep learning. Beyond that, to live fully, you need to keep seizing the day, exploring life’s possibilities, making new friends, taking new risks: be prepared to shed habits and customs, to refresh the mind and renew the spirit! In my view this process is essential and continuous, and though I accept that the radical sorts of changes that we have experienced from time to time aren’t perhaps everyone’s idea of having fun, I know that our lives and my teaching have been immensely enriched in every conceivable way by the challenges, joys, friendships and lessons that those experiences have provided. Can there be anywhere more varied, vast, complex and fascinating than India? Who could exhaust her possibilities?
The Sullivan family from left to right, Richard, Katie, Matthew and James. Connor, their newest family addition, is absent! Now at 41 with three small sons there are of course things to think about, ‘promises to keep/And miles to go before I sleep’, but we know that we are in excellent hands (at another fine boarding school, which the children will attend) and that we are fortunate enough to have the wealth of our lives’ experience to fall back upon when the going gets tough, as it undoubtedly does and will from time to time. If you’re planning to take ‘the road less travelled’, my advice would be always to remain calm, to keep your eyes open, to listen, to observe, to be slow to judge, quick to learn, open to change, unfussy about inconvenience, practical in the face of difficulties, stoical in moments of crisis, sensitive and open to others; last but by no means least, always keep thinking about what you have learned. It’s not easy to do all of these things, and I certainly cannot pretend to have done so consistently, but every problem passes eventually, and the richness of human variety, goodness and complexity is enough for a lifetime of pondering and celebration. Never lose the sense of adventure or the joy of doing something you have never tried before. Recognise that life will never run out of challenges for you if you keep your eyes open for them. When you’re old and grey you may find wisdom at the end of the road, but in the meantime remain positive, and ‘gather ye rosebuds while ye may’! Chillibreeze's disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article.
>> Read more articles written by Chillibreeze writers:1. Articles related to Content and Outsourcing
|
Premium Services
Products Must Reads...
Upgrade Your Writing |
Copyright 2004 - 2011 Chillibreeze Solutions Pvt. Ltd. |
.gif)
