Relocated.... A look back!

My husband and I moved to Dublin from Bangalore, India around 5 years ago and made this place our home since. Dublin is green, wet and for most parts quiet, oh wait, I’m talking about the city this was 5 years ago. It is still green and definitely wet, but now not so quiet anymore. You know you are a true Dubliner if or rather when you find yourself complaining about the the weather!
Everyday living
Dublin has good infrastructure, well most of it is. It’s clean and the city has a friendly vibe, even a complete stranger says ‘hello’ with a smile. It is multi-cultural with expats from different parts of the world living and working here.
It’s a great city to walk, especially along the Liffey river, from Hueston to The Point, with the city center in the middle, crossing the ‘impossible to miss’ 120 m high Spire, a towering symbol of the Celtic Tiger days, iconic Ha’Pennny Bridge and the beautiful Harp Bridge on the way. It also has great parks, like Stephens Green, Phoenix Park, Irish War Memorial and beautiful Literary parks.
Rent and Housing
Since the bailout and recovery, the rents have steadily sky-rocketed and in some area, if there is a house available buying the property and paying the monthly payments is significantly cheaper than renting the house! I recently moved houses and found that the average rent in the city is anywhere between €1,000 to €1,500 for a single bedroom apartment.
My challenges
I came here on a Dependent Visa. Although Dependents/Spouses cannot work without a permit. My toughest challenge has been finding a job suited for my qualifications. Dublin is a tech-haven with giants like Amazon, Facebook, Google, Dell and Hooli to name a few. OK, there is no Hooli here but it is still a little Silicon Valley of its own. If you are looking for a job outside the IT, ITES, customer support or medical field, it can be tough as the option are few.  It is always best to look for a job before coming here rather than after.
Healthcare
It can be a challenge as private care it is expensive and the public healthcare struggles to keep up with the rising demand. The waiting time in an Emergency Unit could be up to 10 hours as a result of inadequate staffing and over crowding. A few years ago I injured my back and it took a full year to get an appointment to see the Spine Specialist through the Public system.
Of course, as always, things seem to be changing now with some private hospitals having next day appointments with specialists.
In spite of a few challenges and set backs, Ireland is my home, for now. This is a relatively safe place. As an Indian-origin woman in Ireland, I’d be lying if I said that in my five years here I have never been at the receiving end hurtful racist remarks but they are mostly rare instances and definitely not the norm here. Most people are educated and seem friendly.
The Irish way…
Generally people seem to have a work-life balance. On a rare sunny day, the atmosphere on the streets turns festive.
Restaurants and Pubs here are amazing! Restaurateurs and the wait-staff are accommodating and care a great deal about the customers here, especially if you are a ‘regular’.
While the Irish people might be know for their ‘happy-go-lucky’ attitude, they also know how to introspect and are able or at least try to keep up with changing times. The Equal Marriage Act of 2015 that supports the same-sex marriage shows that Ireland is not a state with parochial values anymore.

Served!

 
Time heals all wounds but in Nirbhaya's case it took 4 years, 4 months and 23 days to be exact!  Nirbhaya died but a nation was left scarred and numb as the horror of the gut-wrenching ordeal endured by a young woman all of 23 years and her friend was splashed across newspapers all over the world. The wound may not have healed but it is a start! Justice was finally delivered.

The criminals got what they deserved, but what we got to see in this jaded world is people - all Indians - men and women, young and old, irrespective of all the differences that characterize us, finally agreeing on something, and today the nation lets out a sigh of relief as justice was served.

They say that the true nature of who we are can be gauged by our actions and behavior when we think no one was watching. But what happens if these same actions somehow make their way to the headlines and subject to scrutiny of the world? The criminals thought no one was watching and their behavior was way more reprehensible than words could describe.

The gross violation of humanity on that fateful in December 2012, left a young girl, a budding physical-therapist, raped and physically mutilated. But it was her undaunting spirit, her insurmountable courage, her will to live long enough to make her statements against the perpetrators that finally vindicated the braveheart today! Their conviction and punishment is the least this world owes her and her family.

Nirbhaya may not have been alive to see the unconditional support of a nation, the candle-light vigils, the protests demanding justice, complete strangers enduring lathi-charge to get the Government to wake up and take action, but what we can do to truly honor her memory is to make sure that no other woman should have to undergo this horror.

We must educate our children to respect one another. Let's not force our daughters to 'cover up for their own safety', there is not a garment long enough in the world that can protect one from the patriarchal mindset. That garment just does not exist. Let's teach our sons to not rape. Let's explain consent. Teach them that 'no means no' and it is a perfectly valid answer. It does not make them any less of a 'man' when they face rejection, rather makes them a decent member of the society to accept it and move on. No matter how difficult it may seem, talk to them, engage with them, make them feel safe enough to open-up, rather than brood or feel the need to vindicate themselves by attacking someone. Let's enable our girls to stand up for themselves. Well, let's explain consent to them as well.

Polemics aside, irrespective of beliefs, equip children- boys and girls, with education. Before you dismiss classroom learning or say that educated people too commit crimes, understand that education is a start. It gives us an understanding and a perspective of ourselves and others, an idea of our larger role in the society. It equips us with the ability to distinguish, if not choose, right from wrong. It is only a beginning, but a solid one and we need it.

Wishful thinking? Well, even if it is, it is better to try and fail, than give up. It is the only true way to honor Nirbhaya and turn the incredibly painful night into a new dawn. We owe it to ourselves, to the future and more importantly to Nirbhaya herself.


--Urooj Fathima