‘My own experience has been so good but something has changed’
In the corner of Meghana Dambal’s living room in her beautiful Navan home is an ornate altar of warmth and colour where candlelit garlands of vibrant red and orange flowers - red hibiscus, marigold, lotus and jasmine flow around its centrepiece - the god Ganesha.
A waft of incense further infuses the room with a sense of relaxation as Meghana offers up gifts (sweets) to the idol - a Hindu deity of good fortune, success, wisdom, and intellect, to celebrate the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi which takes place every August.
The story behind why Ganesha is depicted with a human body and elephant head goes that his original head was severed by his father, Lord Shiva, who then replaced the head with the first creature his attendants found—an elephant—to appease Goddess Parvati and bring their son back to life.
In Hinduism, Lord Ganesha is seen as a remover of obstacles and elephants often represent good fortune.
Good fortune is not something many within the Indian Community in Ireland feel they’ve experienced of late with numerous racially motivated attacks and incidents making the headlines.
One of the most high profile assaults occurred in July when an Indian national was left dripping with blood and walking the streets of Tallaght in shock after being set upon by a gang of teenagers.
It’s understood the victim had only arrived in Ireland three weeks previously on a critical skills visa to begin a new job with a leading international tech company.
Meghana arrived in Ireland 28 years ago and has actually now lived longer in Ireland than she did in her native Pune, which is about a four hour drive from Mumbai.
She is married to husband, Pramod with two children.
She says she doesn’t feel any different from when she arrived here in 1997 but she acknowledges, “something has changed”.
“My experience has been very, very good, I have tried my best, like we all have tried our best, and many of the other Indians have tried to integrate ourselves into the community and people have been very welcoming.
“But in the last few years, not for me personally, but I’ve seen it has changed a little bit.”
Referring to the incident in Tallaght, Meghana says it was probably a tipping point after many other less publicised attacks that prompted the community to raise its voice.
“Maybe where some of the incidents have happened, we have just taken a step back, saying, let us keep it neutral and keep going. But because it was so severe, I think it had to be highlighted more. If it’s this bad, I think it is important to highlight it.”
Meghana is on a very quick break as she talks to the Meath Chronicle, the children at the Little Champs playschool she runs at her Boyne View, Johnstown home can be heard enjoying their lunch in the next room and she knows she’s on borrowed time before she has to get back to her colleagues and charges.
A teacher by profession, Meghana’s journey to Ireland came via the Netherlands in 1997 when her husband, working in IT, got the chance to move here.
“I followed him with our little boy, who was two and a half. He’s 30 now, a dad himself. We lived in Bray originally and then in 2000 we decided, we have settled here in Ireland, it’s time we take the next step and have a home and make it our home. So Navan is where we came. And we’ve been here (Boyne View) since 2000.
“When I came here, everybody knew everybody, I have Irish friends since 2000 who even today, ring me. My colleagues who were here, who came to work with me, I know them for last 20-25, years, even if they’re not with me now, they are in different places, but they would say, Hello, Meghana, how are you? And that is so overwhelming, because we are friends. We are not here because of the color. We are here because we are friends. My friend who used to work with me said, ‘we are two sisters from two different mothers’, and that is so touching, so touching.”
Meghana talks about her neighbours who, when they first moved in, helped her with odd jobs on the new playschool and lifts. “I had no car, they drove me around. My neighbors across the road, if I had anything needing fixing in the playschool, they’d come with a drill and a hammer, ‘I’ll fix that for you’.
“So this is my experience with them. Neighbours are so welcoming, open doors, and we never had any issue. When I started this preschool, I was told by the architect, ‘Meghana, you’ll need a letter of support for the planners from all the parents, all the neighbors, to say it’s okay for you to have a preschool in your backyard. Not one word from my 22 neighbours. Each one signed, delighted. They said ‘I’ll put my child in’ so nearly everybody on the road had children in my preschool.”
Meghana believes that changing demographics in Irish society particularly in recent years have contributed to the increased number of incidents of attacks and violence on migrants and people from the Indian community.
“Things have changed. For me, it’s still okay, but for the next generation who’s come in the last few years, yes, it has changed.”
The upsurge in racial attacks on the Indian community has not gone unnoticed internationally and often worried calls can come from as far as 9,000km away.
“Whenever we go back to India, or we tell our parents, our relations, oh, Ireland is the best place. But now we get calls because they’ve heard about another incident that happened in Ireland. They are hearing things in the news and because it’s been highlighted and they probably wonder what kind of a country we’re living in? - has it become some sort of lawless society or something, I feel bad, because we know that’s not the case.
“Parents are worried. I think, for these youngsters who have done this, it’s so, so wrong. They should be told, this is not what life is about. Life is about being welcoming, or, you know, integrating into this way of life and doing good for yourself. Forget others at the minute, but do good for yourself. Like, if you do good, you will rise up in life.”
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