I grew up in a small estate in Galway, with loads of other kids around my age. About three years ago, we moved to Cross in Co Mayo. We were renting in Galway at the time, and because the estate was very close to student accommodation, [the landlord] wanted to rent the house out to students. My dad had also wanted to move to the countryside for a while, so we moved.
My parents are both from Delhi in India. My dad originally moved here about 25 years ago. He first moved from India to London, as he was doing his undergraduate in culinary art, which gave him a year abroad. When he was in England, he had a load of co-workers who were Irish, and they said: you should definitely come to Ireland, you would love it. He first went to Ennis and worked there for a bit. He didn’t plan to settle down here, but he fell in love with it the moment he came here. Then he got a job in Galway, and my mum came too.
I went to primary school in Menlo village. I was the only person of colour in my class. I didn’t feel left out, but just a bit different. When I started secondary school, there were maybe four or five girls in my year who were Indian. As I got older, and especially in college, I met loads more first-generation immigrants. But definitely as a kid, I felt like I stood out.
I’m studying law, politics, and economics at the University of Galway. When I started, I wasn’t entirely sure which area I wanted to go into, but in our second year, there was an emphasis on human-rights law and that built my interest in it. I want to help people, especially in countries where they can’t use their voice, in terms of women’s rights, rights for immigrants and refugees.
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I’m living at home at the moment. There’s such a massive issue with the housing crisis. So many of my friends are commuting for a long time because they can’t get accommodation in Galway. It’s crazy expensive. There was one girl in my course who had to drop out because she couldn’t get any accommodation at all.
I work part-time in Monaghan’s Centra in Headford [on the Galway-Mayo border]. When I first moved to the Headford-Cross area, I didn’t know a lot of people in town, because I hadn’t gone to school there. After I started working in Centra, I would meet so many people. I got to know all the regulars.
I’ve been obsessed with pageants ever since I was a kid. I grew up watching Miss Universe, Miss Ireland, Miss India, Miss America. Back in August, I was on Instagram and I saw an ad that said the applications were still open for Miss Universe Ireland. I thought it would offer me a platform I could make good use of, even just to talk about racism, to spread awareness. I submitted an application and within three days, they had asked me to send a one-minute video of myself. I sent it, and I didn’t expect them to take me as a finalist, but a week and a half later I get an email to say I was. A lot of the girls there had some experience with modelling or pageantry, and I have no experience, so I was quite surprised when I won.
I was working on the Thursday after winning, and I didn’t expect every third person to come up to me and say: oh, are you the girl who won? Some of my co-workers were saying that people were coming up to them, saying oh, the girl who won Miss Universe Ireland works here.
Irish people are so laid back and carefree. That can also be a con, but I think for the most part, Irish people are known to be one of the friendliest people in the world. In certain parts of the countryside, some people can be closed minded, but I think that’s the case in any country.
I do kind of feel there’s a rising sense of hostility [towards immigrants]. In one week in August, there were [several] attacks [on the Indian community], one of which was on a six-year-old girl. When my parents came here, they didn’t experience any direct racism and I never have either, but we know a lot of people who would have experienced that. My parents came here and started from scratch. They worked their way up from the bottom, tirelessly.
[ Quiet desperation: Why no one speaks up about racism in IrelandOpens in new window ]
Ireland has always been my home, from the day I was born. My parents have built their home here for the past 25 years. They love Ireland so much, they would never consider going back. They received so much support and welcome when they arrived here, and obviously there are tensions and issues now, but that’s what I hope to use my platform for – to raise awareness.
In conversation with Niamh Donnelly. This interview, part of a series about well-known people’s lives and relationship with Ireland, was edited for clarity and length. Aadya Srivastava will represent Ireland at the 74th Miss Universe final on November 24th, in Thailand.
