In this piece, my uncle (Bengali: “mama”) Pratik Ghosh shares his experience studying abroad at the London School of Economics. He enrolled for Actuarial Science studies but switched to Operational Research upon arriving in London. Pratik mama found out that to study abroad meant that the weekends were to vacuum his room, do laundry, and iron clothes. He also learned how to budget and took up a teaching job. As he eloquently describes below, cultures are not competing forces, and irrespective of our backgrounds, we are “more alike than unalike”. 

Work Hard, Play Hard

A ship is always safe at shore but that is not what it’s built for.
Albert Einstein

On a September morning in 1985, as I entered the waiting Piccadilly line tube at the Heathrow Terminal, I knew something was wrong. Most sitting passengers held a ticket in their hand. I didn’t. After checking in my ticket, I didn’t recollect the ticket at the entry gate. Just as I didn’t have to for traveling by the then-new Kolkata Metro running for under a year. Dragging my two huge suitcases I huffed and puffed my way up to the gate to recover my orphan ticket. Unfortunately for me, it was already adopted by someone else. I explained my predication to the friendly Sikh gentleman manning the gate. He laughed and assured me to carry on as he was going to ask the King’s Cross station to allow me out. Thanking the Good Samaritan Sardarji, I returned back to start my maiden journey by the London tube during my first visit abroad.

Listen to the author’s Justori podcast episode on study abroad at the London School of Economics!

When we arrive to study abroad for the first time, we know what we are there for. Study hard, pass our exams, get ourselves best positioned to secure the best job, and start a glittering career. Exactly what we had been doing and told to do for the earlier 12-15 years. Most of us (particularly, the boys and if I may take some liberty here, more specifically, those from South Asia) are rather oblivious of the reality that awaits us abroad.

While I was good enough to be enrolled for Actuarial Science studies at the London School of Economics, I wasn’t the typical studious type that most Indian parents wished for. When my friends prepared for various entrance exams, I trekked the Himalayas, drove cars since the age of 16, and never had my parents drop me at school, even for my board exams. So, having pecked a kiss on the lips of my beautiful sweetheart to the utter shock of my farewell party at the Dumdum airport, I had boarded the British Airways flight beaming in confidence to make the world my oyster. As the tube went past Hounslow, it started getting crowded and more crowded. When the train arrived at King’s Cross at 8:30 am to my utter shock I realized that most of my fellow commuters were joining me to get off there. As the osmotic pressure of thousands of commuters gurgling out of trains arriving from different parts of London slowly propelled me towards the gate, my palpitation rose by the thought of having to pay a hefty fine. Evidently, there will be no ticket checker aware of my arrival sans ticket! Fortunately, the ticket checkers were in no position to ask for my ticket as I was spewed out on the streets. The cool London air quickly dried up the sweat collected on my forehead. Welcome to London. I hailed a taxi to take me to Archway at my uncle’s place where I was supposed to stay thereon.

When we arrive to study abroad for the first time, we know what we are there for. Study hard, pass our exams, get ourselves best positioned to secure the best job, and start a glittering career. Exactly what we had been doing and told to do for the earlier 12-15 years. Most of us (particularly, the boys and if I may take some liberty here, more specifically, those from South Asia) are rather oblivious of the reality that awaits us abroad.

On a rainy August day, just before I left for the LSE, my aunt – a history professor at Hong Kong University was visiting us at our Kolkata home. Wise and soft-spoken, as she went over the pictures of my girlfriend in my room, she told me that while universities are great levelers, they also celebrate diversities. After years of being toppers in our class, we suddenly become one of the many equals and blue-eyed pupil of no one. It makes us humble. At the same time, she also told me to expect to meet students from diverse backgrounds, different values, and outlooks. It changes our perceptions. I wasn’t sure I understood. On arrival at my uncle’s place, the first thing that changed was the amount of sugar in my tea. “No sugar”, he declared. “Neither in tea nor in coffee”.

The weekends were to vacuum clean my room, doing laundry, and ironing my clothes. Ironing, perhaps the worst of the chores, adds longevity to clothes. The next was managing my budget. 

My uncle’s flat was spotlessly clean and void of anything of not good use. “Don’t collect trinkets, they collect only dust”. Just because there aren’t a battery of servants or a mother to take care of my needs, I neither have to live like a pig nor have I to work like a dog. My uncle pointed out that everything is manageable. So I set about my routine and drills. Making my breakfast, polishing the toilet after my shower, helping to lay out the table for dinner, and doing the dishes. The weekends were to vacuum clean my room, doing laundry, and ironing my clothes. Ironing, perhaps the worst of the chores, adds longevity to clothes. The next was managing my budget. Students are poor. They are meant to be. But again being poor doesn’t mean turning into a hermit crab. But let me not leapfrog. Things unfolded gradually to me just like it happens for millions of students leaving home for the first time – pretty much unprepared to face the new world irrespective of how smart and worldly they had been or even how many times they had been abroad before on holidays. In today’s interconnected and globalized world we may wonder how much different a place could be from another. We only find that out once we start living there.

The very next day of my arrival, I had an appointment with my tutor at the LSE. Every student was assigned to the teaching staff. This was something new to me. While later I found that university approaches to students vary from country to country. In France, students are thrown in the deep end and assessed all through the semester to keep them on their toes. In the UK, we had mass lectures given by professors, followed by small classes taken by teaching assistants and then tutors for mentoring purposes. At the end of the year, we took our exams.

The very next day of my arrival, I had an appointment with my tutor at the LSE. Every student was assigned to the teaching staff. This was something new to me. While later I found that university approaches to students vary from country to country. In France, students are thrown in the deep end and assessed all through the semester to keep them on their toes. In the UK, we had mass lectures given by professors, followed by small classes taken by teaching assistants and then tutors for mentoring purposes. At the end of the year, we took our exams. At his small office Prof. Ray Paul, my tutor glanced over my application with a glint in his eyes. Then he stumped me with his first comment. “Wonderful to know that you are a free-thinker and probably you wouldn’t bother but not knowing your religion may lead me into trouble with your body if you fall dead at the school premise.” Next, he threw another curveball at me. He thought that Operational Research would be more appropriate for me than Actuarial Studies. Of course, he understood that it was my father’s dream that I studied Actuarial Science but would that fulfill my dream of being a critical thinker and a problem solver as I have articulated in my application form? He spoke about the pros and cons and then asked me to think over to come back with my answer the following day. My father and I have gone over the actuarial science course materials at the LSE in detail. Before I left Kolkata, my father had taken me to meet his friend, the only qualified actuary in town to get me a clear perspective of this highly esteemed subject. By the time I left, I knew everything about what it takes to be an actuary. Having done a course in OR, I was also aware of it as a subject. But there I was 10,000km away from my father, in a non-video call era having to make a life-changing decision!

The following day I enlisted myself for Operational Research. I will never know what would have happened had I not changed my course. But that was the first time I realized that there will be people coming into our lives absolutely from nowhere and steer us towards a direction that we have never thought of before.

The next day was also the day when the various clubs and societies of the school put up their desks at the big hall to enlist new members. There were literally hundreds of them. From different sports clubs to debating, cultural, political societies, and social ones such as gay and lesbians. I enlisted myself in a couple of sports and social clubs. I found later that the experience was not limited to learning horseriding or playing cricket at the Lord’s but it enriched me through the interactions with other students who were often not from my course. It was a great opportunity to broaden my horizon, learning about other people, and deepening my understanding of the world. How else I would have known that breaking glass plates by the dozens and dancing on them is the way Greeks celebrate or got to hear live discussions between stalwarts from the British Parliament and the US state department or even to realize how casual it may be to practice Judo throws with women. However, this was also where I realized that cultures are not competing forces and irrespective of our backgrounds, we are “more alike than unalike”. These enriching experiences came up with some consequential impoverishing activities like visits to the Three Tuns bar, parties at the Halls of Residences, and attending different do’s. I took up a teaching job at a tutorial for A-level students to pay for my expenses to socialize. Buying a pint of beer from my own hard-earned money not just sweetened the taste but also let me start planning an interrailing trip to Europe. Soon I moved out of my uncle’s place. I had to then find time to do grocery and cooking. Little did I know that ability to cook helped in impressing girls! During the summer holiday, instead of flying back home, I quenched my wander thirst by visiting places in Europe. I had earned my liberty to decide what to do with my time and myself.

I took up a teaching job at a tutorial for A-level students to pay for my expenses to socialize. Buying a pint of beer from my own hard-earned money not just sweetened the taste but also let me start planning an interrailing trip to Europe.

Reading this piece my friends from those balmy days are likely to split their guts in laughter. What about all the naughty stuff we did and the unnecessary risks we took which sometimes turned sour? Those would remain our secrets. But didn’t we discover the elasticity property of time? We had time for everything and yet managed well to finish our studies. It was all about managing our time. A drill to work hard and play hard. Meanwhile, I changed. My paradigms shifted. I married my classmate. Made my career in a third country. Again I will never know if it was for better or worse. Life is about surging ahead and not staying safely anchored to our beliefs, our practices, and our perceptions.

© Pratik Ghosh September 2021

My bright niece did in record time a Ph.D. from Ohio State University in Physics with a focus on Particle Astrophysics. Available on Amazon, she published her book How to Land Your Dream Postdoc in 2020. Her website on How to Ph.D. discusses aspects of succeeding in realizing this dream in a healthy manner physically and mentally. While I dropped out of my British Airways sponsored Ph.D. program at the LSE to get married and settle in Mauritius, she insisted that I write about my experience of arriving in London as a fresh graduate student for my Master’s studies. It was way back in 1985 and yet everything seems as if it happened only yesterday. So, here you go for whatever it is worth.

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