Saravanan TK image

Coming to Australia was the best decision that I have made in my life

I decided to pursue my Masters in Professional Communication at Edith Cowan University and landed in Perth on Feb 15th, 2005.

With a strong academic background and work experience in engineering and information technology, I was looking for a part-time job in my area of expertise as an international postgraduate student. Still, I was not lucky enough to get one. There were many challenges, but I managed to overcome them and started part-time work in the hospitality industry and retail industries, where I started socialising with the growing multicultural society.

Coming to Australia was the best decision that I have made in my life, even though it was difficult to cope in the early days. I faced initial challenges from minor ones like adapting to Australian food (especially BBQ, sausages, bacon, and pies), filling in a Tax File Number form, while the major challenge was finding a part-time job to survive. With the part-time job, came the challenge of learning to balance work and study commitments.

Furthermore, I had to live on a budget to manage my expenses and adapt to life away from family. During my initial days in Perth, I did not know anyone. The first family I met was an Italian family whose house I was renting. They supported and guided me during my initial years, and now they are our close family friends and mentor.

Working while studying in Australia helped to complement my overall Australian experience. I got a taste of the local culture and the slang words. I never felt isolated as I had always kept myself occupied and had good friends to rely on.

My career path deviated from engineering to information technology to hospitality and retail, and currently, I'm working in the finance sector. During this, I got to know many wonderful people who are now part of my group of close friends.

I got married in 2006 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, and my wife joined me a year later. My wife and I are blessed with two beautiful girls born here in Perth, and now we live at our residence in Harrisdale. Tamil is our first language, and we continue to speak Tamil at home with our girls.

We do not have our family with us in Perth, but we feel at home with good friends who mean a lot. We share a strong bond with friends from Italy, China, Malaysia, Iraq, and Australia, to name a few.

Though we faced many challenges, in the beginning, both my wife and I knew it will get better and it was just a matter of time to make it a success story.

We are now in a fortunate position to extend a helping hand to people in need here and back in India during the flood relief and COVID pandemic.

As an alumnus of Edith Cowan University, I was involved in mentoring International students. For the past few years, I am actively involved in various community activities and currently, I am part of a volunteer group managing a community language school.

The purpose of the school is to teach the Tamil language to school-aged children starting from age of 4. In a multicultural nation learning more than one language and knowing your own language boosts self-confidence and creates awareness in their mind. It also helps them to connect with their cultural identity in a better manner and it has a huge positive influence in defining the personality of an individual, and I am seeing it visually at Valluvan Tamil School.

Working within the community along with wonderful volunteers and volunteer teachers at Valluvan Tamil language school has motivated me to get involved with volunteers from the multicultural communities and I am now part of the Multicultural Advisory Group at the City of Armadale.

When I ask anyone about their interest in community involvement the most frequent reply I get is, "why should I engage?" and "what is the benefit?". My reply to them is “it’s all about community ownership and it feels good by giving back to our community”.

If I had not been in Perth, I doubt whether I would have become involved in community-based activities. I am in the first step of community service and realise how much I can do to help others and make my life a real success in this country.

At last, like every other Australian, I love Australian BBQ and pies.

Page Last Reviewed 9 May 2023