Choosing Durban over the world
IN HIS youth, Raj Karpoormath was fond of science and nature, spending hours watching the National Geographic channel and his favourite documentaries were those on Africa.
“There was something about Africa that sparked my curiosity and as I got older, I read articles about the continent and countries, including South Africa and Botswana. I was especially intrigued by South Africa’s fight for democracy and the close ties Mahatma Gandhi had here,” said 42-year-old Karpoormath, a pharmaceutical chemistry and drug design lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
A few years after he matriculated, he enrolled at the prestigious National Chemical Laboratory (NLC) in Pune, India, where he studied organic chemistry.
“I wanted to pursue my PhD in organic chemistry and while many of my colleagues were leaving the NCL to further their studies in the US and Europe, I decided to come to South Africa. My colleagues and professors could not understand why, when I could have gone anywhere in the world.”
But Karpoormath had done his research and felt South Africa was advanced in the fields of science and chemistry.
“I applied to study at UKZN (Howard College campus) and was accepted.”
In 2006, he left his home in Pune, as well as his parents and siblings, and headed for Durban.
“My first reaction when I arrived was ‘Wow, there are so many Indians’. I thought I had travelled to another part of India,” he laughed.
Karpoormath had a scholarship, which covered his studies, accommodation and other expenses.
“I lived in a flat not far from the campus. Acclimatising during the first week was difficult because I did not know how to cook and, being a strict vegetarian, I was not fond of eating out. For the first couple of days, I survived only eating fruit, vegetables and bread with butter.”
He was left with no choice, but to learn to cook.
“I started out calling my family in India for cooking tips and that ended up being too expensive, so I began e-mailing them. After about a week in Durban, I made my first meal, rice and a lentil soup. I actually cried as I ate it. I thought about how I took my mother’s cooking for granted.”
Karpoormath said life only got better.
In 2009, he returned to India to marry his wife Pruthei and they now have a 3-year-old daughter, Divi, and have since settled into a flat in Glenwood.
In 2010, while still studying, he was offered a job at UKZN as a lecturer and in 2013 he graduated with a PhD.
“I am now a permanent resident in South Africa. When you work for the university, this is one of the requirements. I was also able to buy my own home without any issues.”
Despite missing his family, Karpoormath said he could not see himself living anywhere else in the world but Durban.
“I visit my family once a year or once in two years. Ideally, I would love to see them every six months.
“They have not visited South Africa as yet.”
Asked what he loved about the city, he said: “I love everything, especially the people, the weather and the greenery is amazing.
“The ocean is also a stone’s throw away.”