Tales from the Departure Lounge

#11 Shivani Bhalla (Kitne Aadmi The?)

• Andy Plant & Nick Cuthbert • Season 1 • Episode 11

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Shivani Bhalla is the head of international student recruitment at Brunel University London. Originally from India, she is a self-proclaimed South Delhi brat who came to study in the UK. This episode offers a hilarious insight into what it is like to be an international student and promote study abroad around the world. 

We discuss her love of Bollywood movies,  UK-India relations and why she carries a pepper spray!  We've used the super-famous Bollywood line 'kitne aadmi the?' that translates to 'how many men are there?' as our tribute to solo female travellers, our brave Bollywood princess and the salacious gossip about her love life...

Final boarding call: Montreux, Switzerland

This episode is sponsored by Enroly! CAS Shield automates the CAS, visa and arrival process for universities, agents and international students. In the last academic year the  platform managed the arrival and onboarding of 1-in-4 international students coming to the UK. Find out more at www.enroly.com

Tales from the Departure Lounge is a Type Nine production for The PIE www.thepienews.com

Andy:

I'm just a jingle monkey

Nick:

Like choose your own adventure or something, isn't it?

Andy:

Hold that thought

Nick:

Welcome to Tales from the Departure Lounge. This is a podcast about travel for business, for pleasure, or for study. My name's Nick and I'm joined by my co-pilot, Andy. And together we're gonna be talking to some amazing guests about how travel has transformed their. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey. Welcome to the podcast.

Andy:

So today on the show we have the head of International Student Recruitment at Brunelle, university London, Shivani Balla,

Shivani is representing India on the show

Nick:

and it feels like the India is the epicenter of international student recruitment.

Andy:

She's a self-proclaimed South Deli brat. she talks about what it was like to be an international student.

She can empathize with what it's like to study in the UK. And she also has. The perspective of the institutions.

Andy:

She's the international student who became a leader in UK universities. An Indian princess who really doesn't like to do washing up. Let's get some tales from the Departure Lounge. From Shivani Ball.

Shivani:

Delhi people have a certain characteristic. They have a lot of, bittersweet arrogance in them. and they're, extremely bratty if they want to be. I had this very innocent look in my face and this was my first time carrying a pepper spray I was so embarrassed. You know? But it, it made me laugh cause I was like, dude, I was half a celebrity So I actually was made to sit in a police car taken to Metropolitan Police and Heathrow Airport that I ever going carry this

Nick:

So before we get into this episode, we are very excited to announce a new sponsor in Enrollee. Enroll platform. Cash Shield automates the cas visa and arrival process for university's agents and international students. And in the last academic year, the Enrollee platform managed the arrival and onboarding of one in four international students going to the uk, which is pretty significant. I've seen the enrollee cash shield in action myself, and I've gotta say it is the. Best tech innovation I've seen in the admission space. The platform takes the pain out of compliance and document collection. It protects your sponsor license and it maximizes post offer conversion. It also integrates with loads of other systems and private providers. So seriously, if you work in admissions, compliance, recruitment are student experience at a UK university, then check out, enroll today. It will save your team heaps of time and stress. So that's enroll. E N R O L Y. They've also come up with a great engagement idea, so I'll tell you more at the end of the episode.

Andy:

shivani, welcome onto the show. So good to have you.

Shivani:

Thanks Andy. Thank you so much, both of you for having me here. Very excited.

Andy:

It's final boarding call, where would you take our listeners today if you could take them anywhere in the world?

Shivani:

I would take them to Montreal in Switzerland. that is by far one of the most favorite travel places that I've been to probably in the last, um,, 25 years of my traveling journey. And I think, the one reason I really liked it was that it was best of both worlds in terms of beauty culture and a bit of hip and happening, stuff it's a very small town. It just, Cross is about 10 miles or so. that's definitely one of my favorite places in the world.

Nick:

The land device and snow and chocolate.

Shivani:

Chocolate Beautiful Christmas markets., because I went there during Christmastime, I walked that whole town in about two, two and a half hours. And, originally coming from India, where I come from, that's not possible., I thought it was a very magical feeling.

Andy:

And what took you there?

Shivani:

I read online about someone who wrote, their journey through the Alps. And they mentioned the town that not many people go here. Everyone goes to the classic Geneva Burn, inter Lakin. And this was one of the hidden spots. So plucked in, three nights in Montreal and then headed to start, which was again gorgeous. But still, Mont is, it just has my heart. It's beautiful.

Nick:

Just describe where you stayed. This is Christmas time in the Alps.,

Shivani:

so I'm a big Bollywood buff and I like doing everything very Bollywood. so in Montre it was a beautiful, hotel, by the river, and I think it's Lake Geneva. we had, a room facing the lake and the Christmas markets. And then me being that classic South Asian, uh, my husband's birthday's Christmas day. So I went down and I mentioned to the lady at reception that it's his birthday. She refused to believe me. That's the passport lady., he is. Santa Baby. Jesus. Uh, they sent some bits up I remember there was a big, huge kiosk of chocolates and I think they had more than 200., and being a cheeky little tourist, I told the lady, I was like, I don't know if I'm gonna like any, can I try some? And then, yeah, so this particular moment was actually from a very famous Bollywood film, where, very famous actor in Switzerland, Walk into a chocolate shop. They don't have any money on them, so they try all the chocolates and then they walk out., we did spend some money buying some chocolates to take back home. Very classy, very romantic, very Bollywood, and in, in our language, we used usually say it's very film. Me, people in the films do this we wanted to see the glacier 3000. it was freezing cold. I remember having three shots of tequila before I got onto the first cable conference. I just couldn't do it. Instantly I was like, they were selling hot chocolate. And I was like, why don't we put some rum in this? Everyone actually did that.,. We get down, the bus is left it's pitch dock, right? Were two people now left brown looking, oh it's not brown looking, but brown in Switzerland in start with nothing inside, not even a dog. And I'm like, now what happens? No phone signal

Nick:

This is where the professional training comes into play.

Shivani:

I hope so. And then it said the next available bus on the stand was at five o'clock, 30 minutes later. Five o'clock happens, the bus doesn't come. And we were like, are we gonna die here? And then finally I think we saw, a couple walking by with their dog and they were like, no, the bus is gonna come. It's five, 10 minutes late.

Nick:

So we've heard quite a few near death experiences. Shivani, I've gotta say yours, of having a hot chocolate and missing the bus. it's not quite on the same level

Shivani:

I'd like to keep it that way.

Andy:

I'm actually intrigued by what you were saying around things being film me, do you look for places to visit where you can reenact Bollywood films?

Shivani:

no, I haven't done those, uh, those fancy dances and asari. I do think Bollywood films are shot in very beautiful places. and I don't know if you guys know this, but a very famous Bollywood, director who's passed away now has a suite, in inter Lakin in that famous hotel there, which is named after him. And the reason being because he actually bought Switzerland on the tourist map for Indians. Or South Asians, he would shoot all of his films for about a decade just in Switzerland, so yes, I think Jora probably catches that attraction in me because of the films, That's Andy a lot to do with Bollywood, to be honest, even in the upper middle class and even in the elite because that's just the way the culture runs there.

Andy:

Years ago, There was a Bollywood film filmed on the University of Natum campus.,

Shivani:

Believe you me, there are many Bollywood films. That are shot across the uk.

Andy:

I've just looked it up. It was called Terry Mary, excuse my pronunciation, Terry Mary Kahan.

Shivani:

yeah,

Andy:

Um, and it was starring the Sahid. Kapur and Priyanka.

Shivani:

yeah, Priyanka Chopra Jonas now? I know the film. I've seen the film. I think it was a flop. Andy, sorry to.

Andy:

If they filmed it on N Campus,

Nick:

well, no, no. NT U has its own Bollywood actor, star Vaon, Darwin Daven.

Shivani:

Yeah, you guys have caught your pronunciations very well. Good job guys.

Nick:

sorry.

Shivani:

No, you know, you actually got it right.. he's the son of a famous producer, in India. And he's actually shot at Brinell as well for a film called, uh, jva too. JVA Means To Win. and that was shot just a couple of years back, and I remember people at Grinnell going crazy. But do you know the Crown season five, an episode was shot at Brunelle,

Nick:

Ooh,

Andy:

Okay.

Nick:

Season five's the latest one, isn't it? I've not seen season five. It's getting too close to home.

Shivani:

You can't be British if you haven't seen it. I cancel you now.

Nick:

cancel culture. explain for our listeners that you were an international student who came from India to study at Brunelle. And then you've literally done every role with them. You have been a student, an ambassador, you've been a regional manager, head of South Asia, and now Head of International Recruitment. So tell us why you chose to come and study in the uk.

Shivani:

I am the only child of my parents, and in the Indian culture, more than often they call us the spoiled brats because they think, especially your aunties and uncles, that your mom and dad say yes to everything. Well, in some aspects. Uh, my daddy's girl, uh, daddy's princess, so he would always say yes to everything I asked for. But if you know me well enough, I never asked for anything I shouldn't be asking. I finished school and actually I wanted to come to the uk, for my undergrad degree, which was, I wanted to do it in business. And around the same time, my dad was relocating to Romania, for three years for a project, because he was, given a wonderful opportunity to turn around, a factory in a small village in Romania, which was bought by a really big Indian, Businessman, but they just couldn't turn it around. And my dad had an expertise in that, so he had to go there for three years. My mom played the emotional card and she was like, dad's going, you're the only one. Stay around, stick around. So they put me into uni, in India, in Delhi, which wasn't bad at all cause I met some of my best friends there and had an absolute smashing experience, at that institution. But I remember when I was in year two, we were to visit my dad in Romania and that was my first big Europe trip. And we're a typical South Asian family., my mom handed over everything to a travel agent, and. That 10 day trip, to London actually was life changing because I think from the moment my dad stepped into London, there was something about it he was sold, you know? And he was like, so next year you graduate, what do you wanna do? And I was like, I wanna come here for my master's. And he just told my mom, No discussion. My mom was very scared because she kept telling my dad, she's very spoiled here. She's a brat. We don't know how many boyfriends she has. We don't know what she does after midnight. And you want to send her miles and miles away where she's gonna live by herself. Are you sure? and I think he was like, I don't think we can stop her. She's a rebel. She's gonna go for it. Any which way? However, being the only child when the decision was made, everything's done, the fees paid, accommodation's done. I think in the process of getting my visa, my mom and dad looked at me and they were like, we'll come to drop you. And I was like, what do you mean drop me? And they were like, uh, yes, our only child is going miles away to study, never lived by yourself before. Never even picked up a glass, you know, because back in India you have help and you're quite spoiled that way. And I was like, right. I was like, you're not dropping me because this is not going from Delhi to Mumbai. Uh, this is. Flying across the world. And they were like, no, no, we're coming. And I was like, oh gosh. Now I'll have two Indian parents hanging around with me, what I really embraced was my parents giving me that freedom and that trust. It's very different,, in the Indian culture. I mean, A boy would come to drop me, 10 questions would be asked, who is he? Where does he live? What does he do? Is he your boyfriend? it's, it's very different. I think the fact that they trusted me, everything that I enjoyed, including the rain, including the awful tutors, crappy weather, including all sorts, I actually really enjoyed it.

Nick:

So, Shivani, you're a good Indian girl, our Bollywood princess. So, what, tell us about the culture shock. What were the things that really shocked you when you, arrived and your parents left.

Shivani:

It wasn't a culture shock. I'm born, brought up in Delhi, which is the capital of India, I don't know if you both have been to Delhi, but Delhi people have a certain characteristic. They're a lot like Londoners. They have a lot of, bittersweet arrogance in them. and they're, extremely bratty if they want to be. if you talk to someone who's originally from Delhi, they will actually look at you top to bottom, try and ask you what part of Delhi are you from? and kind of judge you for who you are. I'm not gonna say I do that. I don't, but it was very easy to fit in here when people had that attitude

Nick:

I've heard about Delhiite especially from people from Mumbai or Southern India. They've told me all about you.

Shivani:

yeah. Well, and from Delhi, I am from South Delhi now, south Delhi is considered sort of your s w one. Right. So very bratty. I went to the most brattier school But what transformed a lot for me was this one year masters here. It was a reality check for me, and this is embarrassing, but I will share. Mom and dad bought me a set of cutlery. So they got me four coffee cups, four plates, all of that. Everything was four. You know, first day I made my coffee, left it near the sink, didn't wash it, rushed to class, got up in the morning the next day, used the second cup again, left it went to class. There's a fourth one. I'm like, dude, where am I gonna get the fifth mug from? Now, I mean, I need to wash this, my first ever utensil washing experience at the age of 21.

Andy:

To be honest

Shivani:

now that I think about it, but,

Andy:

and to be honest, Shanna, you just sound like a student.

Nick:

And you're making me feel so much better about my own kids as well. They dunno how to do anything?

Shivani:

And believe me, it'll turn out alright.

Andy:

The next section of the show is called any laptops, liquids, or sharp objects, and this is where you can tell our listeners about any travel hacks you have

Shivani:

three things. One, headphones because I don't think I like talking to people in flight a lot. I like a little bit of my me time cuz in our daily jobs, we talk so much that I don't mind some peace and quiet. So definitely my headphones surely a good book, which keeps me going. And sometimes I like to take romcoms for flights because if I take something very scary then I'll probably think that the plane is gonna crash and I'm gonna die. The third, and like I said, don't touch me. I'm not a terrorist. It's pepper spray. But I've had such a wild experience with that once, which was very scary. But I still don't stop carrying it. So what I've done is I've switched the pepper spray bottle into a sanitizer bottle with a nozzle and I still carry it. But now the airport can know unless someone from heat Heathrow any other airport, sees this podcast that actually have that.

Andy:

this is in your hand luggage.

Shivani:

In India it's legal. You can ca carry it. I think it's in the EU and in the US where it's a problem. It will be with me somewhere or the other sometimes. To be fair, I've been very scared and I've chucked it because the most crazy experience I have had, we were at Heathrow Airport and I had the pepper spray bottle, in my handbag. And you know, when you're putting everything in the, in the, in the plastic bag, very innocently, I'm putting it in. Not knowing that this is hazardous here in this country, right? I goes through security and I get called out. So I actually was made to sit in a police car taken to Metropolitan Police and Heathrow Airport that I ever going carry this in this country. Yeah, you can't even imagine what we went through.

Nick:

So they thought you were going to attack someone on the flight with your pepper spray,

Shivani:

I was very innocent looking. I had this very innocent look in my face and this was my first time carrying a pepper spray, but we were two girls 22 going to Edinburgh and it's legal in India, so we didn't really think we were doing anything wrong.

Nick:

you need to go back a few steps and explain to our listeners why you carry pepper spray in the first place and why you continue to do it through airports.

Shivani:

Why I started carrying it was when I started traveling within India. Uh, it was 20 22, 23, fairly young, for the Indian subcontinent to travel, alone by herself as a female traveler. Now, I checked into a very posh hotel in Chennai, uh, very famous property, very famous chain. The it TC Hotels, it's the Greenest Hotel in Chennai, the Grand Chula. They have something very nice in the IT tc, which is called a single female traveler's, floor. So I was checked into the room, 10:00 PM I'm in my room. And someone opens the door and it's a very weird looking man who basically was given the wrong room key and was allowed to come into my room without my permission. That one incident really scared me. and I used to have this as a precautionary measure with me to have a pepper spray with me wherever I traveled.

Andy:

Have you ever used it?

Shivani:

no, No. I've not needed to.

Andy:

Ever tempted to use it on your husband?

Shivani:

Every day I can use it on other people's husband when the women are facing any struggle. So you to be aware.

Andy:

I've actually been that person that's walked in on another person's hotel room., Yeah, just walked into what I thought was my hotel room and there was already somebody's kit in there and somebody sitting on the bed looking very surprised. But it could have been awful, couldn't it? You know, they, whatever goes on in hotel rooms could have been going on.

Shivani:

I think it's scary because you're right, you could be in, a compromising position. You could just be in your private space, you know? but I think the, my logic was it was a single female travelers flow. How did you let that happen? But the best result of that, now, even if I go to that hotel today, I have a private butler. Yeah, I had the private, I had the same private butler for three years. Her name was Arpi. She was from northeast of India. my flight information would reach the hotel the moment I would book, and she would be there at the porch She was shorter than me as well, waiting with a book of flowers, box of chocolates, and I had free upgrades for three years.

Nick:

What does a private butler do?

Shivani:

She follows you everywhere you go, which is a bit weird at a point in time, I mean, this was me and a friend. We, she used to live in Chennai and she came to see me. So we both went to use this pass. So my butler just followed me and I was like, Arpi, I think I'm okay. I'll let you know if I need anything. So she used to follow me wherever I would go. I'm at a Bollywood, uh, very famous Bollywood actor, actually, Kumar because of her, he was shooting in the hotel. I was stuck in Chennai, uh, because of local elections. And she was like, oh, do you wanna meet this guy? And I was like, which guy? And she was like, this actor. And I was like, yeah, why not? You know, what's wrong? and yeah, so, I had those parks they're all gone now. It's all premier travel lodges in the uk, which is.

Andy:

They don't have a Butler service. Have you asked? My, my first domain experience of Butler service was in India at a Taj hotel. I'd been upgraded to some sort of posh room, and, and he turned up at the door holding a bowl of fruit and white gloves, full uniform, holding this bowl of fruit and said, I'm such and such. I'm your butler. Is there anything I can do for you? My, my mind's was completely blank. I had no idea what this guy could do for me. I'd never had a butler before. Uh, so, I said, yeah, you can draw me a bath if you like.

Shivani:

Oh, that's, you've been very, uh, poised and very calm. People can ask for very old, very awkward things as

Andy:

Well, I am. I immediately felt awful

Nick:

he can carry your pepper spray and get you dates with Bollywood stars. I think you should just keep going all the way up to vice Chancellor, where I think when you get to Vice Chancellor, you do get a butler. So,

Shivani:

Not at, I'll have to change the uni then.

Nick:

India is the center of the universe for international recruitment at the moment. How do you feel about that?

Shivani:

I think the sector has moved to it very naturally. it's not something extra special. India did or the UK did. The demand shifted and the Indian youth, saying this in a positive way are opportunists. So wherever they seek opportunity, they're very smart to grab it. And if you look at historically, Indian families have been sending out, their kids to study overseas for decades. And that's not because they don't believe in the Indian education system, but it just feels that the western world is better for progression. And more opportunity. I think now I sometimes feel a bit intimidated by India being the center. And the two big reasons for that is one, it's not gonna last forever. It's a bubble. It'll burst. I hear in the next two months, the policy change will come where, students who are under a tier four visa will not be allowed to switch to an employment visa unless they graduate. But can you notice Indian students or the Indian youth are so smart to pick up that crack that you can actually switch? And that's exactly what they do. And I think a report's gonna come out where average the Indian students switch after 180 days. Of starting their course, which means they have the intention to study. They're a good student. They're probably in the right place, but someone sways them and they want to take that shortcut. The other thing I feel about India is that India has always been this land of,, supreme talent. But India is not a country. It's like a, a world in its own. When I go to South India, I feel very different. And you know, you mentioned that Nick as well. The people from South India will think very differently of me because I'm from North India. So you are in a world altogether,

Andy:

you mentioned that Indian parents think that, Their kids coming to the UK to study provides more opportunity. How true do you think that is?

Shivani:

One of the questions I got asked when I moved here oh, you're gonna earn much more money when you go to the uk. And I'm like, no. Effectively net to net, you earn the same. Right, India, taxes are also about 40% approximately for a similar bracket as here. salary wise, yes, the UK may look much higher on paper, but your expenses are much larger. And I think people miss that very,, very little, but very crucial detail. When I moved here, a few people rang me from India, in a very candid manner. Were like, oh, you've done this. We want to do this as well. how do we do this? And I was very, very candid to explain to them that there are many more expenses here, which you cannot foresee when you are sitting in India. It's not easy. So you have to be sure before you dip your feet in it's all as grass is greener on the other side.

Andy:

so the next section is called What's the purpose of your visit? Why do you do what you do, and where are you in your own journey?

Shivani:

I think why I do what I do is because I just love talking. I honestly love talking and I can prove this to you from my Class two report card, which said most talkative person in the class. The other thing is I love meeting people, and just understanding and listening to where they come from. In this job, I become a much better listener. I was an awful listener. You can imagine me. I'm a so very social person. I used to have a very extensive social life back in India. Not saying I don't have that here, but I was a life of the parties. So if I was there, nobody else could talk, you know? Uh, I had my cousins over from New York and I was down with a throat infection and my cousin actually laughed, 25 year old saying, thank God she can't speak. You have an opportunity to talk now, right? Um, but I just love the fact that I've been able to travel to so many different countries, so many different places., I've had all sorts of very weird instances through these 12 years in h e I, uh, I meet people from very weird places every day, and I love it.

Nick:

Tell us some of these bizarre stories

Shivani:

Okay, I'll tell you two, one, uh, I have pretended to be a very famous person at an airport I used to do domestically within India about 45 flights a year. Right? I used to fly so often that one of the airlines, which is a domestic airline with Sara now flies internationally as well. The staff used to recognize me no matter where at the airport I was. So one flight I had to take to Delhi to Bangalore, and I was a bit late, and they had to get me through a very busy security. So they said what we are gonna do is we are gonna take you through the v i p route, and we are gonna have two, three people from the airline walk with you. Now, that privileged service is only given to famous people in India, politicians. Film, celebrities, sports people, all of that. So I have two people on one side, two people on one side walking me to the security, what I did is I put my dark glasses on and I started walking with them. Now I reach Kate, and one of the staff members actually, said to me, and Hindi, you're back again. You just came back last night. And I was like, come on guys. Um, and three, four people like, you know, I could hear people whispering and because those four people were with me, right? They're like, is she, who is she? Is she someone famous? You know? And I had this one girl, she came to me and she was like, I'm sorry, I can't recognize you, but are you someone famous? And if you are, can I have a selfie?

Nick:

did you?

Shivani:

I was so embarrassed. I was so embarrassed. You know? But it, it just, it made me laugh cause I was like, dude, I was half a celebrity

Nick:

So you put the shades on like a celebrity, sunglasses inside, and then. You had your entourage.

Shivani:

I'm walking away and I'm looking very like, oh, I don't talk to you. They had that, you know,

Andy:

No pictures, No pictures.

Shivani:

look pictures. Yeah. You know, Papa Ratti. Don't follow me.

Nick:

It's like, catch me if you can. The film,

Shivani:

exactly. exactly. But you know, when that girl came and asked me, she was so sweet, but I just couldn't stop laughing, you know? So Andy, for me, I used to do so many flights through the peak recruitment season, which I'm sure you know you guys have done in your times as well. Sometimes. I used to actually fly back from a city back to Delhi just to sleep on my own bed and then fly back the next morning. So often people were, at the airport, you're back again, you just landed last night. And I'm back to the airport and I've landed, let's say 10:00 PM and I'm back to the airport at 7:00 AM But that, six hours of sleep on my own bed meant the world to me.

Andy:

Wow.

Nick:

such a diva. I can't believe

Andy:

Yeah.

Shivani:

If I tell you something, I actually carried my bed from India to here. I was like, I'm not sleeping in bed. So I actually have my Indian bed here.

Andy:

Did that go through the celebrity channel as

Shivani:

No, no. It was, it was shipped out. It was came under, it was a container.

Nick:

I listened to a talk show today about the coronation of King Charles, and people were criticizing him because apparently he does ship his bed to wherever he is going, and they're saying,, it's an abusive abuse of power,

Shivani:

So I'm h ei royalty then, if you wanna put it Way. And I had a very other, very embarrassing, but very, very funny moment, um, where I was the center of a gossip in the uk, H e I, in-country sector in India.

Nick:

Oh.

Shivani:

I can't remember which hotel, but I think probably the HI in Pune, uh, checked in. Went to my room, went down for dinner, met a couple of people, just you know, hi, hello, all of that. And then my partner was staying at the same hotel in a separate room. He was there on his own business trip and, 1130 we both decided to go down. He smoked, so he wanted to go for a smoke. I said, right, I'll go have a glass of wine. So we go down, we come back up out of the lift and he said, oh, I'll come to your room for a bit and I may go back, sleep in my room. So we both are fresh for the next morning and on the same floor must be, I won't name anyone, but a couple of people from the sector were staying. I get to the fair next day and I see everyone gossiping, whispering. Someone went to Sianis room at night at 12 o'clock some man, and he said she married and you know, I mean all sorts of things. And someone came and told me then that, who were with you last night? And I was like, what's that got to do with you? you? know? And they were like, you're the center of the gossip. And I was like, what? So for very long I couldn't believe it and I was like, my personal life is my personal life. Indian people love gossip and especially gossip about women.

Nick:

hmm.

Shivani:

So, you know, they were like, oh, who's this man?

Andy:

Is this a cover story? you're just assuming your husband won't listen to this.

Shivani:

no, no. This is a true story. It was him, it was him. But nobody knew I was married I think the sector in India is very different from here. Very, very different. It's very competitive. there's a lot of, back biting. There's a lot of, there's a lot of weird stuff that goes on. So I was never extremely friendly with everybody. I was very cordial, but I don't need to tell anyone I'm married or I'm not married. It's up to me if I wanna share with somebody. And they just made a full fuss about it.

Nick:

she's from Delhi. Who does she think she is?. I saw a strange man that went in who wasn't her husband or a butler.

Andy:

the last section is called Anything to Declare. This is a free space for you to tell our listener anything you want to.

Shivani:

I do wanna share one thing that, we all forget in all our fun end games and in our, the busy lifestyles we have that the jobs that we do genuinely transform lives. We can actually make or break someone's career. And my only challenge at the moment is a lot of people within the sector are commercializing everything. It's nothing wrong to commercialize stuff.. But I think what we shouldn't do, is misguide, a student, and I think we must ensure that we genuinely care about what that student's journey will be.

Nick:

Yeah, I'm nodding away

Shivani:

We should not judge anyone from the way they look or they speak. And it's on us to make them feel comfortable here. And this very senior gentlemen in one of my first few big conferences as head in the UK actually said to me, oh, how do you speak such good English? And that really annoyed me because I was like, my parents have been probably to better schools than you. I've started more Shakespeare probably than you and I can probably write better than you. we should stop this judging of people. Because of where they come from. You never know what their story is, or you never know what they had to go through in their life. And I think that's very, very, very important in the current climate that we are in.

Nick:

H how do you see UK India relations at the moment? Are we gonna see Indian universities popping up in London?

Shivani:

Hundred percent. You already have a few which are sharing space with Burik. I think between the India, and the UK's hot property right now. they're on the same side. There is a lot of trade happening. Uh, a friend of mine rang me last evening and he manufacture shoes, he's cracked the biggest deal with Tescos. And he said, this is only because of the free trade deal, so there's lots for it to come. Apple opened its first store in India. I thought that was a very big move. Uh, PR has opened in Mumbai. You see the thing is that the middle class spending capacity in India is much larger than the upper middle class spending capacity in the uk. People are picking that up very quickly.

Nick:

We're gonna have to work out what products we can export to India together.

Shivani:

Let's do it. I only have a few in mind. I've got a few where I wanna export from India to the uk or import, whatever that means.

Andy:

What about podcasts?

Shivani:

Why not? Let's get some Bollywood celebrities on board, some musicians. There's something I wanna get from India. Uh, it's called Party Smart. So Party Smart is a pill which you have before you start drinking and you don't have a hangover.

Nick:

Surely this doesn't exist.

Shivani:

It does. I swear I never had a hangover.

Andy:

I've heard about this. So South African friend told me about this as well.

Shivani:

I had it at an Indian wedding and you know how Indian weddings can be, and I didn't wake up with the hangover any day.

Nick:

Right? Let's start importing party pills and let's see if we can get arrested again. Shivani,

Shivani:

with me. Anything's possible.

Andy:

Professional smuggler on the call. So,

Nick:

it's just my pepper spray. Don't worry.

Andy:

Shani, thanks so much for coming onto the show. It's been great having you.

Shivani:

thank you guys. Lovely to see you both, and lovely to be here. Thank you.

Nick:

Hello everyone. Thank you so much for listening. As always. Now, we've teamed up with our sponsors and Rollie to get you our listeners involved. What we wanna know is where would your final boarding call be? Where's that bucket list destination that you can't wait to travel to, or where's the place that you can't wait to return to? You can tell us at Sick bag at tales from the departure lounge.com or social media. We'll be recording a special episode of the Frequent Flyers Club to discuss your suggestions. Safe travels everyone. Tales from the Departure Lounge is a type nine production for the pie.

People on this episode

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Andy Plant

Host
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Nick Cuthbert

Host