Iranian in God's own country, and he likes it

Jisha Surya
First Published : 15 Mar 2010

For Seyed Amirali Raeisosadat, climate is one of the things that troubles him in Kerala. “I find hard to adjust with the humidity. But the friendly nature of the people, low cost of living and similarity in culture make me feel comfortable,” says this PhD sudent from Iran.  Amirali was a medicinal practitioner in Iran before discovering his interest in teaching. “I heard from one of my friends that India was offering inexpensive and excellent research facility in the field of biotechnology, so I took the plunge,” he says.
Amirali is the first foreign student in research in the department of biotechnology. “At first, English was a bit hard for me. Now I can easily communicate. In Iran, the universities are offering only five or six seats. That is the reason why Iranian
students choose other countries. India is turning to be the most
favourite destination.”   Amirali, who wants to be a teacher, says he learned basic teaching technique from the faculty of the biotechnology department. “Make it simple. That is what I get from them. Their method helped me in generating more interest in biotechnology.”  Amirali’s wife too was a PG student in the university. “She went back to Iran after completing the PG. Now she has applied for visa again to pursue PhD in the department of bio-informatics here,” he says. He loves to travel and the itinerary includes Kanyakumari, Varkala, Kochi and Kasargod.  Amirali says Iranian students find it difficult to procure Indian visas. He has been here for two years and plans to complete research in another eight months. After that? “Well, I will go back to my passion, teaching,” he quipped.