Village Life: India and England Compared
Raj Adgopul
- Region:
- Anywhere
- Notice Period:
- Regular (more than one month's notice)
- Type:
- Professional
- Fee:
- Paid: £150 to £300 plus travel depending on distance from Dorset. £100 online by Zoom,
- Category:
- Entertainment
- Updated:
- 29th July 2026
- Tagged:
- India | Village Life | Cultural Differences | England
I grew up in a village in central India. I now live in one in Dorset. This talk is a light-hearted look at the gap between the two.
What the English say against what they actually mean. How to greet your neighbours. What to do about other people's children. What to expect at a village celebration. And, newly added, how each country copes with hot weather, because one of them copes rather better than the other.
It runs about 45 minutes and I always leave plenty of room for questions, which tends to be the part everyone enjoys most.
Warm rather than worthy. Audiences usually laugh a good deal, then find themselves still thinking about it on the way home.
"Raj managed to keep the attention of the whole room. We had tears of laughter as well as tears of sadness. We would definitely have Raj come again to speak to us." Jen Whitworth, President, Taunton Deane Divas WI (audience of 80)
Views: 26 | Enquiries: 0About Raj Adgopul
Raj Adgopul grew up in a village in central India. He spent four years working in Mumbai, sharing a room with 23 other people, with a personal space of six feet by three. He arrived in England in 2002 with £5 in his pocket, trained and worked as a nurse, took a degree and a postgraduate qualification, and nineteen years later found himself on the stage at the O2 in London, giving a TEDx talk to an audience of a thousand.
He now lives in a village in Dorset, which is where most of his best material comes from.
Raj has spoken to more than twenty Women's Institutes across Dorset, Devon, Somerset and Wiltshire, to u3a groups in Exeter, Bridport, Dorchester, Charmouth, Lyme Regis and Ferndown, and twice to the Bristol Commonwealth Society, the second time by popular demand. Audiences tend to describe his talks as very funny and quietly thought provoking, usually in the same breath.
"We had tears of laughter as well as tears of sadness." Jen Whitworth, President, Taunton Deane Divas WI
Other Talks on SpeakerNet by Raj Adgopul
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