The day I was about to board the
plane to California, I had mixed feelings. A part of me was completely filled
with enthusiasm about my first 30-hour plane trip and the excitement of going
to a new place… A new country!
Another part was thinking of all
the things I would miss from India, including my family and friends. Leaving so
many people whom you care about behind and moving to a completely new place is
definitely one of the worst feelings I have had! It hurt! A lot.
As I was walking away from my
parents and family in the terminal, I had tears in my eyes. Tears whose meaning
I wasn’t sure of. Happiness that I had succeeded in my ambition to study
abroad. Or fear that the next days of my life are going to be far away from my
home. My journey from Hyderabad to San Jose, was full of introspection
interspersed by the anxiety of missing my next flight and the pain associated
with the imbalance of air pressure.
My thoughts were filled with
imaginary scenarios about how my life would be in San Jose and how I would be
enjoying life here. As with every kid going out from home for the first time, I
too had thoughts of over-enjoying the freedom which is experienced only when
you know that your parents won’t be around to control you anymore. As I was
thinking of all these scenarios, I was pretty sure that my life would not be
similar to any of the hundreds of scenarios I could cook up. And as expected,
my life here in America isn’t anything like what I had envisioned since I first
had the notion of going abroad for higher studies.
America has taught me quite a few
things in the 2 months that I have been here. The first and foremost of them is
not to believe each and every word I hear about anything even good or bad
however great the subject might be. After hearing to so many people about
America being a really awesome country, I had come here expecting something
that would leave me speechless. And the civilization, education and people to
be much more advanced than ours so much so that I wouldn’t be able to
understand most of it.
My first touch with America was in
Newark. And my first thought – brrrrrrrrrrrrr! It’s cold!!!
When my flight re-scheduling forced
me to spend the night in Newark Airport, it was worse than spending the night
in Chennai Airport on the way to Port Blair. American airports might be
designed for efficiency. But they sure aren’t comfortable. And so, my first
impression of America itself was very bad. On reaching San Jose, I was picked
up by someone from one of the student organizations available in the
University. And that’s when I actually saw how efficiently things were supposed
to work in this country. The people here are so obsessed with regulations that
I don’t think anyone actually cares who lives in the house next door.
But the thing is, two months in San
Jose, California, and I still don’t have any feeling that I am living in a
culture very different from my own in a country miles away from home. When I
had moved to Bangalore as part of my commitment to IBM, I had the same feeling
that I have now. No more, no less. It makes me think, is being in US really
such a great thing??
Indians here, if they know each
other, are very social and helpful. Much more than how they might behave in our
own country. Probably, it’s the effect of homesickness. Though they follow the law
like all Americans, there is always an Indian tinge to it that would simply
remind you of your crowd back home. The shocking thing is even though living in
a different country, by a different set of rules, people here maintain their
integrity so much as to identify themselves by city and area rather than by
state or as an Indian.
Yet, there are many I have met for
whom India is nothing in comparison with USA. They feel that they are much
better off in USA rather than in India. They have a very low respect for India
or Indians. And yet they are Indians themselves. It’s rightly mentioned everywhere
by everyone not to forget your roots at any cost. And so everyone thinking like
this, America is not the greatest country in the world:
Coming back to my experiences, I
hate that there isn’t much vegetarian food to be had outside. Every time I go
out, I find Americans and diet focused people checking the number of calories,
my friends checking the rates but myself checking out the ingredients of every
item we are about to buy. And yet, it’s all thanks to my vegetarian habits that
I am able control myself from buying every damned food item I see.
The people here say “hi”, “wassup”
or at least smile while crossing each other yet no one talks to their neighbors.
Talking is a different matter, most of us don’t even know who lives next door.
Two groups of Indians living right next door might not know each other even
though having common friends. Something I have trouble wrapping my brain
around.
The classes aren’t as complex or
hard to understand as is depicted to us. 3 hours a week isn’t enough for any
lecturer to make you understand any concept let alone complete subjects. But it
is harder than M.Tech studies. Not because of the portion or the subject but
mainly because the focus is on actually working on the concept and with
plagiarism banned it’s harder for JNTU students not to simply copy the
assignment from somebody else and be done with it. The focus on concept rather
than having things by-heart is commendable and the reason why I was keen on
doing M.S.
Having a huge Indian Community with
lots of Andhra people missing home is not a big deal here. But having roommates
from different parts of the state or country, missing home food is a really big
problem as everyone has their own way of cooking. And none of them are exactly
compatible with your taste buds.
America hasn’t impressed me much.
But it has already given me many gifts. I have come to know of people who only
acted love or care. And I have also found many unexpected people who cared for
me much more than they let on. And some special ones who understood me much
better than older friends. Gifts that I am gonna keep for a long long time.
Comments
Thanks for the thought!!
:)