My Great American Dream and Everything After

I first felt the excitement in the third year of engineering. The hostel was abuzz with activity. Suddenly everyone was watching English movies, talking in English and carrying around small cards with words written on them. You were considered a fool if you weren't carrying the cards around. It was time to start the preparation for America, the country of riches and well being. It was time for GRE and TOEFL. I was just a mute spectator though. I was without sponsorship for my trip to the US. And thus a dream was born; a dream of travelling to the country of dreams and riches.

The Lure of the West
Throughout my struggle to find a stable job and be well off, there was that one thing at the back of my head. I had to get to the US somehow. Some of my best friends were there driving BMWs and Hummers. And here I was in a country that got flooded in the rains and dried up in the summers. I realized early enough that the easiest way to get a ticket would be to join an IT company. You just had to wait for a couple of years before they offered you a ticket.

In the IT Company though I realized I was not alone. The entire company wanted to go "onsite". Now onsite in actuality means working at the client site. But in India's IT world, the word has come to mean an assignment to the US. It was a tough fight. People who did manage to get in to the US never wanted to come back. There would be fights, threats and dire consequences faced, but never the chance of losing hope. All of us got there. I did too.

A Dream Come True
Spellbound. Astounded. Flabbergasted. Astonished. Dumbfounded. The list of words to describe my first brush with the US is endless. Elation made me forget the backbreaking 24 hour flight and the fact that I was only traveler's cheques enabled. There was no cash on me. The trouble I had to take to finally reach the hotel seemed so insignificant compared to the magnificent roads and the high buildings had my eyes wide open for the rest of the journey.

But it was the people that impressed me further. Everyone was so polite and no one was thrifty like back in the home country. People lavishly had juice and fruits in the morning, sponsored parties and the work culture was as casual as ever. And then there was pizza. As much pizza as you could eat. I liked this country.

The Dawn of Reality
I liked the country for exactly 6 months. Surprisingly I even started missing my home country. I missed the dirty streets of Mumbai, Indian women, the rude people, the mangoes and everything I had never even thought about whilst in India. I realized you could take a man out of Mumbai but you could never take Mumbai out of him. All the luxuries I enjoyed in the foreign country seemed to fade when I thought about my friends. It was then that I realized my friends in the US had always advised me to stay put in the country. I was alone with my car, my iPod, my laptop, the gym, the bars and the shopping malls. Even though the kind and helpful people tried their best to let me fit in, I realized that I would always be an outsider. Christmas was not Diwali and no pizza could match homemade rice and "dal". Oh and I missed the fish the most-the deep fried fish found everywhere in Mumbai. The list was endless. Reality had dawned. I was a stranger in a strange land.

But Then...
I had friends living in the US for over a decade now. My manager never wished to go back. Most of my friends by now hated India. It was then that I realized that the poor souls were living in a dream. An illusion which was made up of nice cars and gadgets. I wondered whether India was so bad.

People told me I was without a family and hence I felt so lonely. But I seriously had my doubts; the loneliness I was facing came from within. I longed for my culture.

Finally...
I found a girl who had had a similar experience with the UK. And here we are now; together and enjoying every moment of our lives. We don't have a car, nor do we have air conditioning. But what we have is culture. As I write this article, it's beginning to rain outside. I know it will be flooded and I will have to pass through hell to reach my office. But somehow I know I will enjoy it. I have been doing it for years now. My father did it in his time and his father before him. We have all waded through the water, sweated in the summer and collectively cursed the Indian Cricket team.

America is a great country and I have come back with a lot of learning. I have learnt the art of small talk and the right greetings for the appropriate occasions. I am today a much more improved version, thanks to the US. But at the end of the day, I was made in India. And when I do become obsolete, it will be here, in this vast operating system called culture.

When I see so many people still desperate to get out of the country, I realize what they have been missing. People tend to see the illusions and fall for them. I only have this to say to them "Free your mind".