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Here's all the cities that I have visited! Still a lot more to cover.
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Another desi engineer from the hallowed portals of IIT, I have studied and worked in the US for almost five years now.
The call of the West! In a limited way, I can claim to have heard it, heeded it, rallied to it, and answered it.. While in the US, I have lived in three different states - Arizona, Idaho and Virginia, and visited 11 others.
Five long years, and I'd still rather have a desi-party with my friends, than go out on a two day bike trip to the mountains all by myself, and boast about the serene beauty of nature next morning at work. A typical American gets a kick out of fishing alone. I get a kick eating it with my friends. (I am a veggie but this is a figure of speech!)
Five years in the US and the fake American accent and slangs have crept into my speech. But I guess its got something to do with the previous twenty-two years of my Indian upbringing that warms up my spirit when I talk with people rather than with nature. Cricket still evokes late night-outs, while NFL still seems like a free-for-all carnage. In spite of the political mileage garnered with American bosses at work while discussing the Seattle Seahawks vs NY Giants, it seems too much of an effort to understand the 'game'.
(Can't resist sharing this interesting piece with my Filipino and American bosses.)
American Boss: "Did you check out the Super-bowl game yesterday. The Steelers nailed the Patriots down."
Filipino Boss: "What a game! I never miss any Super-bowl games. They are the best!"
Me: Quiet. At a complete loss of words. Don't care for NFL and won't pretend to care as well. Attitude that ensures I'll stay an engineer at best and unemployed at worst! Smile my ugliest smile.
The American boss steps out leaving my Filipino Boss and me alone.
Filipino Boss: "So, Sumant, do you watch NFL games?"
Me: "No, American football doesn't interest me! Too old to play it, and don't care to watch it." Again the attitude. I hate myself.
Filipino Boss: "Hahaha, football didn't interest me either. One day I learnt!"
Five years, and I still don't care about NFL and don't want to either. I'd rather pay $5 for watching cricket on the internet than watch the HD baseball game on the plasma screen in the sportsbar next door for free. (Ok, so I pay for the drinks, but technically I ain't paying for the game.)
While in the US, I still depend on NDTV and Rediff for my daily quota of world and Indian news. The CNN blog on the number of dogs that died due to the recent food-poisoning or why Britney shaved her head off doesn't bother me.
Desis, for the most part, are sentimental about India eleven months of the year. Every year, they pack up their bags and take the holy pilgrimage back home. Two days in India and its crumbling infra-structure (Ok, its improving now. But, you have to step out of India to the US to understand what I am saying.) and over-population, and they secretly wish for home. Three weeks later, they are comfortably snug in the central climate-controlled comforts of their US homes. Seven days later, they get sentimental about India again. And so the cycle continues...
So, while in the US, living in India??? Something's gotta give. Either you kill your memories or else kill the dream. Five long years, and I finally killed the 'American dream'. I decided to pack up and go back. The lust of the big juicy greenbacks is satiated for now and my BIGGEST reason to be in the US lost.
I got an admission to IIM Ahmedabad, and I am gonna wrap up my baggage and head back to India in June! For good? I don't know, but I certainly hope so!
This happened sometime back when one of my American friends invited me for dinner; it was an informal dinner and the idea was to share our hunger, and the food.
He offered me a pizza slice - something he said was heavenly. I bit into it, it tasted strange. I asked him, "What is it?"
"Slices of beef with mayonnaise sauce, and rich mortzella cheese on bread."
"Beef!!" I was a Jain. In my religion, let alone beef, you did not eat meat, or eggs, and in fact some Jains will not even eat onions or potatoes. "Oh!", I said, "That's good. But I am a vegetarian."
"Are you a vegetarian ? I am so sorry. I did not know that," my friend said sounding rather hurt.
"It's okay! Not that I have never eaten meat," Now this was partly true. I had eaten chicken patties before. (It's quite another thing that I had vomitted later.) Saying that, I bit into the pizza slice.
Now why did I do that? I could have left the slice alone, and believe me, I really despised the taste of that 'pizza slice.' It was as if some animal was moving down my throat. Was it my selfish self wanting to become a part of the American culture? Maybe I just wanted to be a part of the crowd, not wanting to be left out of all the fun, just 'coz I was a vegetarian - an Indian in the promised land where dreams are made and hearts broken, trying very hard to find my place in the sun.
Or was it the philosophy on which Jainism and all the religions in the world are based? - the principle of love, the first commandment which told you never to hurt your fellow beings, in any way, physically or emotionally, consciously or unconsciously - to rather not hurt a human being, than eat a cow which had already been butchered earlier.
It was a realization - a moment in which I was in touch with Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, the saint who would cover his mouth, lest he breathe in the bacteria and the fungi in the air and kill them. I would have hurt my American friend if I had not eaten the slice, because he would have thought that he had defiled my religion by offering me meat. The cow had already been butchered. It was dead. I could not possibly hurt it anymore.
I was no longer a slave of my religion; instead I had become a master of my religion. I had made Jainism richer, not poorer. I had touched Mahavira's feet, and he had blessed me.
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