Seven Years In America

Last week I completed seven years in America. I came here in 2008. It was the worst time to come to America. It was a completely different America than I had pictured in my mind. Yes, the city was clean with minimal pollution, traffic was disciplined, people were polite, but that affluence was missing. Everyone was complaining about budget cuts, layoffs, and fees increase, but the country and I both survived the recession.

America is very different than India. The first time I noticed this difference was on the day I arrived in the US. After coming out of the airport, I was struggling with my bags, and this young man very politely offered to help me. I was a little surprised and reluctant, I was thinking why is he offering to help me? He must have some self-interest in it. I did let him help me and figured that he didn't want anything in return. He was just helping. It was a random act of kindness for him. In India, not once, anyone ever offered to help me with my luggage at the airport randomly. The ones that did help asked for money at the end.

I know what you are thinking - There she goes ! A common NRI attitude. Talking bad about your own country and going gaga over America.

I understand. Even I don't like to compare these two countries. I am just telling you what differences I noticed when I first came here.

Anyway, as I was saying, in America, everything is very organized. There's no chaos. The biggest difference I noticed in America is, here you get an idiot-proof, clear, written guideline on internet for everything, from how to get a driver's license to how to pay your fees. If you are still confused, there's a toll-free number where you can call. I always say that an Indian can come to America and survive on his own but an American can never come to India and survive on his own; not because he is not as smart as Indians, but because in India, everything is so chaotic, everything is so vague. There are no clear guidelines available for public.

Another thing is, in America, everyone works with accountability. You can file a complaint with any company or department, and you can be sure it will be heard and resolved in a professional manner. In India, it hardly ever happens that your complaints and concerns are heard. Customer Service is horrible in India. Even though you are the payer and they are selling you their product, they make you feel like they are doing a favor to you. In America, there's a proper channel of  communication, and proper chain of command. In India, whatever happened to the constitution, people make their own constitution and they are not scared of it because there are no consequences for not doing your job and practicing corruption.

At a workplace too, people don't verbally abuse you or yell at you just because they are your boss. Preserving other people's dignity is a core quality of Americans. Maybe they do it out of fear, because this country has the most civil rights in practice; but either way, you can't get away by discriminating and insulting anyone.

Even though there's a lot that is bothering me about India, I can't bash my own country anymore; especially when I abandoned it myself. Of course there are a lot of things I miss about India, especially the food and the festivals. The first thing I ate after landing in America was a Subway sandwich. To this day, I hate it.

I love India. I really do, but can't say the same about the infrastructure, the government policies and management of resources in our country.

I am going to go all MLK Junior about this and say - " I have a dream, that in India, the traffic is disciplined and the government offices are corruption free, people understand and fulfill their duties as a citizen, leaders do not win the election for power but to serve the country, women are safe and free from trafficking, rape and dowry, every kid can get education and healthcare, and we can host Olympics before I die."