A New Beginning

 

#USA 1

Post#1

In one of the Facebook groups I am a member of, a theme for the month was about the country where you are currently living. From time to time I have written about USA and particularly about California.

I was planning to take a little break from posts for the rest of this month. But the theme for the month got me thinking. It would be a good exercise to express how the journey unfolded. I have said this once before, I am the daughter of India and daughter in law of the USA. I am proud of both. There are problems at both places and these cannot be discounted if we need to make these better places. The problems,however, do not negate the positive sides of both places.

For any immigrant it is never an automatic assimilation. It takes time to absorb new realities. When I share my experiences please take it in the context of a young person raised in an entirely different way of life suddenly thrust into the western world.

On several fronts it was a big culture shock for me when I came here 3O years back. Apart from the fact that I had none of my family or close friends here when I arrived, language, attire, attitude, social behaviors, infrastructure,  besides other things were all new to me . 

Despite my education in an English medium school catching up with the American accent was quite challenging initially. 

I recall early in my days in Chicago I was applying for some qualifying exams. My medical degree had my maiden name and I was applying with my married name so they needed verification from a notary that it is the same person. My photo on the application had longer hair but when I went to get it signed I had chopped it much shorter. The African American notary looked at me, looked at the photo , again at me and said something. The only two words out of her sentence I could understand were “pretty face”. I responded promptly “ Thank you “. She had a rather weird expression on her face when she heard that. She signed the papers and as we walked away Abhay(my husband)burst out laughing . He told me she said “you messed up your pretty face ( by chopping your hair )” 

It is a perfect example of how much difference it makes when we lift only a part of what is being said and make a judgement ! 

Also it is worth a mention that English spoken in the USA has distinct accents from state to state. African American community speaks in their own accent and even within them accent changes with location. Indian community has its own accent and within that community too accent varies from our state of origin in India. This is a mixing pot of cultures and that makes it beautiful but complex. Even in my line of work frequently I have to ask someone to repeat slowly so I understand correctly and I never hesitate to repeat myself several times if they don’t understand my words due to my accent which by the way has failed to change a bit despite being 3 decades away from homeland.

Will continue my experiences in the next post.

The saree must be nearly 40-45 years old. One of my mom’s patients had brought it for her from the Middle East. Probably made in Japan. A very fine georgette or chiffon material. Can be hand washed. I would use it during my residency in Mumbai. It is still like new.