By writing this blog am not trying to boast or brag, this is basically for sharing my views and experiences I had during my short but brief stay in the USA.
Like every other person I too have many people residing in other countries in the world. And just like every other person I too had a wish to go to these places someday, if not to admire but atleast to quench my curiosity as to why people love it so much there compared to our own beautiful homeland. One such place was the USA. Generally when people say they from the US it somehow seems to have a much higher significance compared to the other countries, atleast that's how I felt about it. I always had the presumption that if I ever did go to any foreign country, I would still be loyal to mine and would always be proud of India. I was not mistaken but my views about the situation has changed by an enormous degree.
Between the time I finished my final semester's exams and took my up job I took a complete break to visit the US. Since this was my first ever journey to be embarked alone I was terribly excited and could hardly contain myself. Only as I walked out of the airport of SFO did the fact hit me that I was on the other side of the world. In a matter of mere 24 hours my complete world-the world which I had grown accustomed to so far in life was half way across the globe.
The first thing that I observed about this new place was its neatness and the need to maintain the discipline. I was completely enthralled by the lane decipline and traffic rules I saw there. For someone who has lived in India all her life this was a nice surprise to experience. Just the fact that you could drive at such a high speed itself had me wondering if our country would ever have this kind of freedom and this kind of system.
Coming to my first outing there-I went to a mall,one of the biggest in the area. I accept, I haven't seen many malls here in India but I was amazed by size and splender of the malls there. Even the smallest of malls consists of hundreds of stores. The more you looked around,the more there was to see. The stores themselves are so different-the kind of clothes,food,other products-so very different to what I was used to.
It was a whole new experience to even just stand and look around-felt like I was part of a Hollywood set.
Not just the malls-everywhere else I went to made me realise that these places are beautiful and neat because the people take the responsibility to keep it so. They do not expect things to be done for them all the time,but rather get it done themselves-from keeping the roads and surroundings clean to repairing the houses, the people living there do it themselves-labour being costly could be one reason but beyond that there's the enthusiasm to do the job themselves.
Coming to the people living there, I always felt a little wary of even talking to one before but now I've been forced to change my point of view about them. Everywhere I went the people were extremely sweet and helpful. Not a hint of scorn touched their faces when asked for help or otherwise. I've read and seen in many movies where people state that America is a free country and today I totally accept it. Being from the largest democratic country in the world I'm friends with people from different religions and languages-which am very proud of, but to mingle with so many different races and religions with no reservations whatsoever completely overwhelmed any prejudice I might have had against them.
Yes, I had a major cultural shock when I saw them for the first time and yes, I scorned at them for it but I've come to realise that as much as our culture means to us, their's mean to them. Initially it takes a while to get used to and once you accept it life gets easier. Afterall,most of us are already used to most of this from the Hollywood movies and books that we read. I am not saying we should follow their path, though slowly but surely I see India moving in that direction, we should respect their culture and ways of socialising. Just as we follow the path of lives laid out by our ancestors, they follow what they were taught by theirs.
I was there was a little over a month and had the time of my life. I visited various places and observed the place as well as the people.
Once I returned to India, I was asked many times by many people if I preferred living there or here. This caused me to ponder for a while before I answered. The next time someone asked me the same question my reply was both-in certain ways(though that would be my fantasy land). I love India way too much as this is my motherland but I can't help but wish for our country to be more like western countries- not in terms of culture but in terms of cleanliness and health awareness. Our's is the oldest civilisation known to mankind and should be preserved. I would still prefer India over any other country any day.
As much I pride on our culture and the decipline there, neither of the lands are perfect. There are pros and cons to living in either of the places and I feel this statement holds good for any other place on earth as well. Some people might say this sounds like "grass is greener on the other side". I agree to an extent that this statement is true but think about it- if you lived here all your life you would complain all the time about the poverty and corruption here and if you lived there, you would always feel your kids are missing out on the culture, warmth of the homeland you grew up with and be more polite to elders. No country really is perfect-it's upto the citizens to take responsibility to make it so.
I had the most amazing vacation of my life and forever will rememeber my experiences there.
I would like to conclude by saying that where ever you live try to see the positives of the place rather than the negatives. Yes,I hate slumdog millionaire for showing India in such poor light but it's upto us to show them that we are so much more than that. I love my India. Jai Hind!!!
Like every other person I too have many people residing in other countries in the world. And just like every other person I too had a wish to go to these places someday, if not to admire but atleast to quench my curiosity as to why people love it so much there compared to our own beautiful homeland. One such place was the USA. Generally when people say they from the US it somehow seems to have a much higher significance compared to the other countries, atleast that's how I felt about it. I always had the presumption that if I ever did go to any foreign country, I would still be loyal to mine and would always be proud of India. I was not mistaken but my views about the situation has changed by an enormous degree.
Between the time I finished my final semester's exams and took my up job I took a complete break to visit the US. Since this was my first ever journey to be embarked alone I was terribly excited and could hardly contain myself. Only as I walked out of the airport of SFO did the fact hit me that I was on the other side of the world. In a matter of mere 24 hours my complete world-the world which I had grown accustomed to so far in life was half way across the globe.
The first thing that I observed about this new place was its neatness and the need to maintain the discipline. I was completely enthralled by the lane decipline and traffic rules I saw there. For someone who has lived in India all her life this was a nice surprise to experience. Just the fact that you could drive at such a high speed itself had me wondering if our country would ever have this kind of freedom and this kind of system.
Coming to my first outing there-I went to a mall,one of the biggest in the area. I accept, I haven't seen many malls here in India but I was amazed by size and splender of the malls there. Even the smallest of malls consists of hundreds of stores. The more you looked around,the more there was to see. The stores themselves are so different-the kind of clothes,food,other products-so very different to what I was used to.
It was a whole new experience to even just stand and look around-felt like I was part of a Hollywood set.
Not just the malls-everywhere else I went to made me realise that these places are beautiful and neat because the people take the responsibility to keep it so. They do not expect things to be done for them all the time,but rather get it done themselves-from keeping the roads and surroundings clean to repairing the houses, the people living there do it themselves-labour being costly could be one reason but beyond that there's the enthusiasm to do the job themselves.
Coming to the people living there, I always felt a little wary of even talking to one before but now I've been forced to change my point of view about them. Everywhere I went the people were extremely sweet and helpful. Not a hint of scorn touched their faces when asked for help or otherwise. I've read and seen in many movies where people state that America is a free country and today I totally accept it. Being from the largest democratic country in the world I'm friends with people from different religions and languages-which am very proud of, but to mingle with so many different races and religions with no reservations whatsoever completely overwhelmed any prejudice I might have had against them.
Yes, I had a major cultural shock when I saw them for the first time and yes, I scorned at them for it but I've come to realise that as much as our culture means to us, their's mean to them. Initially it takes a while to get used to and once you accept it life gets easier. Afterall,most of us are already used to most of this from the Hollywood movies and books that we read. I am not saying we should follow their path, though slowly but surely I see India moving in that direction, we should respect their culture and ways of socialising. Just as we follow the path of lives laid out by our ancestors, they follow what they were taught by theirs.
I was there was a little over a month and had the time of my life. I visited various places and observed the place as well as the people.
Once I returned to India, I was asked many times by many people if I preferred living there or here. This caused me to ponder for a while before I answered. The next time someone asked me the same question my reply was both-in certain ways(though that would be my fantasy land). I love India way too much as this is my motherland but I can't help but wish for our country to be more like western countries- not in terms of culture but in terms of cleanliness and health awareness. Our's is the oldest civilisation known to mankind and should be preserved. I would still prefer India over any other country any day.
As much I pride on our culture and the decipline there, neither of the lands are perfect. There are pros and cons to living in either of the places and I feel this statement holds good for any other place on earth as well. Some people might say this sounds like "grass is greener on the other side". I agree to an extent that this statement is true but think about it- if you lived here all your life you would complain all the time about the poverty and corruption here and if you lived there, you would always feel your kids are missing out on the culture, warmth of the homeland you grew up with and be more polite to elders. No country really is perfect-it's upto the citizens to take responsibility to make it so.
I had the most amazing vacation of my life and forever will rememeber my experiences there.
I would like to conclude by saying that where ever you live try to see the positives of the place rather than the negatives. Yes,I hate slumdog millionaire for showing India in such poor light but it's upto us to show them that we are so much more than that. I love my India. Jai Hind!!!
