Firsts in America

Where shall i begin? ... So an Indian [Original, not the one with mistaken identity] is now living in America, it begins the day i landed in the United States of America. I got to Tampa after a long flight of over 30 hours. Just a day or two before Christmas. I remember when i got here, i am deliberately being vague to give myself an air of unnecessary mystery. So i was saying, in fact the entire journey from Hyderabad to Tampa; start to end took an excess of 48 hours. My first purchase made in American Dollars, a heart stopping 11$ [Well roughly 700 rupees, you have to understand fresh off the plane, i was still on Indian currency] for a sandwich, was in the Dallas airport and my first meal since i set foot in America.

Technically i should count my first flight, my first time away from India, my first meal 30000 ft above ground, my first poop 30000 ft above ground [ i know i am going for cheap laughs but i couldn't not mention this comic gold], my first thorough inspection by an Indian Descendant airport security personnel [the British were too classy to even consider doing the security check themselves] in London's Heathrow terminal as part of - "routine security check" as my American firsts. But i will discount these as inevitable unavoidable mundane tasks of life when traveling on the perilous paths of the world.

Dallas Airport offered me more firsts, my first nightcap in an airport terminal, my first live football match [the American kind] on TV [i am not sure if watching 'The last Yard',' The Replacements', 'The blind side', 'The Game plan' etc counts as having watched a football match], my first night being upset that the AC was working too damn well, my first time talking to an ex - since i landed [ We all know these kinds of firsts have no end]. I wish i could say my first time struggle to sleep at night because of jet lag, but as i suspected i was already functioning on the USA timezone well before i left India, so i was perfectly fine. Now only if my mom could agree that back then when i said "I am staying awake all night preparing for my Masters", i was actually being honest.

After a short flight i landed in Tampa and here i have stayed ever since [It just has been ten months, i might be overselling it, so just clarifying] . I still have a hard time believing that i landed in Tampa with no confirmation on the place to stay or an alternative in case my expectations fell through. In retrospect i might have deserved the small stroke i got when the Leasing office at my Apartment complex wasn't certain if my apartment was available for me to take possession. After lugging three goddamn gigantic bags including one broken big-ass suitcase i was in no state to find alternatives. I would have just setup shop on the curb, still not sure whether doing that would have been legal or allowed or the bigger question safe.

I did get into my Apartment. The one i chose , far away from any possible comfort that one could draw from the herd. Though one good meal and a good sleep later, my decision to stay in a non conventional setting [typically, broke ass people like me who are dependent on money from India smartly stay together in unfurnished economical settings with more people in the apartment than the number of bedrooms in it] turned out to be the best decision i have taken in a long while. I found myself in a unique living setting [ at least as far as i know] with one black, one brown [that being me] and one white person in the apartment. Though ironically against most stereotypes my black roommate is the least black person i know [ however i am obligated to reveal that my knowledge of how black people act/behave or their culture is all drawn from tv,movies,youtube and internet so it is messed up to begin with], i am the least brown person they know and my white roommate is the least white person i know. I hope you do understand that when i say we are the least white/black/brown i mean metaphorically, our skin colours are in the truest sense black, brown and white. On that note the first time i was very conscious of the possibility of very distinct skin colours also happened when i got to America.

Now that shelter was taken care of, next item on the list of firsts to survive was food. I think i am safe to say - Like most Americans i walked into Walmart, considering Walmart is the biggest chain of stores in the World. It was my first Walmart but i can't call it my first brush with big commercial stores. My Indian friends would share my feelings, we have been to Super markets, Hyper markets, The Spencers, the Metros, The Big Bazaars - one stop shopping Indian style. Though there are distinct differences in the kind of stuff, quality, quantity and range that we would find in India to what i found in Walmart. The Produce [Indian version - Vegetables] aisle in Walmart is abysmal, there is quantity but there is no variety at all. The meat section however has an upper hand, not in the freshness aspect but in the types specifically: Pork, Beef and Turkey. I will end this first here and leave the debate of Fresh killed meat VS the frozen meats for another post.

 

I did manage to make a grave error in my hunt for food. As is my nature i went over board with my excitement to do everything and got more stuff than what i could carry. Despite the Walmart store being a few minutes away, the walk back took me half an hour with me huffing for air by the time i got home. Next on the agenda, establishing communications. Since the day i laid my hands on a cellphone, there was never a day that passed by without me having used it. But America forced me into not one , not two but ten days of life without a cellphone. A mix up and my nostalgia for the old days of freedom and peace resulted in me not immediately getting a new phone. Those ten days whatsapp[on my laptop] was my life line to communicate to people back home. It did help that it was the Holiday season [Christmas in America is like the Summer Holidays in India, we take a break when it is too hot, they take a break when it is too cold]. I walked around enough to be too tired to care about a phone.

A unique set of firsts, these should be common to most international students or immigrants who come to America, that relate to America but are not truly American occur during the first few months of arrival. People from back home try to showcase and re-affirm their knowledge of America, based of the stuff that they have heard of or have seen or expect it to be like in America. Typically most of those inquiries maybe not far off from the truth. But my staying in Tampa in a living situation that was not usual, made all those inquiries and my corresponding answers atypical.

Being December in America it was cold, but not too cold, there was no snow. I cooked but i was never big into home cooked meals so i didn't miss Indian food. I was happier being alone, comfortable in my own space. There was no cultural shock because the rest of the World is exposed, in some cases even overexposed to American culture. I was neither awed nor depressed that i was in America. It was a new place, a new start, i was excited for new experiences and more firsts but never overwhelmed. Equal rights - gender, race, sexual orientation etc were something i strongly believed in even when i was in India and they have only become more resolute since i have been in the states. I will say , there definitely is an appeal to America, that even though the World bitches about it, they still come here. It may at times get annoying but America is definitely a Free country, on most counts compared to the rest of the world. Though the Gun culture, a first, was one of the few things that was very difficult to wrap my head around. I still don't agree with Guns but i definitely understand why they are so integral to the American culture and history.

There are many parallels, many differences and many similarities that i will address in future posts. But I hope and believe there will always be many more firsts in/with/about America that i will experience and share with you. Throughout the post i have tried to do a better job at segue but i realized i suck at that and i could at the very least use the word in the proper context, job done! 

If you have any nostalgic firsts that you would like to share then please do comment and don't forget to share.