Being in a new country is an experience in itself. You are looking at a whole new world and not all things make sense the same way. Every country has a landscape of its own. A place that makes it what it is, different from all others.
It has taken me a long time to find the pulse of this new country I am in - the United States of America. Somehow, as I moved into this new country, I felt like I have lost that intuitive understanding of a place and its people. Back home, in India, I was never left feeling out of place. In a new city or a new town, even when i didn't know the common language, I never felt lost. I had a mysterious sense of belonging, of assurance like from the needle of a compass always pointing in the same direction. This compass however seemed to have lost its bearings the moment I stepped in here (despite the familiar language). That maybe a consequence of the differences in the magnetic strength. The two countries are after all at different places with respect to the magnetic poles... ;)
However on a more serious note, it is difficult to find the reason for this disorientation; but when I think about it, there is a difference in the landscapes of the two countries.
While, the Indian landscape was defined by its people, the American people are united by a culture. In India, the cultures change like the wind patterns. There is a new language, a new dialect, a new culture every few hours. There are new festivals and foods being celebrated all over. The cities are morphing faster than the moulting of a caterpillar. But the people remain the same. They all have the distinct Indian features - physical and mental. They have similar concerns, they have similar thought processes and similar appearances. They share a common history that goes back several millenia and there is a common thread tying them all together as people. It was easier to understand them all as one collective mass of humanity with their idiosyncrasies, their follies and their foibles. And of course, my existence there for nearly three decades makes me understand them intuitively, as i understand myself.
But here, in the US, there are people from all over. People of all the different races and nationalities have found a home here in the US. In fact, when i think about it, if an alien spacecraft ever did a random sampling of America, it would not be able to identify the natives from the immigrants. And it wouldn't surprise me, if there were more Asians (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Indians) and europeans than native Americans. And they all have different mindscapes, origins, habits and concerns. They think differently and react differently. And this has made the american landscape more of a cultural thing than that of common ancestry. To me, America and its people are defined, not by their origins but by their life style - the american way of life. A life made of pre-cooked meals, frozen foods, of cars and gadgets, of technology and energy, of rap/rock music and of Hollywood. America is made of those quintessential family-homes, of people who have a 5 day work week and want to/try to/ exercise regularly. It is a country which is known by its culture - its culture of freedom, of speech, of families and of people. When I think of america, I don't see a face, or a common history - i see a culture, a way of life. A culture where education is expensive, where savings are non-existent, where heating food in the microwave is called cooking, where people follow rules of the road and where people wish strangers. I see children moving out of homes, and parents living independently till the very end. I see "use and throw" obliterating the practice of repair. I see massive energy consumption even as there are massive efforts to recycle and conserve (It sounds oxymoronic but it is true and this is one aspect I find most mind-bogglingly fascinating). I see a culture where superficially people are granted the freedom to be as they please but there is an invisible mold that they are expected to conform to. There is a cloak of open-mindedness that conceals a more deep rooted feeling of parochialism. There is a facade of mutual agreement, appearances and social courtesy that covers deep rooted feelings of disagreement, anger, jealousy and loneliness. Their apparent friendliness is limited by its boundaries, quite unlike the Indian hospitality and concern which can sometimes run you over like a herd of wildebeests. While these things make it seem like US is not a great place to be in, let me clarify, that like all other things - it has its share of perks too. There are quite a few things i really like here and i shall soon write about them.
And I guess, these many layers of the American being have confounded my understanding and left me a little disoriented. But i guess, I am slowly homing in and finding my coordinates all over again. I still don't understand it all completely but i am beginning to find trends that define a commonality.
It has taken me a long time to find the pulse of this new country I am in - the United States of America. Somehow, as I moved into this new country, I felt like I have lost that intuitive understanding of a place and its people. Back home, in India, I was never left feeling out of place. In a new city or a new town, even when i didn't know the common language, I never felt lost. I had a mysterious sense of belonging, of assurance like from the needle of a compass always pointing in the same direction. This compass however seemed to have lost its bearings the moment I stepped in here (despite the familiar language). That maybe a consequence of the differences in the magnetic strength. The two countries are after all at different places with respect to the magnetic poles... ;)
However on a more serious note, it is difficult to find the reason for this disorientation; but when I think about it, there is a difference in the landscapes of the two countries.
While, the Indian landscape was defined by its people, the American people are united by a culture. In India, the cultures change like the wind patterns. There is a new language, a new dialect, a new culture every few hours. There are new festivals and foods being celebrated all over. The cities are morphing faster than the moulting of a caterpillar. But the people remain the same. They all have the distinct Indian features - physical and mental. They have similar concerns, they have similar thought processes and similar appearances. They share a common history that goes back several millenia and there is a common thread tying them all together as people. It was easier to understand them all as one collective mass of humanity with their idiosyncrasies, their follies and their foibles. And of course, my existence there for nearly three decades makes me understand them intuitively, as i understand myself.
But here, in the US, there are people from all over. People of all the different races and nationalities have found a home here in the US. In fact, when i think about it, if an alien spacecraft ever did a random sampling of America, it would not be able to identify the natives from the immigrants. And it wouldn't surprise me, if there were more Asians (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Indians) and europeans than native Americans. And they all have different mindscapes, origins, habits and concerns. They think differently and react differently. And this has made the american landscape more of a cultural thing than that of common ancestry. To me, America and its people are defined, not by their origins but by their life style - the american way of life. A life made of pre-cooked meals, frozen foods, of cars and gadgets, of technology and energy, of rap/rock music and of Hollywood. America is made of those quintessential family-homes, of people who have a 5 day work week and want to/try to/ exercise regularly. It is a country which is known by its culture - its culture of freedom, of speech, of families and of people. When I think of america, I don't see a face, or a common history - i see a culture, a way of life. A culture where education is expensive, where savings are non-existent, where heating food in the microwave is called cooking, where people follow rules of the road and where people wish strangers. I see children moving out of homes, and parents living independently till the very end. I see "use and throw" obliterating the practice of repair. I see massive energy consumption even as there are massive efforts to recycle and conserve (It sounds oxymoronic but it is true and this is one aspect I find most mind-bogglingly fascinating). I see a culture where superficially people are granted the freedom to be as they please but there is an invisible mold that they are expected to conform to. There is a cloak of open-mindedness that conceals a more deep rooted feeling of parochialism. There is a facade of mutual agreement, appearances and social courtesy that covers deep rooted feelings of disagreement, anger, jealousy and loneliness. Their apparent friendliness is limited by its boundaries, quite unlike the Indian hospitality and concern which can sometimes run you over like a herd of wildebeests. While these things make it seem like US is not a great place to be in, let me clarify, that like all other things - it has its share of perks too. There are quite a few things i really like here and i shall soon write about them.
And I guess, these many layers of the American being have confounded my understanding and left me a little disoriented. But i guess, I am slowly homing in and finding my coordinates all over again. I still don't understand it all completely but i am beginning to find trends that define a commonality.
No comments:
Post a Comment