A Journey from Jharsuguda to Maryland

NRI “Non-Resident Indians” word is still fascinating in India. I vividly remember in my childhood, whenever in our neighbourhood anybody would come from USA to be precise Amricaaa, he/she will be bombarded with too many questions. Many amusing novels have been written based on experience of a “Desi” in USA.

Jharsuguda, Orissa is a small town in India where I used to work and it was pre planned that after my marriage I would move to Maryland, USA as my husband was doing research there. Mere thought of going there was just like a dream come true for me.

Finally the “D” came and I boarded the Air India flight on 15^th February 2011 and I realized it’s the same flight which was shown in very famous Bollywood movie “Three idiots”. After 14 hours of long journey I landed in New York airport and I was enthralled by seeing its capacious airport. It was surprising for me to use metro to go from one terminal to another. Self check in machine was installed everywhere in the airport to make the system hassle free. I still have fond memories of that day.

I have never experienced snowfall in India and luckily the day I came here it was snowing. From sky I could see sudden flurry of snow birds. For a moment I felt like a celebrity walking on peaceful and serene white carpet. It was incredible moment for me.

Things here are quite different from India. People here walk to their right side and I still remember it took me almost a month to adjust. Contrary driver seat in the car is to your left side. You need to take care that you walk/drive to your right side or else you might end up hitting somebody J.Traffic rules are quite systematic and one can easily go from one place to another with the help of GPS. Moreover Technology used in parking space in downtowns is also remarkable. In terms of cleanliness definitely it is sparkling.

You also get to see thousands of high rises and skyscrapers here. I live on 14^th floor of my building and from my window I can see the whole city. Every morning I feel refresh by watching floating cloud and feeling fog on my window.

I am pleasantly surprised to see so many Indian stores here. You think of an item and its available here. It is quite amusing to find “Pan Pasand” and “Swad” here which of course is a nostalgic feeling for me. Here, I do miss my mom’s sumptuous cooked food but due to availability of many Indian restaurants I am able to enjoy delectable Indian delicacies. When it comes to Indian cinema I am quite lucky because I am able to see the movie the same day it’s been released.

It is quite interesting to see that people here greet you even if they don’t know you. They are always ready to lend a hand when you are in need. One amusing thing I found out that kids here are very different from Indians, I have never seen them crying unlike Indians.

It’s been fascinating four months journey and still there are so many things to explore out. All I can say that journey has just begun.