Happy Birthday America

It is 232 years since America got Independence. I have been only here 5 years. Wasn't it Joseph Cermak who said "It is true I didn't come in the Mayflower, but I came as soon as I could." Today, I want to express my appreciation for my home for the last 5 years by writing this post to say what I like about here. So here it is-from the perspective of an outsider.

1. The People: How can you not like the people here? I have yet to see more generous people. When I first came here for grad school, they provided me with such a lot of stuff to make my stay comfortable like bed, mattress, couch, table, chair. It was and is just amazing to me how much people here are willing to give away. With very few exceptions, the people have always been warm and friendly and it was manna to my weary soul especially during the first few months I was here. And the way people come together to help people affected by natural disasters is just awesome.

2. Customer Service: I am generally using the term customer service. What I really want to highlight is restaurants and returns. Once when we were at Olive Garden, I ordered their minestrone soup and I felt it was a little peppery. It wasn't anything worth complaining about, but I had only a quarter of it. The manager walked by, and asked if I didn't like my soup. I mentioned that it was just a litlle peppery. When we got the bill, we found it was taken off. I do not know anyone who had a similar experience in India. As far as returning merchandise goes, that is not appreciated at all in India. We buy, then it is pretty much final in all cases. Here I think I have returned more than I have bought. Well, that is not true but you get what I mean. I can't help but remember an incident that took place in a Christian bookstore when I visited India last time. I had bought a bunch of stuff and when she was entering it in her computer, I suddenly realized that I did not want one of the items. I let her know and she said that she could not void it since it was already in the system. The same bookstore sold us a defective cassette and would not refund us money or excahnge it for another.

3. Libraries: All of the above pales in comparison with this one when I talk about my love for America. The libraries. Oh. My. Word. I can get books delivered to my door free of charge and there is no library membership fee. This is how libraries work in India. You pay a membership fee. Then you pay 10% of the price of the book for borrowing it. And you get to keep it for 2 weeks. The maximum number of books you can check out is 5. Considering that I spent the majority of my pocket money growing up paying libraries, I feel I am in book heaven. Despite the cost, I finished reading all the books in one of the libraries in my hometown (Granted, it was not a huge library). This for me is the single best reason for my love for my adopted country.

4. Work Environment: Hubby summed it up the best. They treat you as who you could be, not as who you are. I could not agree more. When I was doing my thesis and had some questions about the simulation model I was using, I called the person who had created the model. He was the director of a huge, well known organization at the time and I called him and left a message never expecting to hear back from him. He called me back and asked me if it was a good time to talk. Heck, he could have called at 2 am and it would have been a great time. He spent 40 minutes of his valuable time helping me out and clearing away my cobwebs. I was blown away. I still am amazed at the people at the top of the career ladder here who treat their juniors and cluless grad students with dignity and respect. I am not going to talk about how bosses treat their subordinates in India. It is not good for my blood pressure.

5. Miscellaneous: I am not even going to touch on how anyone can turn their life around here if they are determined and enterprising. And the freedom of expression, the freedom to worship and the list goes on.

There are definitely things I do not like about here, but I am not touching on those today. The first 2 years here for me was pretty tough. There is no downplaying that. But a line I read a while back comes to my mind.

It is a tough life to be sure my friend, but it is a free life.

- Alien