Living in America: The Good Stuff - December 2000
One of my classmates is from Paris. She is trying to get married to an American in order to become a citizen. There are Americans who are referred, as ‘rednecks’ are willing to do such things. For, say $1000. The arrangement goes like this. You get married. You live separately. Once the alien spouse becomes a citizen, then get divorced. This girl’s portrayal of Paris reminds me of India, and she says she would do anything so that she does not have to go back to Paris.
I met another girl (37) from Japan at the university. She talks about the dreadful real estate in Tokyo. Couples cannot afford to buy a house till they are 45, and have to stay in 8 x 12 space that would include everything – bedroom/dining/kitchen/living. She also wants to get married to an American, but permanently though. She goes to libraries / coffee shops etc to meet Americans. Most Americans don’t give a damn to Asians, it seems. And the people that approach her, want to just fuck her. Because of her age?
Back in India, I thought Paris and Tokyo were amazing places to live. What makes America so special for these people? The French girl says that America is full of opportunities. One can become anything.
Computer is the best thing that ever happened to America. Every household has a computer, and everything is connected. I am not sure how things have changed in India, but here, if I decide to go to, say, New York. I book my flights over the internet. Then I select my flight seat number and location. I rent a car for my stay in NY over the net. Then I book my lodging or youth hostel. So far, so good. But I could buy a ticket for the Aerosmith concert that happen in NY during my stay, , then buy tickets to the Empire state building. I don’t have to interact with any human being, but all my stuff is taken care of and I have to pay for all these things only after a month or so. Then I check the current exhibition at MOMA or the Guggenheim, and check their location at mapquest.com and print maps. I check the new York transit authority site to check which buses connect the museum from my accommodation, and realize it take 30 mins by subway and then, buy cheap tourist local bus/subway passes for the duration of my visit. I check the Indian restaurants in the area, their price, their menu, user rating for those restaurants, read comments by the users, etc.
Later, I search the mpls library website for stuff on “kurasowa” or “erotica” or “pink floyd” and could reserve those titles online. The library system searches for my titles in all the interlinked 30 Mpls libraries and sends my titles to the library next to my house and sends an email alert. It is just free. And the staff are really nice.
Last month, rain water entered into my bicycle lock and froze up. I could not unlock it. I thought I could thaw it using fire or something, but could not find a match stick or a candle at home. The cooking range is electric and there is no power cut, so there is no fire producing/sustaining stuff at home. I could not use my cycle for another three days. The power supply also makes it possible to leave the computer always on, so that you don’t have to wait to restart ever, or have electric clocks or make use of the microwave without any prob.
At the grocery store, you get everything precut/processed etc., so that, you don’t have to waste time chopping vegetables etc, or soak channa, but just dump the frozen vegetables along with rice to make tekri.
Every Sunday the shops come with amazing deals. You pay $10 and buy 50 blank CDRs and the shop will return your $10 after 2 months. Or for computer speakers. Or for the IBM web camera. I don’t know how they do it, but that is how it is done. Indians never miss any of these shops on Sunday mornings.
Two or three months back, on a Sunday, people in our apartment started coughing. We didn’t know the reason, but the coughing continued. Somebody called the emergency service - (Our telephone number, address and the registered name gets automatically recorded in the police system), and within 5 minutes, with all the sirens, et al, around 5 fire engines came to our place from various directions. Those guys came in, checked and found that someone had broken a pepper spray bottle. They checked thoroughly and that was kinda cool. At the university, if you work late or whatever, you could dial up the university police to send a security guy/girl who would walk along with you till your destination. The security person is not a security person as such, but mostly university students who are ‘trained’. And the girls are cute. They have a walkie-talkie, a small lathi, and pepper spray, etc. I am still contemplating of availing such a service.
And for the sexually repressed, there is this déjà vu, which is an onestop corner for all stuff. If you know what I mean. They remove everything, it seems, but I can’t describe, because I have not ‘officially’ been there.
Last month we went to the Minneapolis municipality to change the ownership of a property. On entering the receptionist directed us to the specific counter. They checked their records for the present owner’s details. Collected the fees, checked the identity of the person doing and transaction, and changed the ownership in 30 minutes. No brokers. No money. No corruption.
One of my classmates is from Paris. She is trying to get married to an American in order to become a citizen. There are Americans who are referred, as ‘rednecks’ are willing to do such things. For, say $1000. The arrangement goes like this. You get married. You live separately. Once the alien spouse becomes a citizen, then get divorced. This girl’s portrayal of Paris reminds me of India, and she says she would do anything so that she does not have to go back to Paris.
I met another girl (37) from Japan at the university. She talks about the dreadful real estate in Tokyo. Couples cannot afford to buy a house till they are 45, and have to stay in 8 x 12 space that would include everything – bedroom/dining/kitchen/living. She also wants to get married to an American, but permanently though. She goes to libraries / coffee shops etc to meet Americans. Most Americans don’t give a damn to Asians, it seems. And the people that approach her, want to just fuck her. Because of her age?
Back in India, I thought Paris and Tokyo were amazing places to live. What makes America so special for these people? The French girl says that America is full of opportunities. One can become anything.
Computer is the best thing that ever happened to America. Every household has a computer, and everything is connected. I am not sure how things have changed in India, but here, if I decide to go to, say, New York. I book my flights over the internet. Then I select my flight seat number and location. I rent a car for my stay in NY over the net. Then I book my lodging or youth hostel. So far, so good. But I could buy a ticket for the Aerosmith concert that happen in NY during my stay, , then buy tickets to the Empire state building. I don’t have to interact with any human being, but all my stuff is taken care of and I have to pay for all these things only after a month or so. Then I check the current exhibition at MOMA or the Guggenheim, and check their location at mapquest.com and print maps. I check the new York transit authority site to check which buses connect the museum from my accommodation, and realize it take 30 mins by subway and then, buy cheap tourist local bus/subway passes for the duration of my visit. I check the Indian restaurants in the area, their price, their menu, user rating for those restaurants, read comments by the users, etc.
Later, I search the mpls library website for stuff on “kurasowa” or “erotica” or “pink floyd” and could reserve those titles online. The library system searches for my titles in all the interlinked 30 Mpls libraries and sends my titles to the library next to my house and sends an email alert. It is just free. And the staff are really nice.
Last month, rain water entered into my bicycle lock and froze up. I could not unlock it. I thought I could thaw it using fire or something, but could not find a match stick or a candle at home. The cooking range is electric and there is no power cut, so there is no fire producing/sustaining stuff at home. I could not use my cycle for another three days. The power supply also makes it possible to leave the computer always on, so that you don’t have to wait to restart ever, or have electric clocks or make use of the microwave without any prob.
At the grocery store, you get everything precut/processed etc., so that, you don’t have to waste time chopping vegetables etc, or soak channa, but just dump the frozen vegetables along with rice to make tekri.
Every Sunday the shops come with amazing deals. You pay $10 and buy 50 blank CDRs and the shop will return your $10 after 2 months. Or for computer speakers. Or for the IBM web camera. I don’t know how they do it, but that is how it is done. Indians never miss any of these shops on Sunday mornings.
Two or three months back, on a Sunday, people in our apartment started coughing. We didn’t know the reason, but the coughing continued. Somebody called the emergency service - (Our telephone number, address and the registered name gets automatically recorded in the police system), and within 5 minutes, with all the sirens, et al, around 5 fire engines came to our place from various directions. Those guys came in, checked and found that someone had broken a pepper spray bottle. They checked thoroughly and that was kinda cool. At the university, if you work late or whatever, you could dial up the university police to send a security guy/girl who would walk along with you till your destination. The security person is not a security person as such, but mostly university students who are ‘trained’. And the girls are cute. They have a walkie-talkie, a small lathi, and pepper spray, etc. I am still contemplating of availing such a service.
And for the sexually repressed, there is this déjà vu, which is an onestop corner for all stuff. If you know what I mean. They remove everything, it seems, but I can’t describe, because I have not ‘officially’ been there.
Last month we went to the Minneapolis municipality to change the ownership of a property. On entering the receptionist directed us to the specific counter. They checked their records for the present owner’s details. Collected the fees, checked the identity of the person doing and transaction, and changed the ownership in 30 minutes. No brokers. No money. No corruption.
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