COMING TO AMERICA

COMING TO AMERICA

By Ajit Chaudhuri, July 2013

Introduction: I visited the US (for the first time) earlier this month, Afghanistan in May/June, and Germany (with a break in Estonia) in April/May – traversing four countries – the world’s most forward and backward nations, the economic powerhouse of western Europe, and a corner of the erstwhile Soviet Union – in a period of four months. If I may say so myself – WOW!

Few dispute that Afghanistan is the worst country to be born in today, and those questioning the US’s no. 1 status too would be on sticky ground; it is a huge country – the world’s third largest in area and population, and by far its richest – it is the sole global superpower, it combines natural resources with first world infrastructure and innovation with high quality governance, and it is unsurpassable in software, entertainment and high speed pizza delivery. The differences between the world’s two no. 1s (i.e. those at either end of the spectrum) would fill an encyclopaedia, but are pretty much obvious. It is the rather fewer similarities that interested me, especially so because these also contrast them sharply from the other two countries I visited. On the soft side, the first similarity was that religiosity is high, the second that family is important and the safety nets it provides critical for an individual’s progress, and the third was the love for guns within the populace. Respect for hard work and a lack of shame in undertaking menial occupations were discernable in both. And, on the tangible side, the complete absence of any form of public transport (except the most rudimentary kind) was common to both countries.

But this note is not to compare, it is to reflect upon the many things I learnt and to convey my wonderment at what I did, saw and heard upon my visit to the US. For me, the visit served to convert a familiarity gained from newspapers, novels (especially Steinbeck, Chase and L’Amour) and films to one gained from first hand experience. Let me begin by saying that this is the only longish (3 weeks Delhi to Delhi) trip that I have ever made that has had only highs – there were no low points, no difficulties or unpleasantness’s of any sort, no trying circumstances, from the time I left my doorstep in Delhi to the time I returned. For this, I owe a huge thanks to my father and brother, who joined me for the trip, and to my aunt and cousin in Seattle, all of whom did everything they could to make my experience memorable (yeah, I know, this sounds like an Oscar acceptance speech, but is no less true for it).

Getting to the US: The difference, for the visitor, between the US and other developed countries begins well before the visit, with the visa process – high tech, streamlined, efficient, and ending (for me) with a long-yerm visa. This compares favourably with the UK (where the visa process is a profit centre and charges are huge) and Western Europe (where every visit requires a visa, and one has to make false hotel bookings and lie about itineraries). I must confess to having been worried, expecting my six visits to Afghanistan since 2009 to set off red flags, but nobody in the visa process, or even later (for example, homeland security while entering the US) was in the slightest bit interested. And a bit cheesed - all that time and money spent photocopying my Afghanistan contracts and preparing explanations gone to waste!

I went to Seattle on Emirates Airlines – this involved a 14-hour flight from Dubai to Seattle, the first time I have flown so long and among the longest commercial flights one can take. This was my first time on Emirates as well, and I was subject to another surprise here. My experience is that most journeys westward with a changeover in the Gulf area involve a jam-packed flight from India to the Gulf, usually in the company of beedi-smoking labourers, and a near empty flight from the Gulf onwards in which one can spread out. Here, it was the opposite! I got three seats to myself on Delhi-Dubai and a window seat next to the emergency door (and therefore nothing in front) with an empty middle seat on Dubai-Delhi. Dubai-Seattle was full, but I had the company of my father and brother and we were well looked after and plied with copious quantities of beer and wine while I watched educative films such as ‘Cockneys versus Zombies’ and ‘The Quartet’. Seattle-Dubai was done alone in a jam-packed but pleasant flight, and I managed to see ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ (not a patch on the book) and ‘Argo’ (quite good) and get some sleep. I also discovered that flights touching the US have an additional safety instruction – passengers are told not to congregate in the common spaces, such as outside the toilets – never heard that one before!

Driving in the US: I asked many regular visitors to the US a) whether I would need an international driving license to drive and b) how difficult was it to drive there, given that I was used to doing so in Delhi. I got differing advice on the first, and this was only cleared up once I checked the rules for Washington State (where I was visiting) on the Internet where it specified that, as a short-term visitor, my normal (Indian) driving license was valid. This was confirmed when I actually went to hire a car from Hertz and had to display my license to get the car and insurance – there were no difficulties. On the second, everyone said it is easy to switch to driving on the other side of the road and to do things one doesn’t do in India like observe rules and lane discipline. This wasn’t quite the case! I did a fair amount of driving, including on larger inter-states (such as the I-5 connecting Mexico with Canada along the Pacific coast), smaller highways (such as the 101 that circumnavigates the Olympic Peninsula), inner city roads (in Seattle) and small town roads (going through Port Angeles and Aberdeen comes to mind here), and don’t remember a moment wherein I did not have to concentrate fully. It helped that the car we hired had a ‘Neverlost’, a GPS system with nearly idiot-proof instructions on directions, including options such as ‘no-tolls’ (avoid all routes involving toll taxes), ‘no-freeways’ (use smaller roads only) and ‘nearest-Burger-King’.

The author inside the Washington National Park near Anacortes

One would have noticed that car advertisements on TV always have the featured vehicle rolling along empty but perfect roads amidst idyllic scenery – far removed from the realities of driving. In the US, driving was quite close to these advertisements – great roads, not too much traffic, and beautiful scenery (Washington has ocean, coastline, mountains, islands, rivers, lakes, forests, and an abundance of spectacular sights). Good road manners was evident everywhere; people made space when a car enter their lanes, kept correct distances on the road and at traffic lights, and acknowledged and waved hands in apology for mistakes. The main difficulties I had were figuring out the correct speed to drive at (on average, traffic moved at 9 miles per hour above notified limits on highways, and limits were not overtly written in many urban areas), keeping to the centre of the lane (being used to a view of the road from the right of a car, I was unconsciously veering right), and getting used to overtaking and being overtaken on both sides (which is fine in the US but illegal on the wrong side anywhere else). On the whole, driving in the US was a pleasure, and I rediscovered my long-lost liking for it here.

Mt. St. Helen's, a volcanic mountain that last erupted in 1980

Public Behaviour: We had many minor interactions with strangers during the visit, and the high standards of public behaviour in the US stood out. Outside of the inner cities and the crowds, it was done to greet people warmly when you passed them and to speak to others softly, politely and correctly. This was in contrast to written impressions typifying Americans as loud and boorish, and to England, where politeness standards are high but it is somewhat fashionable to intersperse one’s conversations with pejoratives. Some say that this overt politeness is superficial and used mostly by people whose job requires it, such as waiters and shop assistants, but we found that it cut across and that it was often a pleasure to get into conversations with the people around us. The youngish couple seated next to our group on a sailing trip around the Puget Sound turned out to be West Pointers with tours of Iraq behind them, and the guy driving a Corvette in the Washington National Park was happy to take a photograph with me sitting in its driver’s seat so that I could show off to my wife back home. One also saw cleanliness in public places, without any signature warning against littering, and unobtrusive but high quality maintenance of public infrastructure. Were there beggars? A few – mostly white males, and mostly hanging out at traffic lights with signs making their case for alms (pathetic stuff like ‘Single Dad needs support to look after his two young children’). Indian beggars are far more evolved! I pondered over issues such as the honesty elasticity of begging incomes or, to put it minus the economic jargon, the extent to which honesty in these situations, and therefore signs like ‘addict needs money for his habit’ or ‘broke bum needs cash for booze and prostitutes’, would loosen purses.

Native American Reservations: We passed through and spent time in Native American reservations, and stayed two nights in the Quiluete Indian Reservation on the Olympic Peninsula. Some differences between Indian reservations and other areas stood out. The first was that it was obvious that Native Americans had problems with booze and drugs – the reservation areas had overt signs warning against the use of narcotics, the availability of booze in shops and restaurants was limited, and our instinct in the reservations was to be back in our hotel rooms before dark (which was at about 2200 hours, so it’s not that we missed much). The second was that some large businesses appeared to be community owned and run, with profits being plied back into the community, businesses such as the (excellent) resort we stayed in and restaurant we ate in on the Quiluete Reservation and the multitudes of casinos we saw that seemed to be a synonym for Indian Reservation, businesses that would have been in the private sector in other parts of the country (except casinos, which are allowed only on reservations in most parts of the US – a result of decentralization of law-making to local Native American councils). This left me wondering if there is something worth emulating in India in the not-particularly-successful UN-promoted programme to set up community-owned productive assets. And the third was that the proportion of slim women observable on the streets was low, even by American standards.

These two young Quiluete ladies, Kimberley and Samantha (middle), are mother and daughter. Samantha was our server at the River's Edge Restaurant at La Push. The author is about to tuck in to a Blueberry Pie & Ice Cream dessert.

Shopping: Conventional wisdom goes that one should not shop in a first world country – exchange rates make everything ridiculously expensive, and most things are available here in India anyway (gone are the days when one had to go abroad for nappy liners). The US turned out to be an exception – good quality clothes are cheap (and made in India, China and Bangladesh), especially if one visits the out-of-town outlet malls and warehouses, the choice is humungous, and the rights of customers are respected. Similarly with food, booze, cars and shoes. As somebody who abhors shopping, I must admit that our purchasing expeditions were pretty good fun. The main disappointment was in toys – the famed Toys R Us was downright boring.

Attitudes: It was obvious that Americans are very proud to be Americans; this showed in every conversation everywhere, and in the belief on their faces every time the Star Spangled Banner was sung. The American identity is expected to subsume all other identities in this essentially immigrant nation in what people refer to as a ‘melting pot’, in sharp contrast to ‘salad bowl’ Canada, also an immigrant nation where it is acceptable and even expected that one could retain other identities while staying together. This was most obvious in the difference between 4^th of July (I celebrated at ‘The Gasworks’ in Seattle) and Canada Day celebrations (I was in Ottawa on the day in 2006). While joy, pride and a sense of occasion were common to both, most revellers in Ottawa draped themselves in two flags – the Maple Leaf, and the flag of their country of origin. In Seattle, there was only one flag visible.

Fourth of July at The Gasworks in Seattle

Most Americans are inward looking – to them, the world is a chaotic place that they want nothing to do with. Few travel out of the country, mostly to Mexico and Canada. And they share a distrust of anyone telling them what to do, such as government, and extreme distrust of foreigners telling them what to do (such as multilateral and global institutions). Even a remote corner such as the Olympic Peninsula had signs denouncing the UN (there is concern in the Quinault Reservation that a possible UNESCO heritage site will affect logging, hunting and fishing). And herein lies an interesting paradox – while no global institution can survive without the US on board, Americans themselves have no time for such institutions and see no reason to be subject to their laws and party to their agreements. There is a logic to this – it is undemocratic to ratify laws that have not been made or subjected to scrutiny by a nation’s own representative institutions, and therefore easier done by those who do not have such institutions (such as dictatorships) and those that do not take laws too seriously and have little intention of making the hard choices involved in implementing them (such as, I say with shame, India).

To Conclude: I did many things in what turned out to be a packed schedule, and have missed describing several that I would have liked to; my first Major League Soccer game (Seattle Sounders vs. DC United in a full stadium), and my visits to the University of Washington (what a library), Microsoft (what variety in their food court) and Boeing (watched a Dreamliner being born). The US made a great first impression on me, and I look forward to visiting again.