Preface :
I started writing and quickly realized that 'he to yeragabALache kamach nohe'. Actually I have only a couple of points to share. And when I started writing them, I realize that it is n't much.
Also, writing in MaraThi would be very difficult for me. I am used to
English.
Looking Behind Over Shoulders :
The people who came here in droves around '69-70, came with a green card, but no money(max $600, that had to be returned in dollars within a year). There were very few Indians in the country. Only in New York City, New Jersey and California had a few. The people did not know anything about this country, because there was no TV, no internet, and hardly any means of knowledge about this country. So we tended to cling to each other and form friendships. MaharAshtrians, of course, were also rare. It so happened that the job situation was even worse than todays at that time. Not much
computer or any other industry to speak of. So many people took very low paid low level jobs just to stay alive. That taught us to respect all kinds of workers like fast food employees, waiters, janitors and all. Many, many engineers changed careers altogether. There are many chemical, mechanical even automobile engineers turned into insurance salesman, later, investment consultant, computer programmers (If nothing else, you could at least become a COBOL programmer). UNIX was not born until 1976 and was not
commercially viable until early eighties. There were no videos, camcorders.
Basically our communication with the motherland was greatly broken. We did not hear much of Amitabh bachchan, Gawaskar, BhindranwAle, Shole, Bobby, or any such happenings in India. So many of us adopted baseball, democrats, Archie Bunker, Reggie Jackson & Louisiana lightening Ron Guidri(Yankee home run king and Yankees pitcher of late '70s), barbecues, and all that. Yet we have permanently etched on our minds, the culture of India in '70s. When we heard Madhuri Dixit, a Maharashtrian actress in Hindi films, we were shocked! Personal example, if you please - In Nagpur, our college was on
the top of the hill. On the campus there were a total of 150 students - ALL MALE. The students in hostels joked that if they did not go into the town every day, they would forget what girls look like. In 1989, when I returned there, there were at least 150 girls at a glance! How times have changed.
When I came here 1970, my picture was published in the local newspaper. Today, at east one person in every middle class household has visited a foreign country, even if it is Singapur or such.
Today, things have changed, people come with jobs, money. They can keep in touch with their motherland constantly. They know about new movies, cricketeers, politicians in India, everything. They have many, many friends already here everywhere. They have no need to go out and make friends, if they don't want to. In '70s, all Maharashtrians knew each other, their families and children. Today, I don't even know if there is any
Maharashtriyan in my neighborhood, nor would he know of me, if he were there.
I can go on, but I a have very little time to bring together all my thoughts, some tell-tale incidents and so on. Life's changed a lot.
May you all always be happy healthy and successful.
Appendix :
We asked Zakki to specifically address 3 points Then and Now
1. Differences between environment : Back then there was very little computer industry and others were not that great either, especially in India. We also did not know the real America, like people in India have come to know today. So we thought, let's go to America and get rich and also, enhance our knowledge in whatever engineering degree we had, get professional satisfaction, etc. The common point of talk was to go to America, make about one or two lakhs Rs. in 3-4 years and come back and live happily ever after!
Money transfer was tight. Lot of black market. If you can trust somebody, and have the guts, you can give him dollars, and your family back home can get 50% more Rs. easily. The other options were to smuggle gold in the form of bangles and then sell it in India!
Getting job was very difficult. I worked as a sales person in a department store. They quickly found out that I was smarter than the high school drop outs and made me a manager, so that instead of $1.95, I got 2.50/hr. My job was to manage Mens', boys and socks and hosiery departments. My manager told me to observe closely all the people coming in and learn to guess their size quickly (Like 16-34 for shirt or 36-32 for pants etc. That way, I will know what sizes to order more and what less. Then one day, the manager lady in the women's bras & panties was sick and I was supposed to handle
that department! Well, I was told to observe closely for sizes! (Ah well, forget
it, it was fun then, now I am too old to get excited about that!)
2. Attitudes: Interesting. We learned what America is! it's patAL. I always say that coming to and living in America is a religious experience, Brahma satyam, jaganmithyA! "Yanche kASSahi khar nahi bagha." They will pay a lot of money to H1s today. Tomorrow, they may kick them out! As I wrote before, we were almost cut off from the motherland due to lack of communications, and we did not find too many Indians, especially Maharashtriyans, so lost a lot in culture. Now, everyone is enthusiastically arranging music programs, lectures, plays and just get togethers. The new people coming in, most of them with a job already in hand, young and so without responsibilities, had some quick money here and perhaps a lot more back in India. They don't find it necessary to support this and do not show up. They can afford to live lavishly. We, on the other hand, were very poor. We had to cut coupons, look for sales, do your own oil change, lawn mowing and all that. It has remained so with us as a habit.
The new people laugh at us. My visiting brother in law was wondering why I spent 2 days of looking around to buy a TV for a mere $600.00! He would have gone to the first store and just bought it. I thought that the difference between $800 and $600 is substantial, he did not! We WERE very eager to make friends and keep contacts with new comer Indians, but the newcomers are not, because there are so many Indians here, they probably already have their friends. Personally, I joined Hitguj so I can stay in touch with general public back home and I am enjoying it.
3. Basic Intention behind Migration : Basic motive for rush was after a long time, American visA had opened up. A lot of things were happening in America like going to moon, computers and all that was totally not there in India. America promised wealth, professional challenges, easy living. In my time, middle class people like me did not have phone, car, and no TV because it just was not there in India! Now a days, IndiA can also offer easy living, TV, phone, cars etc.
So I heard many people are not at all interested in coming to America.
We expected new people, especially MaharAshtriyans, would bring Marathi culture, Marathi movies etc. They all seem to be interested in English, and Hindi, even in India. MaraThi people proudly say that their children don't know any MaraThi. Here, we have private, no fee, free cookies type Marathi classes where people drive in from 30 miles to let their kids learn Marathi, so they can appreciate a really very very rich culture that we enjoyed so much 30 years ago!
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