My name is Satish Walia.
INTERVIEWED BY Anjum Walia

"I can’t explain how I felt when I picked up my son, it was the best experience of my life, holding my son in my own hands."


DEPARTED FROM
New Delhi, India

ARRIVED IN
San Francisco, California

YEAR
1992

AGE
34

COLLECTED BY
SATISH WALIA'S FIRST DAY

TRANSCRIPT

I came from India in August of 1992 to San Francisco. I took a flight from New Delhi, stopped over in Tokyo, and landed in San Francisco. It was a tiresome flight. When I came here, my relatives came to pick me up. When we were going home, we stopped at Round Table Pizza. I had never tasted pizza in my life, at the time there was no pizza in India. I had heard about it, but had never seen or tasted it before. Being hungry, it was a pretty good experience. When we reached home, my brother-in-law opened the garage door with a remote control. My nephew teased me that that the garage door knew they were coming so it opened to them. I got my first job after two months, and then got my documentation. I did the night shift back in Oakland, and that was a one-of-a-kind experience. They called the night shift graveyard. It was pretty scary to work in Oakland at night. I did not know where Apple or IBM or Sun Microsystems is, so it took me about two months to find my job in a technical field in electronics. I moved to Sunnyvale and landed my first job in my current profession. From there no going back. I came knowing that this country is full of opportunities, as long as you work with full dedication, commitment, and to achieve something you have to lose something. I saw my son only four years after he was born. I can’t explain how I felt when I picked up my son, it was the best experience of my life, holding my son in my own hands. I achieved everything I wanted, but I cannot forget that one moment.


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