DEPARTED FROM
New Delhi, India
ARRIVED IN
Queens, New York City, New York
YEAR
1996
AGE
28
TRANSCRIPT
TRANSCRIBED BY Jasmine Singh (x 4)
What do you remember from your first few days in the United States when you arrived?
I never came straight from India. I had a long way to come. I went to Africa first, where my brother lives. And from there, I stayed with him for three months. Then I got the visa, tourist visa. On the way, my flight was delayed. It was really scary because this was my first time in a plane for long journey. And it was like, I was so scared because I was alone. I never traveled alone. I was a very shy, scared kind of person, and then I was like, somehow I reach.
Everyone was trying to contact me from India, from Africa, my brother, my mother, and my husband from New York. But no one was able to connect to me. And where I was, I forgot the city where I was, they were not able to speak English, and it was very hard for me. Then there was one lady who was working at the airport, and as she said she's going to help me to speak to someone. She gave me her phone and how to connect to India or New York, but then also I was not able to connect to anything. Then the flight was there. And I was like, “Oh, God, please, please I reach there.”
When I reached, I got down at JFK [sigh], then I breathed, and then I was like, I have to get out from the airport, now. I was so stressed and tensed, and I came out, and my husband was waiting for me outside. I took a deep breath, I was like, I have to reach home and sleep or eat something. I was with him in the car. I was looking left and right. Many things were different here at that time, but I was so tired, that I just wanted to go home and relax one, two days. That was my first day. Reaching here.
So when dad picked you up, you know, where did you go? You went straight home?
Yes, we went straight home because I was so tired. So in the evening, I got up because the timing, you know, is different everywhere. So we got up, we went to grocery store. Like I didn't feel any different because I always lived in a city life. My dad was Army officer, so that life was very modern over there. So it was not that different, but it was more clean here. The people who were born here or living here were very different than the Indian people. The culture, it was different. No doubt about that. And that was my first day.
Was there anything that you ate that was brand new to you that you hadn't had in India or before?
Chinese food.
Like take out?
Fried chicken, vegetable fried rice, and the chicken. That is the cheapest food, like, $5.00 and one can of soda. That time, we didn't have too much income. We used to go places where we could get cheap stuff, but it was good. It was nice. And we were living in a basement that time.
Is there any memory from that time that you're surprised that you still remember?
Oh, yes. When the winter came, our car was towed away. I don't know why. We got up in the morning and there was no car and we had to go and pick up the groceries. We used to walk in the snow, like one mile or something because we wanted to see like, cheap groceries everywhere so we don't have to spend so much money on the groceries. We used to walk everyday in the evening, in the snow, in jackets, and then my husband got sinus, he got very sick because of the winter. That is the memory, how we used to walk so much for the groceries holding bags and no car. Then my husband said that no, we need a car. So we bought a Fiat. I still remember it was small Fiat, for maybe $400. Yeah, that's one of the some memories.
Is there anything else that you'd like to share about your first days in the U.S.?
First Days? Yes. Because this was new country. I had no friends, no family members here. I was the only one. I had, except for my husband, had the support of no one. So it was very hard sitting alone in your room and, you know, basement is only one bedroom, one bathroom, one kitchen. Basement is a basement, and you're looking from that small window, thinking “Okay, now this is when he's going to be home.” Whole day watching TV, lonely, alone. Phones that time are not like now. You can call, WhatsApp, Instagram and everything. At that time, the calls were very expensive. If you want to talk to your family, it was like $5.00 for one minute. So we used to save the phone cards, so every week, once a week, “Hello. Hi, how are you?” That's it, to the family. So it was lonely in the beginning. Yeah. That’s it. Slowly, slowly it changed.
Thank you so much for talking to me.
It was nice talking to you. Thank you.
