Dear Roland, I had a good laugh when I read your excerpt. So many of the things were so true of our first years in America, ten years ago, especially not having a car and having to cart things from the supermarket in minus zero temperatures. Our hands would freeze and lock, and our teeth would stiffen so we couldn't even scream. My husband would offer to carry some of my bags and I would ask him to save himself and go ahead without me, because I was so sure I was going to die.
As you know, we were luckier than most because we were not immigrants, just what India and Consulates around the world call, intra-company transferees. In those first few years, before America and India figured out what to do with us and how to bracket us, we ended up paying taxes in both America and India. Indeed the world was changing so fast, the laws of both countries had still not caught up. In the end, it was the corporate world that decided how the issue would be resolved. Who says corporations don't make the rules. When I was allowed to look for a job - as America had initially decided not to allow dependent wives to work - I sent my resume on high-quality paper fully expecting the phone to be ringing off the hook. Nobody called. I finally got a call from a Spanish company wanting to know if I could handle their Spanish employees. That Portuguese surname had come in handy at last. Pity I couldn't speak Portuguese or Spanish. Eventually, I landed a job as an admin assistant (that too just temporary as it was a pregnancy replacement) in a bank. A young girl insisted on teaching me how to send faxes. I, who had two degrees, two diplomas and had been HR Officer, now had to swallow my pride and learn to send faxes and make coffee from someone who was 10 years younger than me and called me "honey". Remember that god-awful job of mine from which I would send depressing emails to you and everyone I knew - a real low point. But I do want to say, it is not all that depressing. The experience of my younger brother and his wife, both of who have pretty solid degrees from India, in the science field have had no problems finding jobs in America - even though they arrived in the worst depression ever - and are just sailing through. And even those of us who enter the administrative field, eventually do manage to break through. In the West, initiative and drive goes a long way in getting ahead. Best, selma
