Moving to America – A new identity

Leaving a life in India to find a new one across the globe, in St. Louis, means stepping far outside my comfort zone.  I suppose most people approach change with a mixture of anticipation and apprehension, as do I. Some days the anticipation is high and on others the apprehension hangs like a cloud. Always there is a heightened consciousness, a constant awareness of looking strange and feeling strange. I meet several Asian colleagues in various  stages of ‘settling in’ and try to look intelligent as they speak about immigration interviews and social security numbers, about driving tests and the interstate versus the freeway, about car rentals and home purchases, above all about the do-it-yourself American culture …

The early days fly by in a blur of new experiences. I learn to drive on the right (or wrong) side of the road in a rented car with no gears, at never before speeds. I assume every police car wants to book me for some unknown transgression or breaking one of the numerous traffic rules I’ve never encountered before. In my temporary non-serviced apartment, I figure out the mysteries of the coin-dispenser to do my laundry, the garage door that opens magically and the kitchen that must be stocked with food from heaven knows where. I know my world is truly upside down when I am advised that, since the heating is centrally controlled, it is best to switch on the AC and open the windows to neutralize the heat of the radiators that are going full blast!

 

Soon I will discover that I am nothing without a Social Security Number and a US Driving License, that I simply don’t exist. (If I had to do it over, I’d rate these ahead of housing or transport or money!) These critical documents are vital to ensure I am neatly labeled, tagged and slotted into the system, with my identity in place. Perhaps this is how it is in the witness protection program, where they build you from nothing and then you begin to exist…