For some the immigration process is long and difficult with many obstacles to overcome and for some it can be fairly easy. Regardless of difficulty, adapting to another culture can be uncomfortable and at times confusing. The fact that some features of one culture may be very difficult for people form another culture to comprehend plays a major role in the immigration process. For my interviewee, who happens to be a senior citizen and immigrant, the immigration process was a somewhat easy one mainly because of his laidback attitude towards migrating to the United States. The interviewee who will be referred to as John Doe is an immigrant from India who is 67 years old. John now lives in the United States and from a life of having almost nothing, has what he states as “everything [he] could ever want.” Born into a remote mountain village in India, John’s life was mainly based around harvesting crops, tending to animals, and other various farm related tasks. His village was extremely poor and their goal was mainly to survive. Being in a remote village, school was tremendously far away and for a little child to walk that far on their own was not as safe as it would be in the U.S. Fear of lions, monkeys, and other animal attacks was the main source of danger and there was no form of safe transportation to take him to school and back. Occasionally he would take the almost five mile walk to the school but would quickly be discouraged when looking at the other students. Most students would come from their homes in the city with nice clothes, papers, pencils, and book bags while he had only the clothes on his back. A pair of boxer shorts and a torn shirt is all he could wear and seeing other kids with all they had was a disheartening sight so he rarely went. Having no education, inability to write, inability to read, and only being able to speak Hindi, his options in life were slim. At home he would get very little to eat, a couple of pieces of bread and salt but he was accepting of his life not knowing any better. At the age of 12 his parents sent him to the city to begin work. Being so young he cried and begged his parents to let him stay but eventually he began work in the city. This included so-called blue-collar work in which he was basically a butler for a wealthy house. Cooking, cleaning, dishwashing, and other tasks were his main duties. At the age of 16 he was brought back to the village where he was forced to marry his wife at a young age. Related to the U.S and their marriage system this was far different. Arranged marriage was normal and with them love was not the main force to guide a marriage but it was mainly based on strategic family relations. Children had no say if whom they would marry or what age they would marry. Even though he was married to someone in the village he would constantly go back to city to work as a dishwasher. Now at this age many other teenagers were deciding which college to go to or which career path they were going to take but for John his mind was empty of any thoughts. No ambitions, no goals in life, no expectations for the future, no path laid out that he was going to take, and no outlook for the future. He was happy with his 500 rupees a year which equates to about 15 dollars U.S. and if he did not migrate to the U.S. would be doing that the rest of his life. When asked why he had nothing planned out he replied that plans were for the educated, not for a dishwasher. He had no hopes, no desires, and no values during his “college age;” he just wanted to eat and survive. His decision to come to the U.S was a spur of the moment opportunity and he just accepted it. The family he had been working under for more than ten years as a dishwasher/cleaner had asked him to come to America with them. Being uneducated he had no idea what America was mainly out of curiosity accepted the offer. His immigration process was fairly easy because when he went back to the village to tell his family, the man he worked for took care of all the paperwork, plane tickets, and other tasks. John told his family about going to America and like himself almost all the villagers did not know what America was. His parents said go and so he left behind his wife and at that time a daughter to go to America. The only concern he mentioned was his brother telling him there were only sandwiches in America, no Indian food. His immigration process had no motivation behind it, no goals for future, and no ideas of what he was going to do in America or even what America is. He just, as he stated, “followed blindly because [he] didn’t know any better.” So he took the plane to the U.S at the age of 35 and as soon as he landed he faced a sort of culture shock along with homesickness. He immediately felt some fear for being in such a new environment and culture with so many different ways of life. He questioned why he came, he missed his family, and he did not understand a single word of English. Even though he faced incommensurability, adapting to the life was not too difficult for him. Some features such as eating cows, the street systems, the public transportation systems, the different types of machinery, and mainly the language were extremely difficult for him to comprehend. Adapting to this culture would be hard if he did not have the advantage of coming with someone who was already accustomed to U.S tradition. Coming with his boss, John was given a huge advantage by immediately getting a stable job as a dishwasher at a restaurant and a place to live. He began work the second day he was in the U.S. and his life became very similar to his life in India. Mainly he worked all week and rarely did anything but work. He had no goals or ambitions so he worked and worked just for the sake of working and surviving. The only real task that was on his mind was sending money for his poor mother and father. When asked about his wife and daughter he said he did not think about them at all because “[his] brain was not working properly.” Life in the U.S was mainly difficult because he did not read or write in any language. He had no idea how to navigate streets, drive, use public transportation, where to buy clothes, where to buy food, and basically how to do anything in the U.S besides his job. He became surrounded by people who looked different, behaved differently, and were not Indian. Slowly he became somewhat able to understand English after watching countless hours of television and slowly he became used to other aspects of U.S life. He quickly decided that the U.S was a country that he was going to live in the rest of his life. He believed the people were nice, behaved civilized, the country was clean, and their was no social class in the U.S. Even though he mainly stayed indoor, he still wanted to live in the U.S for the rest of his life. At this time he had also finally got an aspiration for his life and that was to become a chef. As luck would have it, his boss would open up a new restaurant of her own and this was his path to becoming a chef. Now that his only goal so far in life was complete he discussed it with his boss who helped him hire a lawyer to get his green card so he could remain in the U.S legally. He traveled back to India to conduct an interview for his green card and get his wife and daughter to come back to him to the U.S. When they arrived back to the U.S; his life went on normally as it did in the past. He worked and worked for the sake of working and surviving. His life changed when he had another baby this time a son. For some reason he cherished sons more than daughters and changed his life for the son he always wanted. His values changed and he began thinking about others in his life rather than just himself. Now he believed he had to work harder and provide money for his children to grow. He began thinking about the education system in the United States and how he was going to send his children to school. His life began to take on a number of responsibilities. It was very difficult to figure about all these things because being uneducated he could not read or write. It became a game of asking whoever was available to read things to him and write things for him, which he could not do. Finding a person he could trust to do these things for him was a must if he wanted to provide the best life for his children. Working almost 12 hours a day left little time to going to adult school or any form of learning the English language. One of the most difficult tasks was figuring out how to get a driver’s license to get to and from work. Passing the drivers test required knowledge of the English language, which he did not have but eventually he was able to get a driver’s license by means I will not discuss. Even with all these new thoughts and ambitions in his head he still did not think about many things. Money was still not really something he worried about. He never cared for saving money or investing money in anything. He never believed he would be able to buy a house either so any money he earned he would spend it instead of saving it. As his family grew so did his responsibilities and more changed came about. Currently he works day and night just for his family. He rarely does anything for himself and his main focus is providing for his family.
Through his life he changed tremendously and like anyone he has regrets. From a child and adult who had no care in the world except for working, to a man with a car, house, children, and many responsibilities. He is truly an inspiration; coming from a life with almost nothing to everything he could want. Sticking by his decision to come to the U.S he feels his life is infinitely better. He has a nice wife, he is happy, has a care, home, smart kids, and overall likes America much better.
His experiences in life are ones I would not even be able to imagine. Being born in the U.S to a somewhat wealthy family, I have been through nothing compared to what he done in his life. I could not imagine cleaning people’s houses at the age of 12 or going to another place I have never heard of “just because.” His life as his “college age” and my life are completely different as well. While I was worrying about deciding which college to go to, John was working as a dishwasher and deciding whether or not to go to the U.S. Our goals in life were completely different as well. He had no goals and just worked while I have so many hopes of becoming rich, landing a good job, and being able to purchase a house. He basically was alone for most of his life just working random jobs and with no support from his family. I, on the other hand, am surrounded by people who support me and want to see me succeed in life. John’s life story has gave me a first hand account of how it is being an immigrant in the U.S and what it takes to adapt to the life. I realize how much of a crutch it is not knowing any English skills or how to read and write. He puts it into perspective and summarizes it as basically being blind. Not knowing any reading and writing in a predominantly English world is like being blind and not being able to understand any words you see. His story also made me realize how difficult it can be going to from one culture to another. It is amazing how our society takes so much for granted like our education system and how we dread going to school everyday to learn basic knowledge when there are countless out there that wish they could have these opportunities. We throw away pounds of food everything but fail to realize that others have almost nothing to eat. We throw away clothes with just a small hole in it when other children would love a shirt with just a small hole. John faced limited opportunities, far less than the opportunities that I have had in my life but still worked hard and lives a happy bountiful life even though he came from poverty.