First impressions and the sanctuary debate

My first impressions of the United States of America were developed through Western Comics. As a young boy I knew it as a country full of gun-wielding cowboys. Later, when my history teacher said it is one of the super-powers (the other was Soviet Union), I wondered how cowboys could do that. Yet later, most of what I knew about this country would come from television or other media. However, my old image lingers on as I experience a country that long forsook the wagon trains.

Ever since my nomination for a Fulbright award, I thought about ways to deal with the new situations, people and culture here. At the Gateway Orientation in New York, a speaker talked about reverse cultural shock. He said it’s not cultural shock that affects us most in an alien land, but what is more vexing is the reversecultural shock, a phenomenon of adjustment difficulty in home country after having lived here – or any foreign land.

After the NY orientation was over, I was going to my destination university. This event got me to know something odd about airplanes. After waiting for nearly an hour inside the airplane, we finally got the signal to prepare for take off at the J.F.Kennedy airport. As our aircraft slowly took the curves toward the runway, I saw more than 30 airplanes lined up in front of us – all waiting to fly. That meant another one hour wait before we hit the sky.

When I reached St. Paul, Minneapolis, to board my last flight, I found I had less than 10 minutes to get to the concourse where my plane was waiting. There was no way I could get there, not even on a sky-train. I frantically ran over the rolling floors, now cursing the legendary delays of the JFK airport. People run that fast only when chased by a raging bull. But when I got there, the boarding door was already closed. Even the attendants were gone. I had no idea what to do now. I waited at another counter for someone to show up. Shortly, a lady came in. I explained why I was late. I requested her to let me in as the plane was still there. But instead, she told me about the rules and wished me “Good Day!” handing my new ticket for the next flight along with a $10 complimentary lunch
coupon. And then, she went away.

I was now looking at my missed flight through the glass pane, waiting for it to go. But the aircraft didn’t move. Even after half an hour the plane didn’t go. I didn’t know what the problem was, but I thought, may be, just may be, I still had a chance. Luckily, the same lady came and told me I could check in if I wished.

“Definitely,” I said.

“But what’s the problem with the plane?” I asked.

“Oh, nothing. It has a flat tire,” she said it so casually as if she was talking of a hole in a bicycle tire.

This was an amusing discovery after coming to the US.

I arrived here in August 2007 to join a graduate program in journalism and mass communication. The school is surely the owner’s pride with latest state-of-theart technology. The TV or the radio studios of the school are much better than average commercial studios. As a student here, I take opportunities to let people know about Nepal. Not everyone knows where or what Nepal is, but they’ve heard about Mt. Everest and Lord Buddha. That’s where I usually
start at. People seem to show a great deal of interest about the culture. Whenever I talk about the Hindu festivals, it’s a spice. In certain occasions, I talk about how I want to generate resources for institutions in Nepal that teach mass media and also discuss scopes of development.

There are several interesting features of the society here. The most obvious is the respect for laws. There’s so much to appreciate when the road traffic comes to a complete halt as the easily recognizable yellow school bus is taking or dropping off the kids. Or, a salesperson will not sell alcohol if she suspects you are not 21. I was told a story about a child who dialed 911 because her parents were quarreling for too long in the house!

But what fascinated me most was the willingness of a church to allow the Nepali community celebrate Tihar in the church itself. For me, this gesture epitomizes the intermix of faith and secularism of this nation. I want to tell the presidential candidates for 2009 to stop debating that USA is actually becoming a sanctuary. It already is. Isn’t the much sought after peace a by-product of tolerance? Let’s talk of better ideals instead.

Originally published by USEF (the Fulbright Commission) Nepal.