It was 11:05 pm in Los Angeles and I had just finished watching the Miss Universe crown go to Miss Puerto Rico in a local city hall (Shrine Audi). She beat Miss Japan who was speaking about women’s rights in four languages (French, Spanish, English and Japanese) and her choice of national costume was as a Samurai warrior –like that you see in video games sold by Sony, Nintendo, Sega, etc. Maybe, beauty won and brains lost – perhaps that’s why they have the question-answer section after the contestants have been chucked out based on how they look and body language. Surprisingly, all the judges were Americans. My friend and host Kamal had commented that it was the first Miss Universe contestÆs final he was watching since Sushmita Sen won the crown for India in 1994. That means he was watching the program with his family for the first time after getting married. Well, we had just returned from the housewarming ceremony of a Sikh friend of Kamal’s and I must say it was the most moving experience I have had so far in the USA. They had a proper Sankirtan –with all in proper Sikh attire –with even women carrying daggers; all had to have their heads covered at all times till the hymn singing was over. The soulful music reminded me that it was nearly 3 years since I had attended such a gathering –the last one being with my father at an allnight one organized by Valmiki community (so-called low caste) in Oct 2003 ûjust before I went to Allahabad to take the GRE and TOEFL exams . The music and the environment gripped me and I could not get up from my seat and sat ôall earsö charging up my emotional batteries. It did not quite bring tears to my eyes (as it did when I went to a Himalayan shrine of Sikhs û HemKund Sahib û my first great spiritual experience) but did remind me that God is near ûamong friendsûthough family may be far (incidently, my brother called up a couple of days back at 5 am [5pm IST] to tell me that he had gotten engaged through mutual friends of the two families and was to be married on Nov 2nd of this year û I cannot be there ûunless my US work visa application is rejected ûso much for globalization). It made me confident enough to disregard the results of the visa application ûand accept what God grants me.
It was funny that in two days we had two mix-ups –due to communication gap. Yesterday also we had all dressed up – me in my formal clothes, Kamal and his wife in traditional Indian clothes – kurta-payjama and sari respectively—to go the Sikh friend’s party. He did not take the venue address with him and we ended up guessing whether the Indian looking house (with statues of Ganesh and Krishna in the window) with lots of slippers (flip-flops) outside was the party venue. It turned out to be the house of another friend but full of little children and their mothers who gather in different venues to practice for the August15 û Indian Independence Day celebrations. The little girls practiced their Rajasthani ôGhoomarö song û and the Indian mother-cum-teacher was in total contrast to our clothes ûdressed in shorts. No doubt they were as surprised as we û dumb-struck perhaps.
Prior to the house warming ceremony was another goof up which resulted in my arriving at the very same place where I had landed in the USA for the first time on Sep 4, 2004. Due to some communication gap we reached Los Angeles Airport (LAX) waiting to pick up a family member though that group was supposed to land at Santa Ana airport 30 minutes away –as we learned later. It was an experience in itself –quite a contrast to the hazy feeling I had after the 22 hour flight from India then in 2004 –and arriving in a strange new place after battling fears of rejection by immigration officials at the ôPort of Entryö. I felt I had grown so much and that increased my confidence.
We had arrived at LAX from a birthday party of a child and I got to talk to some guys who all worked in an NRI run business –and how they had to face no interview 6 years ago for getting their H-1Bs in India-but had to stand in long, long lines since 4am to submit their documents at the US consulate counters – now it is online reservation for the visa interview date –since September 11, 2001 bombings of NYC. It seems that hiring a clown (a Mickey Mouse this time) is a must for a birthday party and that it must be in the neighborhood park where all (men) come dressed in knee length shorts (khakhis).
Early morning today I too was in shorts and running along- with with my friend Kamal and his marathon training group’s (Lopers) first day of running practice on the road -the same route where I had run on a similar Sunday on September 5th, 2004 – my first morning in the USA –then I had run 5.5 miles in trousers and sandals –compared to Kamal’s 8 miles. Later that year he completed his first marathon and his most recent one was at Las Vegas in December 2005 . Today we did two miles.
Next Sunday I plan to spend the entire day at Santa Monica’s Venice Beach near Hollywood –while participating in ISKCON’s chariot pulling and free food festival
Any observations?
by UMESH SHARMA
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