American Odyssey 2008: I Came I saw and I am still seeing.

Well its time for the second edition of my experiences in the US. Before I continue, a general disclaimer. The objective of this log is not to make fun of any particular kind of people. It’s just my impressions of what I am seeing here. To be honest I belong to an elite class in the country of my origin. Despite all my upper class background, nothing prepared me for this.
Our first topic of discussion would be the Jersey traffic. When I arrived in the US, a lot of my friends who live here, said Jersey drivers are the worst kind. One actually commented that driving in New Jersey was like driving in New Delhi. The funny part is that after graduating from driving from Delhi roads, I had managed to drive without an incident on Chennai roads. My friend probably was not aware that driving in Chennai was nothing like driving in Delhi, were you choice of lane would depend on which area you were passing by. So the efficient speed limit of Jersey roads is 55 mph, on county roads it is 25-45 mph. BY an average driver in NJ drives at 65-75 mph. So my first impression was that 55 mph was for the last lane on the extreme right and as you went to the left the speed limit increased by 5 mph. But that was not the case. The speed limit was fixed at 55 and every driver was going at least 10 miles over limits. So how does one evade the cops like this?
Let me introduce you to the concept of batch driving. All drivers drive in batches. That is there will be a batch of 30-40 cars going anywhere between 70-75 mph and then a gap where there will be no cars on the road and then again followed by a batch of cars at 70-75 mph. this is quite similar to the convoy system used in the Chambals during the days of Phoolan Devi, only in this case the cars are trying to escape from the cops not dacoits. If you manage to get separated from your batch, ideally slow down your car to 55 mph and wait for the next batch to catch up. Its simple and it works.

If its your bad day and you are spotted by a cop speeding, they will come blazing at you with sirens at 140-150 mph and after that the process is simple, you take your car to the right side of the road and wait for the cop to give you a ticket. Please don’t even think of running away, it makes it worse. BY the way most drivers in NJ are shit scared of cops. Even when a cop is returning home from duty and his/her car comes into your vicinity, then the mayhem starts. You can guys getting nervous and actually driving below speed limit. The most tensed of the lot is the man driving at the front of his batch.
Overall driving is easy in US. All cars have automatic gear transmission. All you have to do is drive on the wrong side of the road.
The second challenge I faced was asking for directions. This is a country where nobody seems to know the way. So one of my first investments was a GPS- Global Positioning System. Very effective in finding the way,considering there is no one on the road to tell you the way anyways. The option you have is to enter the petrol pump and ask for directions. Talking of petrol pumps, all of them are manned by Indians, Bangladeshis or Pakistanis. You cant make out the difference on who is who unless you ask them their country of origin. Some of them have been here for a while and others not so. You can make out by their accent. The other funny thing I saw was that all waiters and manual labourers in restaurants and grocery stores were Spanish—even in places like Saravana Bhavan. Looks like most Indians come to US to either work in a petrol pump or IT companies.

Talking of restaurants brings me to the most famous landmark in NJ f you are an Indian- Oak Tree Road. This road runs across 2 counties- Edison and Iselin- and is a mecca for Indian activities. From a theatre showing hindi movies, to restaurants to designer boutiques and finally places like Apna Bazaar which contain all Indian groceries. A week in the life of an Indian expat is not complete without a trip to the mecca. Apna Bazaar is a unique shop in itself, its more Indian in spirit than any place I have been to in the past. As I move from isle to isle, I can hear pockets of conversation—tamil, telugu, gujarati, bengali, kannada, Punjabi and Marathi- Name it and you can hear it here. I am very grateful to these Indians who have come here before me, for they have established all these places for people like me who would be lost without them.
This brings me to my next topic- setting up a house. We did most of our shopping at Wal-Mart. And its an institution to itself, a testament of modern American business. I have been to Big Bazaar and Saravana Stores in India, but none of those can be compared to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart pretty much stocks up everything—medicines, cosmetics, hardware, toys, apparel, household items (where we spent most of our time). The convenience and the ease of shopping was amazing. The stuff there was actually very cheap but of respectable quality, unlike India where cheap implies suspect quality. Let me give you an example- if you look at lamps. They had at least 50 different varieties form price points of $9 - $50. The best part is if you buy some thing and don’t like it you can exchange it within 90 days. You don’t need to give a reason why you are returning it. Just get your old bill or retain the price tag of the item and bingo, you will be replaced with a new item.
Almost all the stuff was made n China. I am pretty sure some Indian firm would be running the IT systems of Wal Mart though I am not sure which one. We saw people raking up huge bills there, as if they had just come out of Houston, having lost everything in the hurricane there. We also contributed our share by spending almost $1000 there.
The Americans love to spend on their credit cards. I have known this for a while but you should actually see how easy how easy they feel to spend on the card. Like one of my Indian friends says “ If you pay by cash you can feel the pinch in your heart. Plastic doesn’t pinch that much.” One of the biggest businesses here is how to convert bad debt into good credit rating. I am not sure about the ways, but their method does not consolidate debt by converts it into credit.
But what is interesting is that “its not their fault”- I don’t say it, but TV shows and radio bulletins do. “ We know its not your fault”.Hey but wait a minute, how can buying stuff on your credit card in a conscious state of mind NOT be your fault? So that’s the bottom line of the American public as is true with the government—It’s never their fault. Now they are launching a high level investigation to find out who is responsible for their financial state. I am sure the answer will be found some where closer to the Middle East.
The other day I was hearing a show on radio and guess what the hot topic was- it was not who would win the presidential election or which of the banks would continue to stand upright, but if Clay Aiken was Gay. For the uninformed, Clay is this guy who won the runners up spot at American Idol some time ago and he has a son. In a country with already so many issues I was wondering who would care if he was gay or not. But to my surprise there were callers on the show, including some hysterical young women who were upset that this thought had squashed their chances with Clay Aiken. I said “Wow”, I can see every one getting worried about the US financial status, except those in the US.
By the way the weather is changing and I can see birds migrating birds migrating every day, perhaps towards Florida , leaving me and my new host, the Americans to face the cold.