Saturday, June 28, 2008

Talking in the corridor

I still remember during our School and college days whenever a guy used to talk to one of the beautiful girls in the campus corridor we used to envy him. There was a mad rush when we used to do that. Talking anything would be a great sense of achievement. There used to be constant grin on the face of the person who was in conversation when someone looks at them. He would feel happy to see the jealous eyes looking at him with lots of frustration. He would seek acknowledgement from each and every individual walking past them. Those were the days when we were young and talking to girls was something we felt great about. Well I graduated from all sorts of education on the December of 2004 when I completed my masters. I have been in US for almost 6 years now and those memories are still fresh in my mind.

Well I started working in 2005 with an IT company and the sight which amazes me with us Indians is when we talk to an American in the corridor at the workspace the behavior is similar to what I had mentioned earlier. The sight of an Indian talking in the corridor with his American colleagues is something which I love watching. Even though it’s not the same thing but the sight of it reminds me of the college days. The fact that the Indians feel so great about talking to an American in America is something I cannot understand. When I came to US in 2003 I always knew that I would have to interact with lots of Americans and over the last six years I never thought it was something great.

It’s like an American coming to India and feeling proud about talking to an Indian. It’s nothing great about talking to the local people when you visit a country. Whenever I see one of us talking to an American in the corridor I see a wide grin on his face and he keeps looking at every passing Indian to make sure that they notice him in conversation. Why do we seek such acknowledgement? We work with Americans and talking to them shouldn’t be a big deal, isn’t it? I remember a guy who studied with me during my masters here who used to tell me that he was happy that there were no Indians around his apartments. He was happy inviting Americans to the Indian functions and his wife also loved the same. At that time I used to think what the hell is wrong with this guy? Why doesn’t he want to be friends with Indians? Well I never got the answer to the same.

The problem is that for some Indians coming to US becomes an overwhelming experience that they don’t know how to deal with the same. Well for me I do talk to Americans and I feel that it’s just something which we do as a default as we are in their home. Well the life goes on as even today a happy Indian friend of mine was grinning widely at me while talking to an American in the corridor. Years go by but some things don’t change.

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