H4 saga: Part 2a: What you say?

"How can you say Amaerikka is boring??? Your appa and I watched that movie "Amaerikka Amaerikka" only last week. So many cars, such tall buildings, all those fair girls with yellow hair you should be so happy to be there..." amma's gyan

"Just try to adjust it will become ok after a few days" appa's logic

"All you young girls have got one word, "bore" everything is 'bore". We never complained about anything. Have a baby then you won't be bored anymore. When I was your age I had 4 kids and..." ajji's rubbish

"How I can make them understand? Compare maybe?" thinks Rani and does just that.

1) Meeting friends:

India- Call them up, fix up a time & venue and meet up.

US- If you are lucky you might have friends here. If you do, then you must be doubly lucky to have them living in your state. If you want to meet them, you MUST know how to drive. There are no autos or buses that ferry you. Or you can wait for your husband to take you (which means you cannot bitch about him- what's the use?)

2) Grocery shopping:

I- Walk to the market or wait for the vegetable vendor to make his morning rounds.

U- If you are lucky you might have a grocery store within walking distance. If not, you have to wait for your husband to come home and take you because you cannot drive.

3) Learning to drive:

I- Go get into a school do the lessons, take driving lessons, then the road test.

U- If you are lucky and have a social security number (SSN) and the people at the DMV office don't make your life a living hell, then you can take the learners' permit test, then go through the alcohol and drug classes, 101 tests, learn that wretched parallel parking and finally pass the road test.

4) Calling home:

I- Pick up the phone and dial.

U- First google the time in India. If you feel your relatives are not in zombie state call them.

5) Studying:

I- Put in an application for a course, pay the fees and go do the course.

U- Clear GRE and TOEFL write a mind blowing SOP, apply to 10 schools hoping to get into 1 of them. If you are lucky you will get in. Next pray that they give you aid, if not a complete aid at least in-state tuition.

6) Weddings, funerals, baby shower, baby-being-put-in-a-cradle ceremony, naming ceremony, thread ceremony, birthdays, Ganesh chathurthi, Diwali, Holi and all other festivals and poojas:

I- family, fun and food.

U- If you are lucky you might get some desi friends to celebrate birthdays and festivals with you. For the other events that happen exclusively in India like weddings and funerals, you can either pay 1200$ and fly there or sit whining/crying here.

"Hello A? Remember, last week you were telling me how our honeymoon was so short and that we should go some place exotic for a 2nd honeymoon?"

"Oh yes, dahling. Plan something I will look at it when I get back from work."

Google: Cheap tickets to India.

Note:

I had no intention of doing this post. But a few people(who read my previous post) felt that homemakers in India are sailing in the same boat as people with H4 visa, I don't think so. Then J read this post and felt I was not the right person to make a comparison because,

a) I am biased, this is true I hate H4 visa.

b) I have never been a homemaker. This is true as well, I was working full time in India and I stayed at home for just 4 months in the US before I started grad school.

So dear readers, what you say?