Losing Nationality
“When are you going to settle in the United States?”. This question is asked to me by every relative and friend, every-time I talk to them and it intrigues me that why people just want to fly away from their motherland and get alienated in a foreign nation. This gave me this question to ask myself and every immigrant:
How does it feel to lose Nationality?
And, it’s not just this question, there are many other questions which are anchored to it, like “Was your motive of coming here to get settled?”, “If you eventually settle here, what would you call yourself: Indian American or just American?”, “What about this…?” and “What about that…?”. I ask these questions to myself every single day! Before coming to the United States everyone said to me that once I’m here, I would like this country so much that I won’t ever come back! Just like millions of other emigrants who stayed. And, it’s not just the story of United States and Indians, it’s the story of every foreign nation and every outlander.
It’s the story of every foreign nation and every outlander.
I was raised in a very small and kind-of renowned city in India with traditional and cultural values and none of my family members have gone abroad, no one even took a domestic flight! By the time I decided that I’ll do my Master’s degree from overseas, I was in my final year of Undergraduate studies and when I discussed this idea (a decision per se) with my parents, everyone was quite amazed how I arrived to this decision and the first reply I got was “Oh! And, then you’ll marry a foreigner lady and never come back, just like the million others…”. No one in my family was quite sure that universities would accept a candidate like me who did his undergrad from such a university about which no one know in the world. I didn’t even had a passport. Eventually, I managed to get their approval and I started. It took me 1.5 years to finalize everything from passport to documents and universities and to which country I’d apply to.
My whole process was secretive like the secret Bond mission, only a handful of people knew that I’m planning to go far flung because I did not wanted any interference.
I applied to 4 universities (2 of them were in top 50 of world ranking in Art & Design) and got accepted in 3 of them. It was the most difficult decision of my life to select one from three. I had to drop one out of three due to 1 year Master's degree accreditation issues in India but in the end, I made up my mind and chose ‘DePaul University’ in Chicago as my destination and Human-Computer Interaction as my Master’s degree. On the other side of coin, everyone who knew about my travelling plans was asking me bloat of questions for example “Are you gonna marry over there?”, “Are you planning to become non-vegetarian because vegetarian food is hard to find in foreign countries?”, “How many years would it take to be a permanent resident over there?” and such. My reply to the questions was: “I’ll still be vegetarian, doesn’t matter how hard it is to find vegetarian food. I’m not going to settle over there”. But my teachers, who coached me for the standardized test were not convinced and they still are, till date confident that I’m going to be ‘American’.
During my practice days of the IELTS standardized test, I met a lot of people who were also preparing for the same with me and the most fascinating yet annoying thing about them was that they were the “SHIT-TON” of people who didn’t even had a purpose and goal for overseas education. They were the people who didn’t even knew where they want to go, what they want to study, the only thing they knew was that they just want to go beyond the seas! And, the one and only thing they had in mind was that “I’ll go abroad, I’ll do 4 years of study, drive taxi or do anything along-side to earn something and after completing my studies I’ll do [such and such] make-shift to be a Permanent Resident of that nation.”. Also, while I was preparing for the test, one of the visiting Visa advisor told everyone that many countries have increased the standards and tightened the rules for incoming students because there are thousands of people going overseas everyday, so it’s going to be difficult. This was infuriating for me because I was preparing so hard for the test, I had a purpose; a goal in life and most importantly, I knew where I want to go and what I want to study. Rest of them were just herd of sheep, take them anywhere.
They were the “SHIT-TON” of people who didn’t even had a purpose and goal.
Due to my exact choices about everything from specific universities to course I want to study, no Visa advisor was agreeing to handle my case. After trying tens of advisors and losing a deadline, I took control in my hand. I did everything by myself. It was little-bit hard but rewarding. Finally, in March 2017, I landed in Chicago (Aargh, it was so cold), my friend picked me up, we completed all the formalities in the university, opened a new bank account, got a new SIM card, rested, had food, all that in just 1 day, after 28 hours of connecting flight! And, I still remember the line I said to my friend when I met him at the airport:
Either I’m going to die with the cold or I’m going to die with excitement!
It’s been 7 months since I’m here. I’ve met the same ideology of people here too. People who are ready to shred their original nationality and wear the new ’50 starred’ coat! These are the same people who don’t abide rules, who think that it is insulting for them to drive taxis or serve food to people and blame government that they are the reason that situations aren’t good in the country. And, yet here they are, following all the rules, keeping everything clean, driving taxis or serving food or cleaning washrooms and complaining nothing! It’s the magic of 50 stars! I don’t understand if this is what they wanted to do why can’t they contribute their service for their nation? Why do they think that government is that reason that places are not habitable? Why don’t they realize that it’s them who are not letting governments and officials do their jobs. Besides that, if the officials are not doing their jobs, they are part of us. Everyone has that same thinking that ‘everything will go as it’s been going since beginning’. They just want one pill for all of their problems just like foreign nations like America doesn’t have any problems, they want the same to happen without doing any efforts themselves. They don’t know that America or any other developed nation would not be it if the residents didn’t come forward and contribute to make their nation one of the greatest.
Alas, people still ask me the same question: “What are your plans to get settled?”. But now, I’ve got a counter-questions for them “What are your thoughts on losing your nationality?”, “Why do you want to stay here?”, “Don’t you love your motherland?”, “Do you prefer yourself to be called Indian or Indian-American or just American?” and to all, my answer will always be same “I don’t have any plans to settle here. I will always feel proud to call myself an Indian. I would like to contribute my progress to my nation and will always find ways to contribute more. I like this place and it’s a very good place to live but not as good as my beloved motherland. Yes, I can live here forever but neither I want to be a permanent resident, nor I would like anyone to sympathize and offer me one.”.
For all of my progress that I’ve done here and that I’m going to do, it’s only possible because of my nation, my parents and my teachers. They are the one who injected me with such great values and taught me to forever follow them.
Yet again, my questions do not apply to just Indian migrants, they apply to every countryman planning to join a foreign nation as a permanent resident of it and it is my question to you, reader:
What are your thoughts on losing your nationality?
