Coming to America
A short story
Every immigrant has a story about how they came to America. For immigrant politicians, their stories seem particularly fine-tuned to the rags-to-riches American Dream. I’m no politician. Neither am I rich. But I do have an interesting story of how I came to America.
In Spring, 1985, the University of California, Berkeley sent me a telegram in Mumbai, India. They offered me admission and financial aid to join their Ph.D. program in Business Administration. It was the culmination of a year of preparation sending off applications to a dozen doctoral programs in the USA. It was a major turning point in my life. I would be leaving my home country and changing careers.
Over the summer, I made my travel arrangements. Aside from Sri Lanka, a ferry ride away from India, I had not traveled abroad anywhere. I booked an inexpensive Kuwait Airways flight from Mumbai that allowed me to make two stopovers, one in London and one in New York. I wanted to see both of these cities and I had friends I could stay with, in each place. The Reserve Bank of India allowed Indian citizens to take a maximum of US $400 out of the country to conserve its dollar reserves. I had these. In addition, my mother gave me about $100 in cash that she had saved from her own trip to the USA as a Fulbright scholar in 1971. I had no credit cards. They were not available in India in those days. On August 9, 1985, I boarded the Kuwait Airlines flight to come to America.
I stayed with a family friend outside London for 2 nights. I spent some cash visiting local sights, Piccadilly and Trafalgar Square, among others. On August 12, I took another Kuwait Airlines flight from London to New York City. I had a friend studying at Columbia University and stayed with him for a couple of nights. Then I moved to Staten Island to stay with another friend for my last night in NYC. I was busy sightseeing during the days — Riverside Drive, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, and other places.
I had requested my friend, Roy, in Staten Island to book me on an inexpensive flight from NYC to San Francisco. I would reimburse him for the expense. Roy had worked in NYC for a few years and was savvy about such matters. He told me about People Express, an upstart low-cost airline that had taken the US market by storm. He had made a phone booking for me on a redeye flight out of Newark Airport, New Jersey to Oakland, CA on August 15 for only $99.
The airfare suited my budget. When I asked Roy for the ticket so I could reimburse him he said, “Oh, they only accept payment on the plane”. This sounded a little strange to me, more like a bus in India than what I would expect from a national US airline. So I asked him for the People Express reservation telephone number. I called the number and asked for confirmation providing my name, and flight details. The agent confirmed that I had an economy class seat on the Newark-Oakland flight the next day.
The following day I made the trip from Staten Island to Newark Airport by public transit. I took a bus to New York’s Penn Station, then a train to Newark Railroad Airport Station, finally, a train transfer to Newark Liberty Airport Station. It took a couple of hours and cost $17 but I made it to the People Express check-in counter. It was busy with a long line of people waiting to check-in. I finally got to the counter and told the check-in agent my name. She asked me to spell it out which I did and she typed it into the terminal keyboard.
“Hmm I’m not able to find that name”, she said.
I told her I had called the previous day and had received a confirmation from the customer service agent.
“Please spell your name again for me starting with the first name”.
I spelled out my first and last name again, this time providing help with the letters, “S as in Sunday, A as in Apple”, and so on.
After querying the terminal again she said, “I’m sorry Sir, my system is not able to pull up your reservation”.
My heart sank.
I said, “What should I do? I have to get to Oakland by this flight”.
She said, “You have two options. Either I can book you an Economy seat at the $99 fare for the same flight tomorrow, or you can get on this flight by buying a first-class ticket for $399”.
My heart sank further, right into my stomach. It would take me two hours and $17 to get back to Staten Island late that night. I had requested friends to meet me off this flight at Oakland airport. There were no mobile phones in those days that I could consult with anyone. I had the cash for the first-class ticket but I would land in Berkeley penniless.
It was really “fight or flight” for me at that point. I gave in and chose the flight. First-class. They didn’t even serve soda and peanuts for the $399 first-class fare. It was great to see my friends at Oakland airport. They gave me a ride to my dorm in Berkeley.
A year later, I heard that People Express had gone bankrupt. They had to sell all their assets to Continental Airlines. I felt elated. Justice had been served.
