New Country, New Food, New Life

Ananya Sengupta
India
ESOL 400
Spring 2008

My first day in the US was on April 9th, 2006. I landed in O’Hare International Airport, Chicago at around 11:30 pm with my husband. I can still remember the day oops!!! the night, or you can say, “A windy, chilly, night welcomed me.” After going through all the immigration formalities, finally we succeeded in coming out of the airport. By that time, both of us were totally exhausted and my husband told me, “Please take care of the luggage and let me call a cab.’’ I was standing outside the airport door wearing a light cotton top, jeans, and a pair of sandals. After a few minutes, I felt that my whole body was freezing. In my whole life I had never felt so cold. Ironically, when I was coming from India, it was a hot summer day! I noticed suddenly that every passenger who was passing by that door was giving me an odd look. I was feeling embarrassed and ashamed for my wrong attire. After a few minutes, my husband arrived with the cab, and we headed towards our hotel. It was dark, but still with exhausted eyes, filled with excitement, I was looking at the roads and getting amazed. The roads were so big and cars were moving without any sound of horns (which I was used to) and above all, everyone was driving on the wrong side. (In India, we do right-hand driving.)

We reached the hotel, “Extended Stay America,” booked by my husband’s company for us. We couldn’t sleep the whole night due to our jet lag as it is daytime in India and the biological clock requires some time to adjust. I wanted to go to the bathroom, and my husband had just closed his eyes after trying to sleep for a long time. I whispered in his ears, “Hey! I can’t switch on the light. All the switches are fixed in the wrong direction.” (In India, switches are turned on and off in the opposite direction.) I was confused and worried and saying to myself, “What a country it is! People drive sitting in the wrong direction, and the position of the switches is also in the wrong direction. Everything seems to be peculiar here.”

The next morning, we went to a nearby shop to get some food. I didn’t have any warm clothes with me as I mentioned earlier, so I wore my husband’s sweater, and it was just double my size. My husband was in the US for couple of years before me, so he was familiar with frozen foods. He decided to take a few of them as we had a microwave in our hotel room. However, I didn’t have any knowledge about this kind of food. (In India we don’t get frozen food in markets. We always buy raw vegetables and meats that we have to cook before we eat.)

After coming home, I asked my husband, “Okay, Shall we eat now?” as I was excited to taste the new kind of food. He microwaved something and called me “Come on Honey! Taste it.” I asked him, “What is it? You have not cooked it properly, I think. How can it be all white? It should be colored! I know that it is frozen and you don’t have to cook it, but still you must have to add some green chilies, red chilies, and turmeric powder to it.” My husband didn’t say a word and just gave me a sweet smile. “Please taste it first.” I tasted it and I swear couldn’t tolerate it for a second, threw it out and shouted at him, “Do you think me a fool! I might be new to this country, but how you could think that I have forgotten the taste of food, and you could feed me whatever you like!” He again gave me a sweet smile and said, “Its America’s favorite food, Mac n Cheese.” Whenever I remember this now after almost two years of my stay in this country, I feel so embarrassed and laugh at myself because now it’s my favorite food too. I cook it and love to eat it.