The other side of US

Looking at this title, one might perhaps think I'm going to talk about the military operations of US or the Iraq war but this is not even close to that... :) I'm going to talk about the differences between the US I heard of and the US I'm seeing completely from the social perspective!

To an Indian who has never been to US and doesn't have too many friends here, the thought of US would bring in skyscrapers, ultra-modern cars moving as swift as a lightning and a clean, pollution-free, shining environment. The contributors to this image include the duets in Times Square, 'US return' folks and to an extent the media. So is US rich, prosperous, clean and neat throughout? Actually - No!

So, does US have as much pollution as in India? No! If the only two images known to an average Indian has been ruled out, what does US look like? Like any other country US also has the famous line drawn - the 'poverty line'. On one side, people own BMWs and wear 600$ shirts while on the other side, people live in streets as narrow as a gutter and struggle to make their living. Yes! The inequality is there in the US too... But the US government acts way better than the non-functional Indian Government and the people here get to avail a lot of allowances and services offered by the Government. A recreation park (free of cost entertainment) over here has tennis courts that are better than the rented courts back in India. For the most part, the Government takes care of providing basic necessities to its citizens as opposed to the Indian central/state governments which take care of filling up the wallets of the politicians.

My profession hardly allows me to interact with the lower section of the society while the Indian in me (saving every penny) hardly allows me to interact with the higher section of the society. Professionally, everyone I know of is rich or at least living rich but when it comes to the day-to-day services that I avail, I try not to spend a lot of money. A classic example is getting a haircut. The cheapest of the hi-fi hair dressers cost you $15 for a haircut while a not so cozy barber shop costs you $6 and quite naturally I prefer the latter. After all, I'm losing hair man! :D

You could see old people at least 60 years old renting a den in the corner of a market place, filling the place with cutouts and pictures of their heroes - pop singers in the 70s or actors of the past era and making their living with the only rolling chair they have in the shop. Quite often they have sons or daughters who are in constant quarrel with them and the their customers are their only outlet to the memories and problems occupying their minds. Unlike India where people used to settle down in a place and live there forever (unless the head of the household gets transferred across India), you could see that people in US would've resided in at least two states in their life. The rich change their residence for reasons like 'weather', 'sporting' and 'ambiance' while the poor change their residence due to the cost of living factor. Predominantly this is the topic of discussion for the senior citizens in the lower economic segments running these shops and usually I walk out of these places with a heavy heart paying some extra tips to these old people who are cursed to suffer till the end of their life even after having children, grand-children and great-grand-children; and it often reminds me of the damage this trend has caused (and is causing) to the beautiful, strongly-knit Indian society by the Indian ambassadors of US culture. Hail liberty!