Letters : An Indian in Ann Arbor in '60s
31 jan 2005

Re:THEN AND NOW

The middle ' India connection' by ..... took me back to the days when I was a graduate student in the very same town (Ann Arbor, Michigan). When I began my studies there in the winter of 1968, thre were about 200 and odd Indian (and some Pakistani) students in the university who came together once a year for a Hindi film.The only authentic Indian meal we could get was when some of the married folks took pity on us. We had learnt to make do with whatever was available in local A and P grocery stores. While we did miss India, we were busy soaking up a totally alien culture. There was a pioneering spirit in us but the culture shock also was too much claiming at least two victims in a period of 6 years. Everything in America - The huge supermarkets, the campus life style, the bitter cold etc - was new to us . Added to it, those were also the times of the hippies, vietnam and watergate ! It certainly was ' not like home ' as ....... finds! Alas, Globalization has taken away adventure out of life in alien lands!
P.R.Vishwanath