It does feel wonderful when you are going abroad to study MS, for your parents will be proudly boasting about it among your relatives and their friends, your relatives will be inviting you home for dinner, and your friends will be inviting you for giving a treat. You will be the centre of attention till you board your flight to finally set off yourself to another world that is totally new to you. When I say another word, and totally new to you, you should now start expecting the unexpected that begins soon after you land at the airport, and continues throughout the course of the MS program, until you finally get graduated and start looking out for a job. The article lists a few of the bitter truths that Indians face when they go to the US to study MS.
As I told you already, it begins right from here. Imagine yourself going to claim the luggage. It’s obvious that your luggage is not light enough to be easily carried till the cab that has come to receive you. After all your mom would have packed so many eatables that will not be available for you in the US. Oh yeah, the pickle bottles! Not just all! Clothes, sweaters, jackets, winter accessories, and a few pairs of shoes and slippers. The list will go on and on. For the trolley you would be paying $5 that is equal to Rs. 350. You start thinking you don’t pay this amount even to the porters in the Indian railway stations. You are paying for something that you have to push it yourself till the cab?
You start getting assignments. The assignments are very challenging with them requiring extensive research, some prior hands on in the subject area, and to be written to the highest standards of English language. You start actually realizing how backward your bachelor’s degree in India was, in terms of standards. You will begin to realize, you could have done some coding and learnt Linux. It gets even worse, when there are a few Chinese in your class, who are pretty good with their prior hands on experience that makes them more competent for completing the assignments. You start developing an inferiority complex, leading to burdening yourself for putting in extra efforts for a number of hours, when compared to others in your class.
Every time you will find the money you have in hand short, despite you have been using them only for the basics. You cannot ask your parents to send more money as they would be already making sacrifices back in India, for sending this amount to you every month. Now, you don’t have any other option other than working part time in cafes, pizza huts, subways, libraries, etc. You will start looking down upon yourself as you have only lived a luxurious life back in India, with your pockets always filled for doing parties and enjoying with your friends.
On the day of Holi, you don’t get an opportunity to play with colours. On the day of Deepavali, you don’t get an opportunity to burst crackers. You don’t get sweets and other delicacies prepared by your mom on these days. You miss your friends and relatives, visiting your home on these occasions. However, you start missing these only in the beginning. Eventually you will start getting a hang of it.
The interviews are more stringent and you are expected to be very good in your communication skills. With English always been your second language, you see yourself falling behind when compared to the native English speakers, no matter what your scores in the subjects in MS degree are, and how good you are technically, and how much of expertise you have acquired in your subject area.
Your initial plan would have been studying in the US, working for a couple of years and then returning to India to live with your parents. Around 95% of the India folks, who go abroad for studies, will have this intention. With so many hardships you faced, you have now forced yourself to entirely change your personality, to fit yourself into the American culture. You come to India, get married, and again go back to the US, thinking that you will come back one day. You will have kids there, who become the American citizens. Now, you don’t want your kids to face those bitter truths that you faced. Ultimately, you decide to stay back in the US for your entire life.
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