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I live in U.S.A, but I love my country
- Mrs. sharmila Sanka

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Sharmila was someone who was always against leaving her patriotic birth land and landing on land another. I only liked my country but no special feelings till I got a seat in Anantapur Satya sai institute. After that, my attitude towards my country changed a lot. I started loving my country. Every time, I sang the national anthem on Independence Day, tears of joy just rolled down my cheeks, my heart bubbled with great feeling of pride and victory. It was then, while I was doing my studies there, that I resolved that I shouldn’t leave my country for any cause. Resolutions are made only to break? So happened in my case. I happily got married and I had to come to United States after marriage along with my husband. All my people were happy at one end but sad at the other end to have me so far away from them. I cried as if I were not to return back. I felt terrible and helpless to leave my loving family and leave for USA. It was my first time to fly and I was so excited to find myself amidst the clouds. I was reminded of Narada in movies walking in the clouds. The childish nature peeped from within me, to enjoy the wonders. I had a nice time in the flight and we had a break of 6 hours in Chicago- windy city while on our journey to Arkansas. As my husband stayed in Chicago for 1 ½ years before, he took me out into the city after renting a good car. We went to Arora temple. It was mainly a temple of Lord venkateswara but had many idols of hindu Gods. I felt so happy and my heart was contended to have the Lord’s darshan. We took some snaps and left for the airport in time. I was so exhausted by the time we landed in Arkansas- a natural state. I was so scared to face the people for the first time. We were warmly welcomed by the friends of my husband. There were around 10-12 friends altogether who were friends since they worked together in Chicago and they were sweet enough. My husband asked me to get into his car which was brought to the airport by one of his friends and lo, I was amazed to see that beautiful car. It was a sports car- Mitsubhishi, Eclipse. It was my first time to see and own such a car. I was a bit excited to be seated in that car. We both travelled home. We were invited by the friends for dinner and we went there and I was surprised to see their unity and friendliness. The lady that hosted us that night was really good and I had a good dinner after numerous travelled and tired hours. They came to our house along with us and opened the door for us and took managala haarati to us, new couple. Treating themselves as sisters to my husband, they took pride and liberty to ask for managala haarati katnam and we entered into our apartment. It was simple and made of wood. I somehow started to get acquainted to live and lead my life without my family and life started to seem interesting. I did some shopping in the malls. But the life in USA was completely different to me. Let me explain how. Here in USA, the life of a woman is so individualistic. There is no 3rd person here in the house and we learn all the things and lessons by ourselves. We control our destiny to a little extent unlike India. The interference of others is more in India than here. We have servants in India and elders to help us learn to cook food. But here, it is different. We start learning to cook from scratch. We do things which we never did in our lives. We take care of all the household activities. We fight and pacify ourselves in no time. Any one who enters USA immediately writes the test for Driver’s license, pepare well for the road test as early as possible. Because, without car there is no movement here. Even a poorest person has a car. Car here is a necessity more than a comfort. So having a car here is not really great because we have credit cards in common use which let us drown very easily and unknowingly. But life is cool and pleasant except that we don’t have any servants here. Great that we become everything here. But we do miss our people, the fun we had, the feelings we exchanged, the friends we laughed with, the people we cried for. We had so much of liberty there in India where as here we need to be careful and alert. Don't know from where the cop peeps out with his lights flashing behind us if we go more than the speed limit or if we follow any car too closely. But we need to speed up in order to reach our destination on time. To start early, we have so much to do at home that we can’t start early. Other than that everything is fun here. Week ends are awaited since Monday in order to enjoy and spend with no breaks for fun. Friday night will be real fun with get togethers, baby showers, birth day parties, barbeque parties and so on. On saturdays, we generally wake up in the afternoon because we never sleep at night on Friday nights. We sleep at dawn sometimes. We go for restuarants and enjoy different varieties of food and my favourite one being Thai restaurant with spicy food and soup. We go for bowling frequently with lots of friends and we go for water parks and campings in summer. We have drive through zoos wherein we drive along the way to watch the animals while we sit in the car. Week ends, we sometimes drive even 6-10 hours just for fun, to meet a friend or to attend an Indian concert and to have good Indian food. Week ends are fun with no breaks for laughter and fun. We have get togethers or potlucks at one of our houses wherein all of us make and bring one food item with no single person struggling much to cook for many. We enjoy each others’ food and play games like Bingo, antyakshari, dumbshrades and so on. We even played kabadi once in the Indian restaurant during our ‘green card celebration’. We celebrate New year, Holi, Independence day, Ugadi, Sravana sukravaram, Sankranti and other Indian festivals. We celebrate the Independence day with lots of celebrations like dances, fashion show and music concert. When we hoist the flag on this day, tears roll down our cheeks to see the flag of India. It is not mere flag that flows with air but it is victory of India flying high above our heads. We all bow with respect and sing the national anthem which indeed is follwed by our children. If the festivals or birthdays fall on week days, we do celebrate them on week ends. We do bhajans once a month and also on occasions like Sivaratri. Amongst all fun and laughter we never forget our responsibilities and people in India. Above all, we never fail to worship Lord who gave us all this. He is our ultimate goal. While on our sojourn to reach Him, we spend our life with laughter. I believe in ‘Laugh and leave anger. Love and live longer.’ After all, life is fun too, enjoy it . Sojourn smoothly though path is sometimes hard. Fulfilment of Life is a goal. Reach it wisely. Though we live here leaving our mother, we do not forget her or our love for her doesn’t go down. She knows and we know the love we have for each other. Same way let me have the privilege to say this…..Though we live here in USA far away from our motherland, we neither forget our India nor do we neglect it. Bharatamata knows the love we have for her. No matter what other people think, this is an Indian heart full of sentiments, feeling for others and above all this heart is a ‘Land of Patriotism’ built not with bricks or cement which can be seen but built with walls of love, patriotism, unity and justice. Dear motherland, please give me an opportunity to leave my last breath on your lap no matter where I live. If ever I am reborn, let me be an Indian again and again, for it is a land of sacrifice, pure and non-artificial love, meaningful sentiments and family attachment. Let me fight for this country when needed. As General George Patton said, 'The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.' Patriotism is not expression loud. It is the heart-beat which cannot be heard by people.
---Sharmila Sanka

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