US never featured in my top 5, of places to see, or for that matter, even top 10. It was one of those ‘has to be done in your Lifetime (at least once)’, but no timeline within the timeline.
But I believe every country has its time charted out. US for me was Now (March, 2013). A country which every Indian, especially with our generation mates, already knew well in their head, with its multiple association and touch points which he is constantly fed. The music, the movies, the brands, the bands, the faces, the lifestyles, the media, the farce, the values, and togetherness and so and so and so on…
After spending copious amounts of ‘quality’ time in the continent of Europe, international travel takes upon extremely uncalled for weighty expectations. The history, the architecture, the variation and the splendor of Europe leaves such an indelible part upon your travel quota of mind that subconsciously you would always expect to visualize fascinating landscapes, awe-filled architecture, the beauty and the apparent differences in thought and language every hundred or thousand miles.
This thought followed and haunted me during my initial time in US too. Some said it wasn’t fair on the ‘free land’ to be compared to the beauty of its developed cousin across the Atlantic. I let my mind play the judge and jury.
USA as we see on the map is a massive chunk of land. When you start exploring the place, it seems even more enormous and vast in its expanse. One cannot say US is like this or that, unless one truly covers each significant part in some way or other. Stephen Fry’s 50 States might help. It’s like visiting Delhi and Goa and commenting and distributing views on the entire country of India. I can only speak on what I saw, the routes I took, the people I met and the places I ended up. It is such a mix of various races and tribes, roots and inspirations.
If the World only recognizes the riches, bling and envious lifestyles of the Americans, they’re partly right. There is a great deal of struggle which takes place within every city, within every soul, like every other place. They don’t take things for granted and hard work is something which they live by. They do possess a sense of ignorance, which could prove to be rather arrogant and annoying to foreigners. This could be because of two reasons, the size of their country and the reckless and established media houses they have unknowingly given shelter to. There is too much happening within the country itself to keep some 400 odd million people occupied. For them, travel means New York to Florida and New York to California would be assigned as international travel. Abroad would denote Europe and lately global matters would mean anything to do with China. Lives, cultures, beliefs and struggles of other countries are oblivious to them and to some extent maybe they’re not to blame, the system is. The Americans who have travelled to other parts of the world do realize and recognize this. Their world starts from the East Coast and ends at the West. So when the leader of the Free World (in this case the World is US) cites that the people are under threat, it is only them, as they cannot fathom the troubles elsewhere. They cannot be bothered. Security of its citizens could mean prying into private lives of innocent beings elsewhere. But this security is for the good and that is a prevalent and disturbing belief, unfortunately it ignores the other part and the cost attached to it.
A conspicuous lack of cynicism resides in the people of US. This proves to be highly contagious and hence respectable. This also reflects in their movies, music, sports and to my surprise in every day to day activity and role. A lot of scenes would also seem straight out of Hollywood flicks. Society is a mirror of the arts and art a mirror of society.
Music and Sports form a very significant part of their lifestyle whether it is the Basketball stars and the sold out MSG, Yankee stadium venues or the uber-cool youngsters in Brooklyn and The Bronx feeling the Hip-Hop beats via their Beats headphones possessions.
You cannot exist in US without a car, barring a few cities like NY maybe. It has the pimped up Cadillac and Ford Pick-ups and a country always full of Autos. There exists hence the strongest lobby ever in the Auto Industry. This poses quite a limitation.
I have come to the conclusion (personal nonetheless) that the most naturally aesthetic parts of the country lies in its national parks and mid west pockets. The concrete cities do not offer the visual brilliance and pleasing vibrancy of European cities, except maybe 2 sights. One is the landscapes of the city of San Francisco and the other is the infamous Manhattan Skyline. They do though offer a million eateries and franchise joints laid out across its highways and neon lighted strip bars. Everything in this land is MASSSIVE and EXCESSIVE, whether it be the Detroit cars or the cities or the portion serving size at the diners.
Well, no one said that The American Dream was miniscule in any measure.
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