SWAGATA BANERJEE
My entire stay in the United States as a graduate student of the University of Nevada, Reno has so far been a unique multicultural experience. By multiculturalism, basically, what I mean to emphasize is the thoroug
h sense of being a citizen of the world, so to speak. In other words, it is the experience that one gathers from being part of the thoroughly international community, which takes into account both the American and the non-American counterparts in the stud
ent body.
As a non-American student in this country, I was "supposed" to have a culture shock on my first arrival in the US, as was readily advertised and made known to me through the various means of information that I could lay my hand
s on before leaving my country. But, fortunately enough, I do not remember having had such a shock at any point of time after my arrival. The only shock I had really had was a kind of 'money shock,' which made me a bit nervous, and also sometimes quite co
nscious of the charged environment I had stepped into. But, thankfully, I could overcome all this by my nature of being adjusted to any strange sort of environment, and because of my long association with people having a variety of natural characteristics
, people from various walks of life, and people of different age groups.
The 'money shock' I just talked of first struck me in the shape of the knowledge of having to pay a handful sum both for my school, and for renting an apartment in its vicinity. Although I had an assistantship right from the be
ginning, it usually takes a few weeks for the initial paperwork to be straightened out before one can obtain the first paycheck. Still, I was overly optimistic of the fact that something good would turn up in my favor and I would, thus, not have to worry
about money matters. Particularly, a telephonic conversation with a faculty member I knew from my department at this university, the night before I left my country, made me feel that I could be able to secure an advance from my account, so that I could me
et all my initial financial liabilities from that.
But things were not that rosy as I thought they would be. In the first place, I was late in obtaining my student visa, and so had to arrive late on campus. This made my life uneasy at the very outset. Our international student
advisor was the person who came to my rescue at this point. Right from the day I first stepped into her office, she had started giving me all kinds of technical, informational, and moral support that she could to make me feel at home, so much so that I ba
rely had the chance to feel let down and alienated. Along with the said advisor's help, of course, I was backed by my inner potential of coping myself in new situations by using my natural sense of humor. Whenever I was faced with odds, I would tell mysel
f, "Hey man, don't you worry, this is just a passing phase of life, and there is no doubt that this phase is going to end, and the sun is going to shine on you soon! ... Life is nothing but "maya," man - an illusion that shrouds us for all times!" This ex
actly is also what I thought when I lost about a couple of hundred dollars in the slot machines - life is nothing but "maya!" I was promptly reminded of the famous Bengali sage Ramakrishna Paramhansa's act of taking money in one hand and soil in the other
, and, finding no difference between the two, throwing both into the River Ganges!
Within the first few weeks, therefore, all monetary odds were in my favor. A new friend of mine came to my help in paying the initial house rent, and also the international student advisor made arrangements for me to enjoy the
deferred payment facility enjoyed by only a handful of fortunate students like me! Also, the technicalities regarding my registration and so forth were worked out, and I was all set to go ahead with my classes.
But, being late to arrive, I was like a fly in the soup! So, I had to take some 'unconditional' help from some of my newly made friends in my department. But, subsequently, some supposedly 'intelligible' people - people from va
rious parts of the globe - became really disconcerted by my fast and steady progress, and went all out to slander and belittle me, even to the extent as to pose a challenge of throwing me out of my program on the ground that I was simply copying their wor
k and producing them as mine! But I bore all this with great fortitude. My age and experience had made me wise enough to wait for the opportune moment to show them that they were wrong, and not to return stone for stone. And this really paid off. Later on
, when they used to get help from me, those same people became so friendly that they would frequently offer me rides in their cars and treats in restaurants. The belief in and practice of Gandhian philosophy of non-violence, and the Sankaracharian philoso
phy of life being nothing but "maya," helped me successfully cruise through this crisis, like many other ones at different points in my life.
To talk more about my multicultural experience, attention may be drawn to the fact that verbal and nonverbal communication among different communities might sometimes cause confusion and even misunderstanding. A deep insight in
to these issues, basically through experience and more exposure to the world outside, could help a lot, as it did in my case. Let me cite a couple of instances here from my personal experience to clarify this point. With regard to verbal communication, I
have often had problems in distinguishing between the US accents of saying "can" and "can't." They sound so similar to me that I often confuse one for the other. So, I have often had to ask twice or thrice to clear myself of any possible doubt. But, in tr
ying not to feel uncomfortable and embarrassed, and also not to make the other person understand my helpless situation, what I usually do is to apply a trial-and-error method of supposing it to be either "can" or "can't," and then promptly finding some ex
cuse to redeem myself, if I discover to have understood wrongly at the first attempt! And, what I have found through experience is that, it works better than repeating the same question over and over again. The same I have found to be true for orally comm
unicating with people from all cultures in general.
With nonverbal communication, I had a very funny experience in the campus pharmacy once when I had to reply in a "yes" or "no" to the person in the counter who was helping me. I ran out of money, but I needed at least a pill fo
r that day, while the rest I could afford to take the next day. So, he agreed to give me that pill I needed for that day, and asked me if I could come back the next day. I simply nodded my head in my normal fashion to mean "yes," but he was confused, and
asked me for the second time, but again to receive the same response. Visibly irritated, he then asked me, "Yes or no?" Then I had to open my mouth and express my assent. He retorted, saying that I was the most difficult customer of the day! Consequently,
I realized that there were various ways the same thing was expressed in various cultures, and ignorance of those cultures could lead to problems of this sort. But fighting or becoming impatient with these various and widely divergent ways was rather infl
ating those problems than solving them. So, why don't we try to accept the others' ways as they are, and make everybody happy, rather than holding the utterly implausible view of changing the whole world in our favor? Evidently, trying to do the latter wo
uld be like trying to cover the whole earth with shoe soles instead of the much easier and more convenient alternative of each one of us putting on a pair of shoes!
This way I began to gather more and more experience, and began to have more and more friends from all over the world. I joined the International Club and became its interim Secretary for a semester. Through that channel, and al
so being in constant touch with the Office of International Students and Scholars, I have had many an opportunity to take some time off from study and enjoy near one of the nearby lakes, or in the mountains, sometimes
to hike, sometimes to get some informal training on how to deal with some of the basic problems of the new international students, and sometimes to actually be with those students, orienting them on various things, and discussing issues of their interest
.
I have always had a keen interest in ethnic diversity and intercultural issues. While being a student of this university, I could make full use of that interest by being thoroughly involved in a wide variety of international an
d multicultural events, providing leadership, coordination, and participation to the maximum possible extent. Fortunately enough, I could also use that interest while being a part of the graduate student government.
My coming to this country had been the sequel to a long struggle against many odds. I had always dreamt of studying in this country, as I was strongly attracted to its system of education. And, when I really came here, I found
that the country had a lot more to offer than I could ever imagine.
The University of Nevada, Reno has been my first place of schooling in the United States, and I have, indeed, been fascinated with the diversity of cultures that this school has to offer. Here,
for the first time in my life, I realized, even among so many differences, how similar peoples from various parts of the world were, and how small really the world was! Here the entire globe seems to appear in front of my eyes as one small and sweet famil
y! In my own words, I feel like here "We are citizens of the world - / So many differences, / So many colors, / So many languages of the tongue, / But we have one language, / Only one language of the heart, / Just one ( / We are citizens of the world!" An
d it is this realization that makes me feel even closer to the real-world dynamics of multiculturalism. After a little more than a year-and-a-half's stay in this country, now I truly believe that visiting and pursuing studies here was, indeed, a very wise
choice. It is a rare and valuable experience, which only a very small fraction of the people of my country, India, can acquire. It is a dream for most people there never to come true. And, for me, it is something that is making my life richer and richer
day by day with a myriad of unique experiences, which I hope to apply in my future.
DEPT. OF APPLIED ECONOMICS & STATISTICS
MAIL STOP 204
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE
UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO
RENO, NV 89557-0105
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NOTE: This essay won the Graduate Student Association (GSA) Merit Scholarship Award in the Social Sciences category from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1998.
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