Any Land is a Good Land
Writing by admin on Sunday, 12 of February , 2006 at 10:33 pm
Any Land is a Good Landand Nepal Has it…
Sailindra Joshi came to the united sates some eight years ago, in 
search of opportunities and a better life, leaving behind his friends and family and a career in automobile business. Years of hard work have paid him well. He now has two cars, a nice house, and a thick bank account, which he never dreamed possible back home. He tries to be happy but something is always missing with him.
He says that the most important thing that’s missing in his life right now and possibly forever is….. “Nepal”
Sailindra, is a Hibachi Chef, who works at a Japanese Restaurant in Shelby, North Carolina. He cooks in front of customers on a round table known as Hibachi Grill. He started his American job as a waiter, seven years ago. In fact, that’s the first job hunt for many foreigners who come to this country. After an year of training, he started cooking.
Japanese Steak Houses where chefs cook on Hibachi Grills offer foods such as Steak (Beef), Chicken, Vegetable Mix. Shrimp, Scallops, Salmon, Red Snapper, Crab Legs, and many other food items. Usually any order comes with fried rice, vegetables such as Broccoli, Mushrooms, Zucchini, Onions and the Meat. Chefs use Soya Sauce, Lemon, Salt and pepper to cook most of the items. The fun part about dinning in such restaurants is that chef cooks your food right in front of you and you get to watch his show which he does using his cooking utensils such as spatulas.
Joshi’s life is typically a Nepalese life in America for many. They come to this land for wealth and they work hard. Many work in cities in restaurants, cooking and cleaning. Most popular restaurant choice for them is Indian and Japanese where they cook or serve. Working hours are hectic and long, and days off are very few and far between. Life in America for these people are about working 99% and resting 1%
Joshi talks to his family once a month. When I asked him why he doesn’t talk to them more often, he replied, “There is nothing to talk, my mum says, “don’t come back, there is war here as you know, everything is in a big mess, you are safer there. Stay there. That’s all we talk about.” Phone cards to Nepal aren’t any cheaper. A $5 phone card gets you about 20 to 25 minutes for Nepal.
When Asked him why he is unhappy, he said, “Life in America is all about working. You work, you make money. You don’t work, you don’t make money. Working hours aren’t flexible for people who work in restaurants. For chef, it’s most probably six days a week, long hours, and its all about work and less about friends and family, I think. Back in Nepal, you had lots of time for your family, your friends and you had social life. I am living alone here, when I get sick, there is no one to talk to or take care of me. I also don’t like the fact that when you say “I are sick” to an American, they don’t like it or they tend to be away from you, may be I am wrong. They always want to hear good news but not the bad news, and telling them you are sick is a bad news which they don’t like it well. America is a materialistic world, you have money, you have goods, you have American life where its all about you but nobody else not even your mother who kept you in her womb for nine months!”
Joshi, cooking in-front of customers
Joshi further says, “When customers come, I greet them with a smile, I cook for them, make them happy, they get the feeling that I am cooking for them right in their own kitchen as personal chef! When I see the same folks in supermarkets or else where, they don’t even turn their heads towards me. Perhaps they are just too selfish or self-centered, perhaps that’s the American way, I am still learning..“
Perhaps, a lot of the time Americans are too busy thinking about their selves and their own lives, and they don’t have time for others.
Joshi goes on, “There is an old American women who comes to eat in our restaurant. She is about 70 years old. She drives a car by herself , walks very slowly, and eats in the restaurant where I work. I asked her where her family are. She says, my son is in Florida, has never called me in years, My daughters are in Boston and they call me sometimes but never help me out financially. I have to work.. She works as a manager in a Tupperware company selling plastic containers. She takes care of an old homeless man in return for rent. Her life is tough, evidently like others, but she misses love and affections in her life from her family members. I know that’s exactly what I am going to get here in America. It appears to me that here everything is made to work on its own. Teenagers must find a job to stand on their own feet. Wife must get a job to take care of her own expenses. Money is Money. Economy is Economy. Something totally different than what is in Nepal. Everything looks good and flashy here and what’s missing here is the social values. That’s what I am missing so much right now, something that Nepal has in abundance.”
Some time he wishes he had never left his land. He asserts, “I don’t know if I can return back to Nepal and adjust there since I have left my country for so long. I am already thinking about getting married with an American and settling down here. But I will be living my life a little less happier than “Me back in Nepal!”
He says, “perhaps for hard working people any land is a good land and Nepal has it…”
Category: Stories
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