It was a nonevent really. That was until I started to drive to the immigration office. “A confluence of the east and the west” reads my Facebook profile. I stood on the edge of two nations.
One gives you the right to
bear arms,
The other would but most
people cannot afford arms, to bear.
One fights for marriage
between same sex people,
The other fights still for
citizens to choose life partners; of different sexes, let alone the same.
The people of one speak
over 800 languages,
In the other most know
only 1.
One is based on a history
just over 200 years old,
The other rooted in a
civilization over 2000 years old,
Yet, the 200 year-old nation
has been free for that long,
The older one is a newer
democracy.
In one land, you fight for
the individual,
In the other, the
individual fights to find a voice, drowned by tradition and norms.
The citizens
of one are fascinated by yoga, meditation and tantric life,
In the other, the
birthplace of yoga and meditation, there is fast movement towards the fast,
materialistic life of the other,
The grass is always
greener on the other side!
Technology dominates the
economy of a nation known for its clinical math and science education,
The other weeps the loss
of technology jobs,
The freedom its students
enjoy makes them creative,
Something the other seeks.
Above all, one nation
believes in life, liberty and pursuit of happiness for the individual,
The other’s cultural
wisdom espouses pursuit of happiness an external illusion, true liberty as
coming from within, not to be acquired by making external choices.
I stood at the edge of these two nations. One wants to be the other. The other the former. I seesawed between their traditions and values. People of both places are dear to me. I was born in one. The other is where I live. Some call the first my country of origin, the second my adopted country. My heart swung in the doldrums, it does everyday, caught between two places, loving both for different reasons.
That was just before I walked in to take the Oath of Allegiance. Then, just before I stepped in, I breathed a sigh of relief, not known to me till then. I walked in, not to become American, not to renounce being Indian. The seesaw between the two great nations is nothing but the two sides, the yin and the yang, if I may borrow a phrase from yet another culture, of being human. I took an Oath today and I pledged my allegiance, to be not a proud citizen but instead to be, first and last, a humble human.
I have found the place I belong to. I am home.
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