The US Citizenship
Journey
It was a September morning in 2007. Yet another day in our
retired life in Bangalore (India) until we got a call from our younger son in
California to joyfully announce that he was to become a father soon.
Earlier, thanks to USA's open-arms policy to admit foreign
students and offer scholarship or assistantship where possible, both our sons
were able to pursue Masters in the US in their chosen fields of engineering,
and be gainfully employed with multinational companies. Since then the both
have become US citizens.
Thanks again to the US Government's deep commitment to the
'family bond' concept, parents of US citizens could apply for green card
without any restrictive annual visa quota. Backed by this, in the next few days
of the call, we held frantic to and fro telephone conversations with both sons
and their families. A clearer picture emerged: that we would seek permanent
residence in the US. Everything has a price. Documentation for this included
birth certificates, marriage certificate, police clearance, and pre-emptive
affidavits from elders in the families, on the lines of the childhood poem: Solomon
Grundy, Born on Monday, Christened on Tuesday, Married on Wednesday...
Six months later, armed with all possible documentation, if
not a little more, we boarded a flight to San Francisco with all our earthly
belongings, now rolled into two suitcases each, 50 pounds apiece. The flight
took off from Bangalore two hours later. Consequently we missed the connecting flight
from the hub, and were bundled into a long detour flight that skipped just
Alaska to land in San Francisco eight hours later. That didn't bother us so
much as the make-do lunch we were served - bananas, cookies and yoghurts for an
Asian vegetarian meal. Understandably, they needed 48 or 72 hours notice to
arrange for such special meals. However at the airport, on seeing a radiant
daughter in law with all features of motherhood, we forgot all about the
ordeal, and headed home.
We got the green card even without the customary interview -
thanks probably to the thorough documentation - and in a much shorter time than
it took in those days.
Time flies faster than you think. More so when you have two
cities to alternate for your stay, and three spirited grandsons to give you
company, initially - and to stay away from, later. Now it was time to apply for
citizenship, or Naturalization. Here too, the more the care and truthfulness
with which you fill the form, sure to be able to defend whatever you declare therein,
the more it helps the interviewing officer to gauge your eligibility. Another
great characteristic of the country is: it operates on TRUST. When you go
through the mill successfully, he/she hands you a 'congratulations' letter on
the spot that you have passed the interview and test, and asks you to wait for
the Oath Ceremony letter. This is the
most difficult period - so near yet so far. We received it, for 4 October 2013. There were 72 citizens-to-be from,
guess, 32 countries! If this is less, then what is more? Doesn't it speak
volumes for the country as the world's best democracy or a land of
opportunities, if not reflect a true miniature world?
Among those who spoke after being bestowed citizenship, some
ladies literally broke down. They regained composure and felt happy their
children could now hope for the best education, as for a good life. An elderly
lady who could speak little or no English walked with difficulty up to the
podium to speak. But she couldn't. Seeing her plight the Adjudication Officer
who learnt she was from Iran, suggested her: "Say 'Thank you' in Iranian
[Persian]". She promptly said: thank you in Iranian. Everyone took the fiasco in an all in the
family spirit, and gave the 79-year old
lady, now a fellow American, a thunderous applause.
V.V. Sundaram
17 March 2014
