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Independence Day Abroad! Birjis Adeni Rashed Birjis Adeni Rashed originally from Hyderabad, India lives in Dallas, TX, USA now. She is a masters in Marketing and has been a student of English Literature, Politics and History. she says, "Creativity, writing and 'I' have always stayed connected, as Copywriter, Technical Writer, Content Writer, Web designer and Freelance Writer." A great mom, wonderful wife, good friend and a charming human being Brijis is passionate about writing, reading, interior designing, cooking and traveling! Her motto- "Tomorrow is another day!"

Saturday, August 11, 2001. Dallas. USA.

I am not sure if I am very patriotic, I like to believe I am. Why then am I living in another country and making my own country my vacation spot! I don't have an answer, but I believe one does not give up ones 'deshprem' and patriotism even when one is abroad - thus starts my tale of an Indian Independence Day in USA.

On Saturday, 11 August, we celebrated our independence day! Here in USA everything is celebrated on a weekend. If your birthday happens in the middle of the week you celebrate it on the weekend before or after. In fact, if you absolutely know a caesarian delivery is the only option for your baby, you can even schedule it on a weekend! It makes it easier for the spouse and others since it's a day off! Getting back to the point, we celebrated our independence day earlier and let the Pakistani's do it the weekend later. Of course the desi business establishments, restaurants, etcetera had double celebrations.

We packed off to Lone Star Park, Grand Prairie, a suburb of Dallas, in our white Lucknow salwar kurtas with children in colorful ghagra cholis. The men of course were very practical and avoided the kurta pyjamas for shorts and t-shirts. There were so many cars in the parking lot; we meandered through a dozen lanes to eventually parallel park in some corner. As usual there were innumerable Toyotas, Hondas and Nissans, a common factor of us Indians who always rely on Japanese technology and its resale value!

Since our Indian crowds love events like these, they come in all sizes and ages; newly married- without kids, married with kids, married and pregnant with parents visiting from India, and of course singles who want to mingle!

Entertainment was good. The teenagers on stage danced to latest Lagaan numbers and of course some deshprem numbers, not forgetting Mere desh ki dharti.... The fireworks were quite impressive, with desi music in background. (Fire works are a way to celebrate independence here in USA; we do it in grand style on July 4th.) But I remember, before the fanfare in the sky, when they started vande mataram, a lot of our public here stood up in reverence. I was sorting in my mind if jana gana mana had been replaced by "vandemataram" recently without our knowing, just like Mumbai, Kolkotta or Chennai. Whatever the reverence, they were told to sit down.

Among all these things in the crowd was the ogling of the guys and the girls, the guys ogling the good looking hep ABCD (American born confused desi) girls and vise versa, but there was another angle in the gawking. The migrated desi girls or "technically women" coldly staring at the latest girls on the block and feeling old in the traditional salwar kameez as opposed to the chicks in Kareena Kapoor's latest parallel salwar styles, or in western outfits with Indian accessories. Women always size their competition, but I sometimes think why do we consider the confused desis a competition? They are after all absolutely different personalities! We born and bred in the rich culture of India, identify ourselves differently, in spite of moving to greener pastures; while they have been always unsure how to define themselves - Indian or American! But a major fact we completely ignore is our children too are American born

The food stalls were an absolute success. The chole was ok, the pakoras were hot and spicy but malai kulfi was the best treat. I was yearning for mirchi bajjis and pani puris, but couldn't find it in any stall. Supposedly the biryani was good too. But the best part were the rates, they were reasonable compared to the prices in the restaurants. It was like food court where all the restaurants were desi, each offering either north Indian or south Indian or non-vegetarian or vegetarian or kulfi and shakes. A food court on these lines would be an excellent idea for some entrepreneur who could start it in India if not here.

The social event made us bump into our casual friends and acquaintances whose phone numbers we mislaid or had not been a high priority in our address book. For a change many of our desis did manage a smile back instead of blankly ignoring each other as some do on the street. The psychology behind these strange manners probably is that an open acknowledgment would conclude that they too are from the Indian origin, which probably makes them feel inferior to the fellow American! It should better dawn on all of us that we are not from any inferior country, even if it is called the developing country, or as some of our fellow Americans lacking in GK call it the underdeveloped country! We Indians are intellectually, culturally, historically and literarily a superior breed. How many of us were patriotic to this event of independence we don't know, but it was a good cause for celebration.

The finale of the day was many of us Indians packing off home with an Indian flag from the many flags which were stuck around. We desis are desis at heart wherever we are!

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