Chasing America: Of Lollipops, Night Clubs and Ferocious Dogs

by Deepak Singh

Charming America is an endearing, heartfelt, and deeply funny account of one man’s journey from north India to America. Rather than coming from the small town to the big city, a journey pictured in countless Hollywood and Bollywood movies, Singh travels from urban India to rural America, discovering kindness and confusion along the way and finding both delight and frustration in the minutia of everyday life. Our bookshelves are filled with tales of western travelers discovering the mysterious and exotic in India. But this account is something different-a refreshing view from the other side, a much-needed - and anthropological – look at the strange in the mundane and the familiar in the supposedly exotic. In what is as much a fond recollection of a happy youth in India as an account of small-town life in America, Singh gives us a sense of the quirks, peculiarities and mysteries. America seen with a newcomer’s eyes while offering glimpses of a busy and loving Indian upbringing. Describing encounters tinged with both racism and understanding, he offers insights into the world of working class Indian immigrants in America, an underclass that seldom appears in representations of the American dream – over-educated men and women staffing the Subway sandwich shops, motels, and convenience stores across America. This moving and humane accounts ends not by finding differences but by discovering connections. Singh’s rural American in-laws remind of this family in Lucknow and remind us that even in the many forms life can take, there is something immediately recognizable about “home”.

Genres: India

222 pages, Paperback

First published July 6, 2001

About the author

Deepak Singh was born in 1973 in the city of Lucknow, India. He has worked for the BBC World Service. He is a freelance journalist and a radio producer. His work has been featured on NPR’s affiliate WVTF, PRI’s The World, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and World Vision Report. He divides his time between India and America.

Reviews

[Fareha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chasing America is laugh-out-loud funny! It's shines a new light on first time visitors to the United States and how things Americans either take for granted and/or are simply commonplace are completely odd for newcomers. (i.e. why do we pay for coffee at a coffee shop when all you get is a coffee cup and a gesture towards a bar filled with a variety of ingredients, technically you're doing all the work!) If you've ever travelled to India, and more specifically Lucknow, you'll definitely enjoy this book! If not, I still highly recommend it, the cultural exchanges are totally relatable and will have you in stitches!

[Jennifer Warner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I know the author of this book, and consider him a friend. Despite that, the book gave me a new insight into what it is like to be an immigrant to a new culture, and also made me think about how I interact with people and the assumptions I make about the intentions of others. Lots of parts made me laugh out loud, and some warmed my heart. All in all, this book reminded me that there is so much in humanity that is the same across the world, we should focus more on that and less on our differences.