Rajika Bhandari - America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility

PRAISE FOR
America Calling

Anyone who has wondered about the modern immigrant experience and perceptions of coming to this nation to fulfill dreams will find America Calling a lesson in adaptation, advantage, and revised futures.

Midwest Book Review

America Calling is a timely and unique addition to immigrant literature. Bhandari weaves an evocative and compelling narrative of the power of education to connect and transforman experience that resonates deeply with me as a first-generation immigrant and college student.

Reyna Grande, award-winning author of A Dream Called Home and The Distance Between Us

Rajika Bhandari is a voice that urges us with moral clarity and rigorous intelligence... this is a clarion call for the nations policymakers and educators to welcome all curious minds.

Maeve Higgins, New York Times columnist, award-winning author of Maeve in America: Essays by a Girl from Somewhere

Through this intimate account of her own journey, Rajika Bhandari tells the story of the millions of young people who pursue the dream of an American education... and the often misunderstood, underappreciated yet immense value they bring about. While she grew up in Delhi and I in Madrid, her story is, in many ways, mine too.

Angel Cabrera, president, Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and a Carnegie Corporation Great Immigrant

By turns analytical and heartfelt, America Calling is an engaging and timely read that will resonate strongly amongst the global academic community.... As an immigrant with an educational background that spans two continents myself, I see an element of universality in Bhandaris narrative that transcends culture and national origin.

Andrew Hamilton, president of New York University and former vice-chancellor, University of Oxford

Dr. Rajika Bhandari starts with her personal journey and broadens out to support a universal truth: The US is better off with the rich diversity and expertise brought by international students to American campuses and society. A touching and insightful must-read.

Lenora Chu, Chinese education expert and award-winning author of Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School and the Global Race to Achieve

Rajika explains why the worlds brightest flock to American shores and boost its competitivenessand why they are now returning home. She is right that if America doesnt correct the exodus, it will be the greater loser.

Vivek Wadhwa, distinguished fellow, Harvard Law School, Labor and Worklife Program, best-selling author of The Immigrant Exodus

Rajika Bhandari offers a roadmap to the many who have come, and the many who will be drawn to America. It is deeply personal and yet illustrative of the many shared experiences of generations that continue to enrich a nation built by and for immigrants.

Raju Narisetti, founder of Mint newspaper, and former managing editor at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal

A rich testament to the importance of international students, America Calling is also an important addition to the story of the Indian diaspora in the US.

Devesh Kapur, Starr Foundation professor of South Asian Studies, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and award-winning co-author of The Other One Percent: Indians in America

America Calling is a one-of-a-kind book, relevant to both students and educators all over the world. The US remains one of the most sought-after destinations for tertiary education, and Rajikas book is a tremendous contribution to the literature on this global trend.

Pramath Raj Sinha, founding dean of Indian School of Business and co-founder of Ashoka University

Seeking an international education takes courage, as Cervantes reminds us. But its not a quixotic venture. As Dr Bhandari s story illustrates, the windmills of the mind can be overcome, and the arc of educational exchange bends toward open doors and open minds.

Allan E. Goodman, President and CEO, Institute of International Education (IIE)

Copyright 2021, Rajika Bhandari

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, digital scanning, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please address She Writes Press.

Published 2021

Printed in the United States of America

Print ISBN: 978-1-64742-183-0

E-ISBN: 978-1-64742-184-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021905883

For information, address:

She Writes Press

1569 Solano Ave #546

Berkeley, CA 94707

She Writes Press is a division of SparkPoint Studio, LLC.

Book design by Stacey Aaronson

All company and/or product names may be trade names, logos, trademarks, and/or registered trademarks and are the property of their respective owners.

Names and identifying characteristics have been changed to protect the privacy of certain individuals.

For my mother who gave me the wings to fly and my daughter who inspires me to keep moving forward, and for the millions of students around the world who venture abroad, dreaming and taking risks

To write this book, I relied on my memory and interpretation of events, on my professional knowledge and scholarship about international students, and on relevant data and research. Certain events are omitted to preserve narrative flow. The names of most individuals and other identifying information have been changed to protect privacy. The resemblance of these altered names to individualsliving or deadis purely coincidental. There are no composite characters in the book.

T hey arrive in the US each August, thousands of them with dreams in their eyes and nervousness in their hearts, their belongings usually contained in just two suitcases. They come from over two hundred countries, large metropolises, and small townsfrom China to Saudi Arabia, from Taipei to Timbuktuheading to college campuses all over America, big Ivy Leagues and small community colleges, in New York City, Mobile, Alabama, and points in between. You can spot them easily at any of Americas major airports, as they emerge from the belly of the airplane in twos or threes; perhaps their parents knew each other and made sure they had company on their travels over to a foreign land. Or perhaps they befriended each other somewhere along the way, embarking on a shared journey to a country that was strange yet familiar thanks to television and the internet.

Their luggage contains all their belongings, which will have to suffice until they can make enough money to buy clothes in America. That could take a while. The suitcases are bulging with clothes, books, homemade snacks in carefully sealed packets, and perhaps even a pressure cooker for the ambitious cook. Big white labels pasted on to the suitcases proclaim the travelers long and strange names and their US destinations. For now, these are the maps of their lives: where they have come from and where they are going. But even on that first journey, their identity begins to get truncated as the address labels get ripped apart in the cargo hold of the airplane. So Deepesh is now just Deep and Ashwini becomes Ash, convenient nicknames that their American friends will use anyway as their real ones are simply too much of a mouthful.