Bangalore to Boston: One Man’s Hope

On his first full day in America, T. N. Jayaramu went to Kmart. He also took in an American supermarket.

“It’s an amazing experience,” says Jayaramu, 31, newly arrived from Bangalore, India, to take a high-tech job in Boston. “We get everything under one roof.”

Well, not everything. He and his wife, Vidya, bought a comforter and a few other items at the discount store to outfit the apartment they will lease. And they picked up groceries in the Market Basket store, with its impressive array of brightly displayed produce.

But their suitcases still held the tastes of home, things they were not sure they’d find when they crossed the U. S. border: tamarind, garam masala and other spices and condiments they carefully packed before the long flight.

Jayaramu has no thoughts of staying or becoming an American. Like thousands of Indians with computer-related skills, he intends to cash in on high American salaries, then return home as soon as he can.

Jayaramu, a systems manager for Wipro Technologies, is in Boston on a one-year job, working with Putnam Investments Inc., which deals with mutual funds. He has worked for Wipro, a software developer, for two years.

“I am looking forward to gaining more experience. I will get a chance to interact with the client,” he said while packing in Bangalore, the hub of India’s growing software industry. “Here, I deal with my boss, and the entire thing is a family affair. There, I will have more responsibility. At stake is not only my company’s reputation, but also that of my country.”

Hope and apprehension mixed as he spoke.

Would he fit in? He expected most of his socializing to be with other Indians in Boston, including other Wipro employees, one of whom would meet him at the Boston airport.

“I am afraid about the safety of my wife. I understand that violence is on the increase in the States,” he said. “There are also ethnic clashes.”

Indian software engineers are “the best,” he said confidently, and yet “we have to be cautious and maintain a distance from the Americans. We have been taught to be courteous to them all the time.”

Jayaramu arrived early for the flight that would take him from Bangalore to Madras, where he would board a British Airways flight for Boston via London.

Twenty relatives came to see him and Vidya off. Jayaramu barely talked, even to his mother.

But Vidya, on her first trip outside India, was excited and chatty, and the smile rarely left her face. Although she has a master’s degree herself, her English is halting and she was still uncertain what she would do in Boston.

Life would be more lavish there. The couple, married 15 months, left behind a small rented apartment in Bangalore. They had no telephone and no car.

Though Vidya would miss her parents, her brother lives in America and she expected to see him often. She, too, spoke of uncertainties: How safe is it in America? Could she afford to pursue higher studies?

“I shall know once I am there,” she said, smiling again.

When it came time to board, Jayaramu--who comes from a conservative Hindu background, and who earlier prayed at a small shrine at home--shook hands with the well-wishers. Then he and his wife disappeared through the gate.

His father-in-law, S. Kumara Swamy, a retired professor of plant pathology, beamed. He recalled times when even highly qualified Indians could not find opportunities, and West and East did not meet.

“The world is a small place now,” he said.

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Laura Vozzella in Boston contributed to this story.