This and That ...

The onset of the marriage season in India reminds me of my own wedding and all the shopping before and after that I did. When you decide to make the United States your new home, there's this long shopping list that makes its place in your handbag. You are allowed to carry 'n' pieces of baggage with 'm' kilos in each, so you begin jotting down the optimal list of things that can be carried in 'n*m' kilos. Whether you're going to the US for the first time, or for the tenth, you are bound to make this calculation. There's always something to bring back from India. Before coming up with my list, I asked some of my friends who were already living in the USA at that time to suggest me what all things should be brought from India. They were kind enough to share their thoughts, and right now I'm going to blog the list of "essentials", "not-so-essentials" and the "just-not-worth-the-load" items below. Basically, I categorize the immigrants into three categories:

I'll start with category#1.

The essentials:

1. Electric mixer: You do get mixers here, but they aren't designed to grind our dals and pulses. This is a must have in any Indian kitchen and I'm pretty sure you are going to miss this if you forget to get one.
   
2. Pressure cooker: If rice and dal constitute your staple food, do carry a pressure cooker from India. US has some good rice cookers though. So, you don't have to carry the electric ones. When you purchase a pressure cooker, remember to also buy enough number of gaskets, safety valves and a spare whistle too.
   
3. Stainless-steel ware: Steel is ridiculously expensive here. So bring whatever you can think of. All those cooking utensils, ladles, other speciality steelware.
   
4. Kadai/frying pan/wok: Get the aluminium ones from India, non-stick can be bought here. Also, make sure you buy the flat-bottomed kadais like this and not the rounded ones like this. Since most of the stoves in the American kitchens are electric, if you use a round-bottomed kadai, it'll end up dancing on your stove-top :)
5. Other miscellaneous kitchen essentials: Coconut-breaker, coconut scraper, idli plates, chopping board with knife attached (you can't find one here)...
6. Groceries: Tamarind (what you get here is mostly black) and all those special "branded" stuff like masalas, pickles, etc.
7. Devotional stuff: If you are religious and do your prayer everyday, bring all those idols, religious texts and other puja material.
8. and most importantly, bring with you lots of confidence to achieve your American dream :)
   

Not-so-essentials:

1. Medicines: They would not add much of weight, so if you have the time, shop some antibiotics and other drugs you just can't do without. First-aid and regular cold-cough-fever medications can be purchased over the counter here. but antibiotics and other speciality medicines are sold only on prescription. But yeah, if you prefer gulping down the same things you grew up with, its better to get them rather than miss them in times of need.
   
2. Home decor: My major complaint about the USA is that the only fancy decorative stuff sold here are candle stands and photo frames. How bland! If you like to add a vibrant, desi feel to your home, get them from Desh! Again, when you're coming for the first time, you won't really have an idea of what to pick. My suggestion is, get some light-weight wall decor and may be a bunch of figurines for your TV stand and side tables. We generally don't have India like showcases in the houses here. So don't bring too much stuff either.
3. Plastic-ware: Plastic is dirt cheap here. But, most of the plastic food storage containers you find here are short and wide, unlike those tall tins in our mom's kitchen. If you have some room in your baggage, get those tall plastic containers for storing pulses and other groceries.
   
4. Other Cookware: Like chapathi rolling pins and base, a tool to sift flour, (jalleda in Telugu) etc etc.
   
5. Media: All your favourite music CDs, movie DVDs that you keep watching over and over again, unless you want to do some piracy and download from the Internet :)
6. Woolens: Just bring one jacket for your flight, nothing more. You'll be amazed surfing the woolenwear aisles in the shops here.
   

Just-not-worth-the-weight:

1. Non-stick cookware: You can get really good ones here.
2. Tableware: By this I mean, plates, spoons and forks. Can be bought here.
3. Other steelware: Knives, peelers, graters, etc etc.
   
4. Linen: Bedsheets, bath towels, etc. A big waste of baggage space if brought from India. They are not at all that expensive here.
5. Groceries: Most of us carry all those pulses and loads of groceries that are readily available here just for the sake of saving some dollars. If you have the space in your baggage, go ahead and purchase. IMO, this should be the last thing on your mind when you shop for US. I usually fill in my baggage with lots of decorative and all other goods and finally hit the departmental store just before sealing my baggage. What you save may be 50 or 60$ which is equivalent to what you pay for eating out may be 3times. So, do you see, groceries are just not worth the weight.
   
6. Books: Unless you are a student or a serious reader, you can safely leave all your books back home in India. Public libraries in the US are huge and rent books for free. You can find virtually every book here. For books that you refer to very frequently, better get them from India for they cost a lot to purchase.
   

If you are going to land in a desi hub like Los Angeles or New Jersey, you can do without carrying even the ones on my "essentials" list. These cities have huge Indian bazaars that sell everything from a diwali lamp to Gold ornaments. Another thing, if you plan to bring any electric gadgets from India, remember that America runs on 110V supply, so your 230V devices are not going to work directly here. Also, if you are coming from the state of Andhra Pradesh, there's this shop in Hyderabad called "Sanath Nagar Steel factory" that's worth checking out.. Its a huge warehouse like store that sells 110V items. That ain't my uncle's store :), mentioning because I find it really good.

For category #2, #3:

The biiig advantage that people falling in cat #1 have is, one: a car ready at their disposal and two: a US guide aka husband :) So even if they come empty handed, they can purchase most of the above within no time. But for the rest of you, I say, get a month's supply of toiletries, linen, some groceries, stationery/college supplies, medicines. Fill up your suitcase with whatever you use as part of your day-to-day life.

This list is by no means a comprehensive one. I'll keep updating this as more entries come to my mind. Feel free to leave me a comment if you think of something else, so that I can add it to my list.