Today is All School Seminar Day at New Trier and we offered over
100 sessions related to civil rights; in two that I attended, we actively
discussed immigrants and their assimilation within the United States. I mentioned to several students that I was
reading HOW MAY I HELP YOU? by Deepak Singh. It's subtitled: “An
Immigrant’s Journey from MBA to Minimum Wage,” and tells the story of
Singh’s immigration in the early 2000’s to Charlottesville, Virginia. He left a BBC World Service position in Lucknow,
India in order to join his new American wife, Holly, who was pursuing a PhD. Mostly, Singh shares his frustrations with waiting for a work permit,
eventually finding a job at ElectronicsHut, and then learning to be a salesman working
on commission in America.
There are some funny moments, of course, like his learning the
expression “all hands on deck.” In addition to describing his own misconceptions
and others’ biases, Singh shares many, many wry observations about life in
America, making sales to various customers, and dealing with co-workers. HOW MAY I HELP YOU? is a
relatively easy, engaging read and while Deepak’s character at first seems
rather immature, he causes readers to pause and consider: “I realized that while
I was struggling to keep my job, my colleagues were dealing with much more
serious problems. ... I didn’t know that behind the bright lights of this
country there was a darker side, and that in that darkness there were people who
struggled to make ends meet.” Perhaps our English teachers will consider assigning
HOW MAY I HELP YOU? as an updated replacement for Ehrenreich’s Nickel
and Dimed.
Although not a refugee, Singh struggled to afford life in
America. And, if you are interested, this week the New York Times profiled
charities and other ways to help refugees in the United States and around the world.
