Tribute to JFK — and Discovering America
60 years after Kennedy’s Assassination and my Christopher Columbus moment.
Christopher Columbus was looking for a new route to India when he discovered the Americas. I was still living in India when I discovered America.
It was November 1963, and the entire country of India — about half a Billion people then — shut down for three days. Every office, every shop, and every school! Why? Because some man called Kennedy in some far away country called America had been assassinated. What? Who? Where? Why? So many questions, and no answers in my limited knowledge.
I had recently turned 13. We had relocated from a small city — Gorakhpur, where we all rode bicycles and rode in rickshaws, to a bustling city of cars, buses and trams — Calcutta.
Our Dad was an executive in the Indian Railways and this transfer was a promotion. While adjusting to his new role and responsibilities, he also had to get four of us admitted into different schools and colleges in the middle of the school calendar year.
In Gorakhpur, I was studying in Hindi medium school and all subjects including physics, chemistry etc. were taught in Hindi. In Calcutta, Dad decided to enroll me in an English medium school, as the only other choice was a Bengali medium school.
After being rejected at a number of schools, he was relieved when the Principal of Calcutta Boys’ School, recognized the challenge of a transferable job and agreed to give me admission.
My new school was part of the old ‘Senior Cambridge’ system run by the University of Cambridge, UK. Our final exams were held from mid November to early December.
In November, right in the middle of our final exams, we learned that the entire country was going to shut down for three days in mourning for someone who had died in some far away country.
I had very little knowledge of world geography. At school, I had only learned Indian geography and history till then. So my knowledge of the United States of America, much less of President Kennedy, was practically non-existent.
However this was the first time that the entire country had shut down for three days! There was no TV then and the radio was mostly used for listening to music, not news. Dad used to get an English newspaper, The Statesman, and from its pages is how I learned about JFK’s assassination in Dallas.
I learned that although President Kennedy had never visited India, his wife Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy had visited in 1962 and she had totally charmed the country. While living in Gorakhpur, this news too had bypassed me.
Once I learned about the US of A, I wanted to learn more. I discovered a USIS (United States Information Service) Library not too far from my school. [USIS was merged with the State Department in 1999 and the Library is now called the American Library].
I spent hours at the library, mostly reading and enjoying Mad, Life and similar magazines and reading the daily newspapers. I didn’t know it then, but I was learning and absorbing Americana.
An early Americana that I learned: Hamburger has no ham and a double cheeseburger has twice the beef, not twice the cheese!
I first visited the US in 1975 as an engineering officer on a merchant ship. In 1980, we came to the US on a vacation and decided to stay, becoming citizens in 1987.
November 22, 1963: a national tragedy was my Christopher Columbus moment. Columbus was 41 when he discovered America; I was 13!
************************************
S. K. Gupta is a former senior executive of a Fortune 50 corporation. He enjoys researching and writing about the not-so-obvious things in life. Feedback welcome. sk.gupta.us@gmail.com.
