Only between us:

Half fairy tale, half nightmare

Aditha DISSANAYAKE in New York

Continuing the narrative from last week where Dhammika talked to us about his life in New York as an undocumented immigrant,over four steaming mugs of coffee at the Dunkin Donut round the corner, his roommate Shanthe, who has been in New York for over eight years, tells us how he had got visa to enter the USA. But before he begins he says he hopes no one else would even attempt to accomplish such a foolish venture. Looking back now, he wishes he had not been lured by the fairy tale life he had expected New York to be.

The turning point in his life had come when his brother-in-law who was already in New York working in a video parlour on 42nd Street, had invited Shanthe to join him. He had got his visa for the USA from the Embassy in a Middle East country where he had been working as a chef in a popular holiday resort. "A Sri Lankan who had contacts with ships in Mexico gave me a letter saying I will be working in a cruise liner. All I had to do was show the US Embassy I had $1500 in my bank account. At the interview the only question the visa officer asked me was when will I be joining the ship. He gave me C1 Visa." The whole procedure had cost him $ 8000. Shanthe had bought a ticket for Mexico via New York. At New York instead of joining his connecting flight to Mexico he had walked out of the airport where his brother-in-law had been waiting to pick him up.

Since he voluntarily pays taxes Shanthe says he is not doing anything illegal. The tax department knows he doesn't have a work permit but they have turned a blind eye to this fact. "I am clean", he says. "I voluntarily pay taxes". By doing so he has managed to open a bank account and get a landline phone, things which are not possible if you are not an American citizen. He earns $ 525 a week, which, when converted into Sri Lankan rupees is a fortune, and in spite of the hard life working without a break for twelve hours seven days a week, he says part of his dream has been accomplished as his siblings and parents are living comfortable lives in Sri Lanka, thanks to the money he sends home.

Yet, the wish to get rid of the stigma of being illegal and the freedom of going home to see their loved ones, is strong. Thus the yearning to be a citizen of America. Both see marriage as their path to citizenship. Dammika hopes to find a Sri Lankan girl who has "papers" and marry her. Shanthe is already seeing a girl who had come to study at the Queens College but dropped out when she ran out of money to pay the tuition fees. Now she works part time at a supermarket in Brooklyn and studies nursing. He hopes to marry her after she qualifies because as a nurse she will be entitled to apply for Permanent Resident Visa which will pave the path for him to become a legal immigrant.

The fact that the economy is sliding here in New York and hard times are already upon middle class New Yorkers become evident, when a lady with a medium Latte in her hands sits at the table next to ours. She points to the cup in her hand and says "I used to drink three extra large cups a day. Now I can afford only a medium and not everyday." Most other customers who used to buy a coffee and a bun everyday on their way to work too have stopped coming. Now their wives buy packets of coffee from Dunkin and make it for them in the morning to save a few dollars, says Shanthe.

The golden pot has undoubtedly started to melt, the streets are no longer paved with gold. And Dammika and Shanthe dream of the day when they would be going home. Perhaps when they are sixty or seventy, by which time they believe they would have amassed a fortune they will return to Sri Lanka and spend their last few years in their homeland.

And for the time being, life here is half fairy tale, half nightmare.

(Names have been changed)