America Calling by Rajika Bhandari

Dr. Rajika Bhandari’s 'America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility', is bold, inspiring, and laugh-out-loud relatable," shares guest reviewer Neha Sharma. While Bhandari replays early memories of life in America, she makes space for a deeper exploration of the value international students add to the country. She sprinkles expertise throughout her book by contextualizing anecdotes with statistics, including the fact that international students add $45 billion to the economy yearly. From an innocent first encounter with a chocolate chip cookie to examining the difference between sexism in the American versus Indian workplace, Dr. Bhandari’s analysis is an educational read for both Indians and non-Indians.

I especially enjoyed the chapter dedicated to examining what Dr. Bhandari calls the “privilege of ‘triple-selection’”, which encompasses education, financial privilege, and IIT students. While the chapter includes a fairly in-depth analysis of her intersectional privilege, I was surprised to see that caste was only mentioned in brief passing. Caste is the basis of the social hierarchy in India. More than 90% of Indian immigrants in the U.S. are upper caste. To not make this a larger point in her examination of privilege seemed misleading. With that being said, this was my only gripe with the book.

Overall, Dr. Bhandari’s personality, humor, and confidence shine through the book as she provides a peek into the complex stories behind every immigrant student. She kept me so engaged, I read "America Calling" in one sitting.

See review on BrownGirlBookshelf here