America Calling

2022 IPPY Awards Bronze Winner in Creative Non-Fiction2021 Sarton Book Award Finalist in Memoir2021 Foreword Indie Finalist in Autobiography & Memoir“An Indian woman’s wonderfully written, illuminating account … avaluable study of an extremely important area of ‘soft diplomacy,’dispelling all sorts of easy and false assumptions. Bhandari’sinformative memoir is for readers who want to understand howinterconnected the world really is. Bhandari is a very talented writer,knowing that in a sea of data there is no better life raft than thetelling anecdote.” —Kirkus Reviews “In America Calling, Rajika Bhandari captures the confusion andwonder of the international student experience of the sort she, I, andmany others have shared. Sometimes funny, often moving, and alwaysthought-provoking, Dr. Bhandari’s is a memorable story and an enjoyableread.” —Shashi Tharoor, Indian political leader, former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, and best-selling author of India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond “In adding her voice to the immigrant experience, Rajika reminds us thateveryone has a story to tell and that everyone’s story counts. It isbooks like this that make America a kinder and wiser nation. Highlyrecommended for high schools and colleges.” —Firoozeh Dumas, New York Times best-selling author of Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America “Rajika Bhandari is a voice that urges us with moral clarity andrigorous intelligence to embrace immigrants… This book tells apersonal story, and a wider one too; it is a clarion call for thenation’s policymakers and educators to welcome all curious minds.”—Maeve Higgins, New York Times columnist, award-winning author of Maeve in America: Essays by a Girl from Somewhere Else, host of the Maeve in America: Immigration IRL podcast, and cohost of the StarTalk podcast “[F]ar more than a singular memoir of one Indian student’s experience,but a wider-ranging embrace of the various social, cultural, political,and educational challenges that all readers should know… . Anyonewho has wondered about the modern immigrant experience and perceptionsof coming to this nation to fulfill dreams will find America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility a lesson in adaptation, advantage, and revised futures.” —Midwest Book Review “Rajika Bhandari offers a roadmap to the many who have come, and themany who will be drawn, to America in search of educational and otherlife-affirming professional opportunities. It is deeply personal and yetfully illustrative of the many shared experiences of generations thatcontinue to enrich a nation built by and for immigrants.” —Raju Narisetti, founder of Mint newspaper and former managing editor at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal “Through this intimate account of her own journey, Rajika Bhandari tellsthe story of the millions of young people who pursue the dream of anAmerican education, the price they pay, the irreversible transformationthey undergo, and the often misunderstood and underappreciated yetimmense social and economic value they bring about. While she grew up inDelhi and I in Madrid, her story is, in many ways, mine too.” —Angel Cabrera, president of Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and a Carnegie Corporation “Great Immigrant”“Seeking an international education takes courage, as Cervantes remindsus. But it’s not a quixotic venture. As Dr Bhandari’s story illustrates,the windmills of the mind can be overcome, and the arc of educationalexchange bends toward open doors and open minds.”—Allan E. Goodman, president and CEO of the Institute of International Education (IIE)“Rajika Bhandari presents a very personal and fascinating story of thetrials and tribulations of a foreign student coming to the US. Sheexplains why the world’s brightest flock to American shores and boostits competitiveness—and why they are now returning home. She is rightthat if America doesn’t correct the exodus, it will be the greaterloser.” —Vivek Wadhwa, Distinguished Fellow at the Harvard Law School Labor and Worklife Program and best-selling author of The Immigrant Exodus: Why America is Losing the Global Race to Capture Entrepreneurial Talent

Rajika Bhandari, a former international student from India to the US and an Indian American immigrant, is an international higher education expert, a widely published author, and a sought-after speaker on issues of international education, skilled immigrants, and educational and cultural diplomacy. An author of five academic books and one previous nonfiction book, Dr. Bhandari is quoted frequently in the global press, and her writing has appeared in the Guardian, the Chronicle of Higher Education, HuffPost, University World News, Times Higher Education, and the Diplomatic Courier, among others. She lives outside New York City.