Student profile
Personal Essay
Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal understanding of yourself or others.
Culture. Heritage. Traditions. These are all words that define who we are and have an for a first generation Indian American, like me. My parents came to the United States in graduate studies, and I was born here. While I grew up in a multicultural environment, I appreciate the Indian side of my identity. Life, however, has a strange way of teaching us perspective.
Towards the end of my sophomore year, we found out that my grandmother in India had been diagnosed with cancer. I instantly felt worried, but consoled myself with the thought that modern medicine would be able to heal her. I eventually realized that her illness had impacted me more than I initially thought. Besides the sadness associated with the pain of a loved one, one of my parents was away in India for an extended period of time, and I started to appreciate the value of family and reflect upon my ethnic roots. Over time, my grandmother made a full recovery, but coming this close to losing her made me realize how little I knew about her life in India, even though she was the window to my heritage.
I always identified myself more as an American: my first language is English, my favorite dress is from Urban Outfitters, and my favorite food is a burger from In-n-Out. I usually found most things Indian as mildly amusing to roaringly hilarious. I struggled to understand how my parents had an arranged marriage after meeting each other for just an hour. During our periodic Christmas trips to India, I found it strange how friends and family would drop by unannounced at 10 p.m. to meet us, and my mom and grandmother would make chai and miraculously have a whole snack spread set up. People would casually ask us personal questions about our grades, our clothes, and our need for braces on our reasonably normal teeth! What I did not appreciate then was that all these people were taking time off their busy schedules to come meet us and welcome us, making us feel part of the family. When I saw these same people rally around my grandmother during her illness without any hesitation, I realized how important the support of this social fabric was in her recuperation.
As I took another look at my life here in the United States, I realized that this social bond was already present in my life, and perhaps I was just too naïve to fully appreciate it. When my mother invites all twenty-six members of our extended family for our annual Diwali gathering, the celebrations are deeper than my brother and I wearing ethnic clothes and eating delicious food. It is her way of keeping the connection to our Indian culture alive, ensuring that all family is together to celebrate. And when we have an equally big celebration for Thanksgiving (of course no turkey, but lots of pies), it is a nod to our American values. My favorite family time remains Christmas with a dazzling pine tree and binge watching Harry Potter movies!
As I take a deeper look at my Indian side I realize my life is much richer because of it: my Spotify playlist has equal number of Ariana Grande and Bollywood dance songs, I love spicy chaat as much as pizza, and I enjoy fireworks on July 4th and on Diwali. It may have taken a somber life event to trigger this introspection, but I do appreciate what it means to bridge two cultures together. I am proud to be an Indian American, and I want to carry this amalgamation of traditions into the future. I am confident that as I grow up, I will imbibe different things from all facets of life and will become a more complete person from it.