I Am Me – Guest Blog.
My perspective of being Indian continues to expand. Growing up in America, I equated Indian with Gujaratis who lived in Michigan, ate dhar, bhat, shak, and danced with sticks near Halloween and before weddings. In highschool, India became a country of various cultures – I was told Gujaratis were cheap, Punjabis liked to drink and dance and south Indians were religious. In college, I learned that Indians were also Christian, that Pakistan and India don’t get along, that South Goa does not have nightlife and that one day, I wanted to live in India.
The Indian portion of my Indian-American identity continues to add layers (I’m a mixture of the Khadaytata and Anavil Vaishaya and Chaorta Patidar). However, the complexity of identity is much more relevant here. Every city, region, state, and geography is unique, whether natural or enforced: languages, cultures, religions, stereotypes, caste and beliefs.
The below post is from my friend, Keren. She explains her diverse and proud Indian identity.
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I am Me
I am a mixed breed of many bloodlines, so infused that I cannot tell whether my hair comes from my maternal Spanish great grandmother or whether my eyes are English or my nose is French. What I am sure of is that I was born in Ahmedabad, India, of a Goan father, and Anglo-Indian mother (Born of a French father and Indian mother).
My ancestry is as mixed as my feelings once were, about who I am and how it makes a difference to anyone or myself where I am from. I have answered the questions of, ‘What is your nationality?’, ‘What are you exactly (caste, religion, State)?’, ‘Are you Gujarati/Parsi/Delhi-ite/Mumbai-ite etc. etc.?’ With many different responses, most of which were aimed at moving the conversation along rather than dwelling on this one aspect.
Having studied in a different State, Uttranchal (erstwhile Uttar Pradesh) for 10 years in a boarding school, with friends from all over India and the globe, my orientation was very cosmopolitan (if I say so). It never mattered where you came from, it mattered that you were one of the 300 odd girls, now confined to the life of the Central Jail of Mussoorie (C.J.M aka the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Waverley, boarding school for girls).
I grew up within a relatively safe environment, but where one had to fend for themselves, deal with the emotional hassles without going crying to mommy or daddy and take punishment like a grown up. On the other hand, we were sheltered from the crimes of the world around us, well to a larger extent than most. A sense of humour was essential to deal with the ups and downs. This sense of humour has gotten me through some pretty rough times, it allows me clarity on what is really important in life.
My family is made up of forward thinking, broad minded (to an extent), highly intelligent people who have the ability to not expect a homogenous environment. My dad ran an NGO working on issues of rural development, organic farming and sustainable development for poor and marginal farmers. I grew up observing village life, on numerous trips with my dad to the field. My parents taught me a great love for all creatures of God, people and animal alike. No one was better or worse.
I am Catholic. I was born Catholic, but my understanding of religion was never restricted to the church. I have an extended family that includes Parsis, Hindus and Sindhis. My father read books of many great teachers including Buddha and about Islam. My religion has always been based on what good I can do, rather than how many times I went to church. My relationship with my God is personal and I don’t care what the contemporary discourse is, it is based on the belief that there is something greater than all of us out there, whether we call it the universe, karma, Gaia, Yahweh, Allah, Bhagvan or any other name – it is there.
Apart from – where I come from, my family, my education and my religion, it is the personal choices that I have made, which make me who I am. I am a woman with a sense of humour and limitless hope who believes in something greater than herself, understands the enormity of every living being and attempts to comprehend the finiteness of life.
-Keren
finding rickshaw. 