POP! As my ears adjust to the change in pressure while the plane lands on the dark and dusty runway, memories of my family members from years ago run through my head. Aunts in the kitchen mixing spices together, uncles coming home from their job, cousins who have kept me entertained for many hours, and the hilarity that ensues when my family gets together. Walking out of the Indira Gandhi International airport, into the humid climate of India, the family that has come to pick us up surrounds me. Surrounded by all this love and my family members, I am perfectly content.
As we drive home through the crowded streets with animals and other cars, my family and I catch up with each other on the major events that occurred in the years that have passed since we saw each other last. When we arrive at home, I meet the other older members of the family who could not come to the airport. Their love surrounds me and I experience the Indian hospitality where everyone is a part of the family, even the domestic servants, who help the family with everyday tasks. The smells of the spices that are us...
Symbolism is displayed in this short story to strengthen the theme. When talking to his daughter about her departure for college, the father repeatedly mentions seeing Indians. When he is asked by his daughter what he was doing, he responded, "Looking for some Indians." He is beginning to worry here, by the indication that he is seeing Indians. (98) Later on he said, "Look... Indians on the warpath." (100) which is displaying how he further felt his fear of his daughter leaving. At the end of the story, he concludes by thinking, "I went
In “From the School Days of an Indian Girl.” Zitkala-Sa, the author tells her experience as a young Indian girl taken away from her family to be assimilated in to the white culture.
Distance is such a simple concept and yet it can cause the greatest of changes in a people. This idea is reflected powerfully in the stories “The Management of Grief” and “Interpreter of Maladies” written by Bharati Mukherjee and Jhumpa Lahiri respectively. Their stories illustrate two different cultures populated by the same people, Indians. Although they are all Indian, the people are separated by a culture barrier between countries. In “The Management of Grief” a Canadian widow finds that her life is drastically different from the lives of her family in India(Mukherjee, 434). In “Interpreter of Maladies” an Indian man comes to know a an Indian-American family there on vacation(Lahiri, 448). These stories compare two
Through her tasteful selection of contemporary Indian influenced prose pieces, Jhumpa Lahiri traces the unique journey of Indian families established in America. Focusing on the intergenerational aspect of traditional households, Lahiri conveys the emotional rollercoaster that accompanies a person who is branded as a foreigner. In America, there exists a common misconception that immigrants who arrive in this country fully assimilate or seek to assimilate as time progresses. The category I chose was "The Dot of true Happiness." The dot which signifies the bindi, a traditional red mark worn by Indian people, is the source of true happiness among these immigrants.
“Like many immigrant offspring I felt intense pressure to be two things, loyal to the old world and fluent in the new, approved of on either side of the hyphen” (Lahiri, My Two lives). Jhumpa Lahiri, a Pulitzer Prize winner, describes herself as Indian-American, where she feels she is neither an Indian nor an American. Lahiri feels alienated by struggling to live two lives by maintaining two distinct cultures. Lahiri’s most of the work is recognized in the USA rather than in India where she is descents from (the guardian.com). Lahiri’s character’s, themes, and imagery in her short stories and novels describes the cultural differences of being Indian American and how Indian’s maintain their identity when moved to a new world. Lahiri’s inability to feel accepted within her home, inability to be fully American, being an Indian-American, and the difference between families with same culture which is reflected in one of her short stories “Once in a Lifetime” through characterization and imagery.
The narrator’s family considers socializing as a principal habit in Indian society. They have only one neighbor behind the fence, they are surrounded by a government office and a high
It was May 25, 2013 when I, accompanied by my friends, went on a journey that would change my life. We departed ourselves, very early in the morning, from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, not knowing what lied before us on this mysterious trip. The airport was filled with many international people and everyone was in a hurry to reach their desired destination. It was hectic, but we gradually made our way through the very thor...
Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. Stuttgart: Klett Sprachen, 2009. Print.
As I stepped off the plane, I felt a dry desert breeze wrap around me and breathed in the smoggy, dusty air. My family and I managed to make our way through...
Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. Stuttgart: Klett Sprachen, 2009. Print.
Kothari employs a mixture of narrative and description in her work to garner the reader’s emotional investment. The essay is presented in seventeen vignettes of differing lengths, a unique presentation that makes the reader feel like they are reading directly from Kothari’s journal. The writer places emphasis on both her description of food and resulting reaction as she describes her experiences visiting India with her parents: “Someone hands me a plate of aloo tikki, fried potato patties filled with mashed channa dal and served with a sweet and a sour chutney. The channa, mixed with hot chilies and spices, burns my tongue and throat” (Kothari). She also uses precise descriptions of herself: “I have inherited brown eyes, black hair, a long nose with a crooked bridge, and soft teeth
Pat, a 64 year old, white, married, middle class women with six daughters and one son and 35 grandchildren, works full time as a commercial processor for an insurance company. Having to balance work and caring for her grandchildren, Pat is similar to the 48 working grandmothers who were interviewed in Madonna Harrington Meyer’s book Grandmothers at work.Grandmothers at work outlines the joys as well as challenges of being a grandmother. Three important joys that come with being a grandmother are positive health impacts, second chance at mothering and spoiling a child. Contrary to the joys of being a working grandmother, three important challenges are setting limits, financial support, and enabling.
It was October 1998 when an infant was born in New Delhi, India to a relatively unwealthy family. Two years later, this family made a migration from India to the opposite side of the planet, in the United States. The young infant alongside this family was no other than myself, which meant that I was going to grow up in a society much unlike that of which my parents and ancestors grew up in, a culture that I did not easily fit in socially, mentally, and even physically. Even though my foreign background has caused much of a struggle throughout my life, it did allow me to learn a few but critical lessons that I simply cannot thrive without.
My heart was pounding as I boarded my flight leaving the Bangkok International Airport. A flight attendant in a grey dress with a red bow draped over her shoulder announced; “Welcome aboard flight AA350 to the United States.” My journey began that day.
Happiness can come in different forms for each person. Some people dream of achieving great wealth to buy everything they ever wanted. Others may find simple tasks such as, reading a book, to make them happy. There are people who find happiness by making others happy, whether it’d be, feeding the homeless, or giving random compliments to strangers. I think that most people would agree that the purpose of life is happiness. There are several things that bring happiness to my world, which include, family, health, and laughter, among other things. Accomplishments can also bring happiness to people, which is what many people strive for during their lives. It can be a promotion, diploma, house, etc. It is usually something that is challenging,