Being Indian American

I was at a puja when one of the children asked, what are we? Are we black or white?". The father didn't know how to respond because he didn't know himself.

Diwali, the festival of lights was beginning as October came to a close. After long days at school and work, everyone in the neighborhood came together to light fireworks. " Be careful! We don't want to be too loud!" the mother whispered. So we tried to celebrate the victory of good over evil in a secret silence, trying not to let the rest of America hear our Indian celebration. The next day our teacher told us our celebration sounded like guns firing.

No one quite understands why father doesn't like Indian culture, until one day you hear his story. In the story, one of the characters tells father, "You people can never be leaders. You people are only good for math and numbers". They never tried to understand us, so we had to keep trying to understand them while helping ourselves even though we were new to the entire country.

You began to dislike Indian culture too because no one ever taught you how special it is. The food, festivals, Bollywood, the languages, and the unity of a South Asian community in America are what made Indian culture so special. But we won't understand until we're older because that's the cost of being an Indian American.