I am an Indian-American. My parents were born and raised in India, and when they moved to the U.S to study, they ended up finding good jobs here- so they stayed. I, on the other hand, have never lived outside the US, and I consider myself more American than Indian. Being a multicultural person can be hard; on the outside, I act American but at home, I have to live under my parents’ Indian rules and beliefs. You can see how it’s easy for me to become confused about my identity, but it turns out I’m not the only Indian-American who finds living outside of the country a bit difficult at times.
1. No one outside your family can pronounce or spell your name correctly.
I always dread the first day of school, and only because I know the new teachers will mispronounce my name and there will always be the inevitable giggles from my classmates. Every time I go to Starbucks and the barista asks for my name, I always say my last name, Sebastian, because it’s easier to spell than my first name, Adila.
Teacher: Mike
Mike: here!
Teacher: Joe
Joe: here
Teacher: Cindy
Cindy: here
*long pause*
Me: here?
— MY LIFE AS A DESI (@mylifeasadesi1) June 29, 2016
2. Being told you’re not actually Asian by your peers.
When you call someone “Asian” it means they are from the continent of Asia. So, yes, I am Asian because the country India is in Asia. I understand, when most people hear the word “Asian” they think of East-Asian people, but there are 48 countries in Asia, each with habitants that deserve the right to claim their race without being questioned.
#growingupindian "You aren't Asian, you're Indian"…….. pic.twitter.com/Z0gxSZjWpr
— ipsa ? || ia (@aquasilhouette) July 19, 2016
3. “Do you speak Hindu/Indian?”
Hindu is not a language, a Hindu is someone who practices Hinduism, which is a religion. Does it make sense if I go up to someone who practices Judaism and asked them if they speak Jewish? While we are at it, “Indian” is not a language either. Asking someone if they speak “Indian” is like someone asking if you speak “American” or “Canadian”. There are 22 languages recognized by the Indian constitution, ie. Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam, Punjabi, Telugu, etc. Most school kids in India speak at least three languages: Hindi, English, and their state language. So, there is no language called Indian. The same thing for Chinese, Chinese is not a language, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Shanghainese are.
https://twitter.com/_Saadiyyah/status/812476071396474882
4. Every white person at your school thinking you’re related to the one other brown kid in your class.
Though living in the Washington DC area means my school is pretty diverse, it still has only a handful of brown kids. You have no idea how many times I have been asked if I was related to the one other brown kid in my class. It’s as if they forget that India has 1.3 billion people. The chances of me being related to some random brown kid are pretty low. Just because our skin color is the same, does not always mean we are related. Does it make sense if I were to ask a white person if they’re related to some random white guy I happen to know?
5. Hearing the words “chai tea”, “naan bread” and “chutney sauce” all the time.
You have no idea how dumb you sound when you say “chai tea”. It’s like me saying “burger sandwich”. Chai is tea. So saying “chai tea” is basically saying “tea tea”. If you want to categorize chai, there are many different types, ie. masala chai, tea with milk, black tea, tea with lemon, etc. Same thing goes for “chutney sauce” that is basically saying “sauce sauce” and “naan bread”, “bread bread”. If you want to attempt to relate through my culture, I get it, but at least have the decency to get the names right.
Living as an American of Indian origin is hard. From the constant misspellings and mispronunciations of your name to people insisting that you are not from where you say you’re from to others asking if you speak a made-up language.Yet, even with all of the hardships, I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t thankful to be from such a wonderful country.
