When I was a five-year-old girl living in the United States, my mother would take me to Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam classes and to Balavihar, a Hindu version of Sunday school, in order to create awareness of religion and tradition. My parents made sure my brother and I spoke Telugu at home and watched Hindi and Telugu movies. We would also read Tinkle, Amar Chitra Katha and Panchatantra in our free time. This way my parents tried to ensure that at least at home we would embrace and retain Indian culture.
When I was around eight, my parents decided to move to India. Which meant we were going to be immersed in a new culture, going to new schools, and trying to make new friends. We were nervous... What if they made fun of our accent? What if we can’t catch up to their level of mathematics and science? And, what if we don’t make friends?
These questions were answered soon, but with unexpected answers.
My parents sent us to an international school they found through a Google search. It turned out that the math and science was not any more advanced than what we were used to in the U.S., as the Indian stereotype had suggested. Also, the school had many students who had moved back from the U.S. like us. However, invariably all of them considered India to be inferior to the U.S. There were also gangs of popular and “cool” students who made the India-born students feel “uncool” and at the bottom of the food chain. This resulted in the India-born students trying to imitate American accents and virtually worship those who came from the U.S. I hated it, but most of the others didn’t seem to mind.
I first thought this would be the case only in my school, but I soon discovered that society at large was like that. Indians here consider those in the U.S. to be superior to them. For instance, if a mother needed to decide on a groom for her daughter, she would rather choose one settled in the U.S. than one who is in India. Moreover, when I go to a mall wearing a kurti or a salwar, I seem to get judging looks from those dressed in branded western wear.
This love for foreign education, goods and companies is embedded in Indian society. Why is it that we consider our culture to be inferior to western culture? Many believe we are more disorderly and less-developed. But honestly, our ancestors were the first to be the most developed. We’re lucky to have scriptures such as the Vedas that speak more words of knowledge, wisdom and philosophy than anyone can imagine. And though Carnatic music may not always appear to be as systematic and orderly as western music, it is certainly more beautiful that way. The improvisation our music artistes are capable of cannot be mirrored even by the cream of the crop of western musicians, since they are way too used to reading notes and replicating music.
The perception
Indians are much more creative and innovative than their counterparts in the west, but we believe the latter are better and therefore many of us don’t even try. With our immense population, diversity and culture, our knowledge and philosophy, our beautiful arts, we could be making a huge difference. However, we can’t help but think the west is better. Perhaps it started during the British raj of over 200 years. By inflicting on us their preeminence, they probably built that perception into our psyche.
India has its own beauty that needs to be recognised by the people who live here and not those who get homesick after settling abroad, as my parents. With the rise of our intellectual class in foreign countries, with some of us becoming CEOs of huge corporations, we must introspect and realise that we have a lot to appreciate here. We shouldn’t have to realise the beauty of India after leaving it. However, that’s the reality.
When I moved here I realised that the level of my Telugu, my knowledge of religion and Indian music were better than that of some of my peers who were born and brought up here.
Is this development and globalisation? Or is this losing our culture and identity?
ashki.cherukuri@hotmail.com
