For my assignment I interviewed my friend of seven years, Ayushi Acharya. Her parents are Gujurati, from India. After years of struggling to find a balance between her two worlds, she identifies as Indian American.
From a very young age, she realized how different her parents' values were from hat of her American friends. They were allowed to do certain things that she wasn't allowed to do, staying out late or eating certain things. This caused conflict during her preteen years because although she was living the life her parents designed, she didn't identify with Indian culture they way they did. As she got older she began to understand her parents and their attatchment to their culture, so while the tension didn't disappear, it did improve. It was at this age that she said she realized, "I would always be Indian no matter how long I've been in America". Being her best friend it always seemed as though she lived a double life, her Indian gatherings, events, and temple. She would always be curious to try my chicken dishes, hiding the fact that she loved grilled chicken from her very religious father. It was very few times that these two lives converged, like at her parents' 50th anniversary celebration, or her graduation party. Hall would place her in the "becoming" stage of her identity, still seeing the cultural dispora as a juggling act that at times caused tension and conflict. Like Ruma in Unaccustomed earth, she found her own private forms of rebellion.
Now in college, she lives in her own apartment, a very American tradition, but identifies with the Indian culture more than ever. She's joined an Indian sorority,balances and introduces both her Indian friends and American friends, and feels comfortable in both atmospheres. Her values may be different from those of her friends, as they are a construct of two worlds, but she's comfortable enough with her identity that these differences don't cause stress. She hopes that now and in the future she'll be able to, "take the very best of each side and incorporate it into defining myself as an Indian as well as an American."
