East Meets West

Kalyani Adusumilli grew up in a minority group in the United States, straddling cultures, learning how to fit in, and later learning how to accept the traditions of her heritage. Today, she is watching her children going through the same process, shifting their cultural identity, as they head toward adulthood in the melting pot of a multicultural society.

- By Kalyani Adusumilli

Do I consider myself Indian or American? That's a question Indian-Americans commonly grapple with as they try to navigate the two cultures that influence and impact their lives. “I'm American, Mom! or I don't like Indian food!” are sentiments that I've heard frequently from my children. There's my youngest, who once curiously told my sister-in-law, to her extreme consternation, “I'm not Indian. I'm half-Mexican and half-American! While I knew that his comment stemmed from the adoration he felt for one of my close friends, who is Mexican, and like his surrogate aunt, I felt guilty, thinking that I had failed to instill in him a sense of pride for his own Indian culture. Then there's my oldest, who traveled to India twice and readily embraced the culture and food as a child, but now avoids Indian food like the plague! He'll squawk about mild spices in the occasional curry, and then shrug when I watch him munch on hot Cheetos and Takis. Where did I go wrong, I wondered until I considered my own shifting cultural identity, and its gradual progression and transformation from childhood through adulthood.

Born in India and raised there for six years before joining my family in the United States, I naturally identified more with my Indian roots, at first. Not quite fluent in English and accustomed to a different set of societal customs, I had to both learn and unlearn to assimilate into Western culture. No longer could I run freely around town barefoot, nor did I see cows and goats wandering around everywhere unrestrained. But before long, the Western influences took hold of me and I morphed into a fusion of East and West.