Coconut

When I see my daughters growing in US I can’t sometime avoid pausing for a moment and think as to what values and customs they are imbibing. As an immigrant we have to sacrifice the whole nine yards in terms of Indian customs and rituals that you are so used to back in your own country.

It’s a valid statement that the new generation is always better than the previous generation. It’s because of this adaptability of mankind that the human race has survived till date. The new generation always finds ways and means to adapt to the ever changing social fabric.

It’s so true in case of Indian kids growing in US. While they want to learn the nuances of their adopted country they are keen to carry the traditions of Indian culture if explained with proper perspective. My elder daughter, Tanya argues that she need to go to school keeping her hair open. Since I have grown in an environment where girls go to school with their hair tie in breads and ponytails, I sometimes wonder if I am carrying the responsibility on my shoulder to keep the traditions alive. Why can’t I allow my daughter to go with her hair open? What’s so wrong in that? Why I am trying to become a policeman if certain custom and tradition does not make sense to my daughter especially in US? She must be allowed to grow and flower by providing her an environemnt that is seucre, logical, psoitive and entrepreneurial.

There are some more examples where I don’t endorse easily the way certain activities get performed by my daughters. What I fail to realize is that the rate of change in modern times are much faster than what we saw when we were small. We should not drag and impose our opinions on our kids rather we must allow them to appreciate the options by listing the pros and cons of each option. We need to make them informed rather than be judgmental.

Indian kids in US especially the ones that might have spend a few years in India are anyway doing great by adopting the change of moving to a new country and a new culture. They work hard to keep getting assimilated in the new culture while carrying some burden of maintaining Indian traditions and customs. We should always encourage them to continue adopting the good values from both India and US. This will make them better citizens and parents later in their life. Instead of being judgmental we must always encourage them to understand the pros and cons of choices in front of them.

If you really think for a moment then Indian kids in US are like coconut, brown from outside and white from inside. Hope our kids will assimilate the best of traditions and values from both the countries and become a global citizen to work towards peace and prosperity of mankind.