The Subway Connection

My name is Cali Paetow. It’s actually Calisce, but that sounds pretentious. My tentative major (I’m currently undecided) is Communications with a minor in French or German. I already know a good amount of German though, so the latter would almost be cheating. I applied to the Macaulay Honors College because I knew that I loved being in New York City and that (even though it was a stretch) I had to take that chance. The only other school I applied to was SUNY Purchase, located about half an hour outside the city in Purchase, NY. Macaulay had the better location and the greater financial package so I took it. I’m from a blip of a town near Woodstock, NY. I don’t know if it was my fear of needing to drive (the public transport up there is incomplete) or my penchant for people watching, but something about the city drew me in. Ultimately, when I saw the half-scholarship from Purchase and the full-ride from Macaulay, my decision was made.
I hope to get from this seminar a better feel for the various communities of New York. I understand the most basic bits regarding pilgrims and Europeans, and the flood of Irish around the potato famine, but besides that (and reading a book by Edwidge Danticat), I’m lost. My aim for my overall college experience is to find my passion, study abroad, and graduate with a useful degree (my father got a bachelors degree in psychology and has since then spent his life bouncing between hardware stores). There’s nothing wrong with a modest salary, but I don’t want to have to worry about money every day. The only job I’ve ever done is cleaning the house for my mom and playing the viola in my mom’s wedding quartet/trio but I lack the talent and the drive to have the life of a musician. Right now I’m working as a campus navigator (tour guide), but I could see myself in public relations or in foreign affairs, or even working in TV behind the scenes. Whatever will be will be.

Brooklyn and New York City immigration to me is part of the search for a better life. In terms of my own family, a great-great-grandpa (or was it a great-great-great-grandpa?) on my dad’s side was working as an employee on a German cruise ship. After docking in New York City one day he simply neglected to get back on board and report for duty. Relatives in the city helped him establish himself and years later my grandparents moved upstate from Long Island to start a family farm. My sister and I are the first to really embrace our German heritage. We studied the language in school and each participated in two different exchange programs. We know the food, the songs, and the holidays, but I think we might be in it more for the fun than the ancestral pride!

Immigration hasn’t directly affected my life or the lives of my close peers. I only took interest in German when I quit Spanish to avoid a nasty teacher, and my sister joined in only after a year of my fussing and cajoling (the language is so much fun!). Only one of my friends was born abroad. My school district saw few changes in population or diversity. Almost the entire student body was white. This social background didn’t affect my New York City life in any tangible way. I am reserved, but that is a personality trait formed by my upbringing and experiences, and not the demographic of my hometown. My family is politically liberal (especially my vocal mother), so I see much of my world through that lens, but there were many conservative back-woods families in my town. I respect the arts and government funding of public programs (New York City is a great example). I applied to the honors program because I have financial need and, thanks to my mom, a good high school GPA. I know that my family has a long history of musicianship, but I don’t know if that existed pre-immigration. We appreciate the arts and used to travel to the city once or twice a year to visit a museum or see a show. Places in New York that are important to my family would include the Museum of Natural History and MOMA, simply because experiences there helped shape our understandings of the world around us. I’ve been racking my brain trying to think of my favorite place in the city. The only image that keeps resurfacing is that of an immense oak tree on a hill in an apple orchard I visited upstate with my dad and sister one autumn. It’s not exactly tied, but I know I just love seeing trees in New York City. Give me a tree and I’m happy. My immigration story isn’t detailed or entirely relevant, but getting to America and having such vast opportunity in New York City made my life what it is today, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

last summer in Germany with my exchange partner, Feli

a Brooklyn sunset during my first semester

The story of my family’s immigrant experience is mainly told through my mother and her side of the family. My mom and her family were born in Guyana. During my mom’s childhood and adolescence in Guyana, American culture was highly esteemed. My mom and her siblings loved to watch American movies and shows and my grandmother worked outside of Guyana in the Islands in order for my mom’s family to have a better life in the United States. When my mom was nineteen, she successfully moved from Guyana to New York City. There, she met who now is the father of my siblings and me. My father’s family did have a history of immigration also, but it was not as recent as the immigration history of my mother’s family. My dad is what I would call “Mediterranean- American”. His mom’s side of the family is Italian and his father is Greek. The most recent history of immigration in my father’s family was when my father’s grandmother (my great-grandmother) moved from Italy to the United States.

My parents’ contrasting cultures caused our family to be less based upon our ethnicity and cultures than most families in New York City. But even when culture is an influence on my life, the culture is usually my mother’s culture, due to my father rarely, if ever, being raised upon culture. My mom expresses her West Indian culture best through the food that she makes occasionally, such as roti, curry chicken and a breakfast called “bakes”. This is due to her making food for her family ever since she was about twelve years old.

Although I am not an immigrant myself, immigration did have an effect on my life. A lot of immigrants, including West Indians, especially want their children to succeed. This causes the immigrants to mainly want their children to be doctors, nurses and engineers, practical careers in the science/medical field. They see success and a stable income as more important than having a dream career, and I do not truly blame them for it. My mom and her family, as well as my childhood acquaintance’s older sister, Amanata, who is also Guyanese, advised me to have a career that would provide a steady income (in Amanata’s case, Physical Therapy). I felt bad at that time for being undecided about my future plans even though I know some people my age who are undecided as well. Before I was undecided, the main career I wanted was just to be a creative writer. That was, until I realized that it would be better to keep writing as something to do during my spare time, or at least as a side job, rather than a full-time career.

Otherwise than food and future plans, I have not really been affected by West Indian culture. Despite the assumption from Caribbean parents that it was my Guyanese mom who caused me to succeed in school, it was primarily my own motivation that caused me to do well in school. This was not to say that my mother did not care about my education, because she did care about my education a lot. It was just that my mom’s pressure was extra motivation for me to do well rather than the sole motivation.

But despite cooking Caribbean food at times and being pragmatic like most Caribbean parents are like, my mom is far from the stereotypical Caribbean parent. She picks Michael Jackson over reggae, and staying at home on Labor Day rather than going to the Labor Day parade. As well, my mom never visited Guyana after moving to the States, since she did not really like it that much. When I was about eleven or twelve, I wanted to visit my mom’s home country, Guyana, just to see what it is like. My curiosity about my mom’s home country disappeared, being replaced with my dream of going to Paris someday, hopefully as a place to study abroad.

Although my biggest dream at this moment is to visit Paris, there are some places that I enjoy going to in New York City. One of the places that my family loved to visit when I was young was the Bronx Zoo. It was unlike school trips to the Bronx Zoo in which there only was a quick tour and only the popular animals were seen. We spent almost all day there and used the zoo transportation such as the Zoo Shuttle and the Skyfari to make sure that almost all of the whole zoo was seen. Every time the Bronx Zoo is mentioned it brings back positive memories of my childhood.

My name is Pawandeep Singh and as of now I am deciding between a biology major and a psychology major. I am interested in pre-med and hope to become a doctor, specifically a pediatrician. I chose to enroll in the CUNY Honors College because it offered a great education at little to no cost at all. CUNY Honors College is becoming well recognized throughout many graduate schools for it offers a great education and this recognition is important since I would need to enroll in a graduate school in order to become a doctor. From this “The Peopling of New York” seminar, I hope to learn more about the community that Brooklyn College is a part of. I also hope to learn more about the community of New York as a whole since a doctor’s job tends to be focused on the community. Out of Brooklyn College, I hope to get a great education pertaining to my major as well as an education that does not have to do with my major.

I cannot say much about the immigration experience of Brooklyn since my first time setting foot in Brooklyn was the day I attended this college. However, my parents are immigrants to this country. In the 1980s, my mother immigrated to the United States. She lived with her brother and his family and worked as a cashier in multiple stores. In 1990 my parents were married and in 1994 my dad immigrated to the United States. He started off working odd jobs but continued with his education by taking night classes and ultimately ended up as a civil engineer working for the Department of Transportation. At the time when my mom immigrated, there were not many Indians in the country. It was around that time that people from India started coming to America in small numbers.

Since my parents were immigrants, they had to start from nothing and build their way up. Expenses had to be managed and savings had to be made. We lived in apartments for most of my life since buying a house was not something we could afford. It was not until three years ago that we bought a house of our own. The immigrant experience has definitely impacted my life. My parents came into this country with nothing and have ever since been working very hard to make a living. The immigration experience has led my parents to teach me that nothing in life comes easy and that if I want something, I have to go out and work hard.

My parents always tell my brother and I that the main reason they emigrated from India to the United States was to provide better opportunities for us. This includes getting a better education and having better standards of living. I do feel that my social background has mattered to the life I lead in New York City and has been a factor in applying to Macaulay Honors College. My father went to college and he has always pushed my brother and me to do the same thing. Both my parents push my brother and I to take education seriously and to pursue it until we have a degree. To them, education should be our first priority.

In terms to the life I lead in N.Y.C., my ethnicity, race, and religion have led me to be close to my culture and to those who are of the same ethnicity, race, and religion. In terms of my decision to apply to Macaulay, I feel that me being a member of the middle class has been a factor. My family is a part of the middle class and I see all of the expenses that my parents have to make on a monthly basis. With my parents having to pay bills, taxes, mortgage, insurance, and other things, the decision to apply to Macaulay Honors College was a simple one. My parents did not have to be burdened with the cost of tuition on top of everything else. This helps a lot because I know that going to graduate school and medical school is not cheap. The four years that I do not have to pay tuition for college helps my parents save up more money for graduate school. Another reason that led me to apply to Macaulay Honors College was that a couple of my Indian friends were also enrolled in the school and had spoken highly of the school.

Living in New York is a great thing. There are so many more opportunities in this great city than most other places. New York City offers many jobs and my parents have been lucky enough to find good jobs that can help support our expenses. The dream of every immigrant is to become successful in the United States and ultimately to become a homeowner and my parents have definitely accomplished this. Being New Yorkers have led my family to be less conservative and more open-minded to change.

Living in New York is a great opportunity to meet people from all around the world. As New Yorkers we are a lot more open and accepting of others since we are so diverse of a city. There are a lot of Indians, specifically fellow Punjabi people in New York, which makes it easy to carry out cultural traditions. There are gurudwaras, which is our house of worship, in many neighborhoods so it is easy to go every Sunday. My family participates in the Sikh community picnic every year and my brother and I participate in a weeklong gurudwara camp every summer. My family and many other Indians continue to celebrate our cultural holidays here. This is all possible because New Yorkers tend to be so accepting of other cultures and religions.

One of the places important to my family is our gurudwara that we go to every week. It is where we go to pray and give thanks to god for everything we have. Another place important to my family is my house. It took my parents many years of hard work to save up enough money to buy a house. The house represents all of their struggles and hardships but it a symbol of success to us.

Well that’s me on the left and on the right is a picture of my gurudwara, a place of worship where my family goes every week.

My name is Kush Patel, and I was born and raised in the neighborhood of Elmhurst, Queens and by the age of 13, moved to the less crowded area of Floral Park.  I am pursuing a career in medicine, thus I am majoring in Biology.  I enrolled in CUNY honors because of the high quality education without the worries of tuition. I plan on taking advantage of the various opportunities that CUNY Honors offers; one such is the study abroad program. From this class, I would like to take away the characteristics on how different neighborhoods develop and learn about how different cultures can coexist with each other. I hope to get a better sense of community after taking this class.

Immigration is big part of community and how they develop. My parents were the first from their family to immigrate here from India. My dad first came to Tulsa, Alabama where his older brother settled. My dad didn’t have much trouble adjusting to life in America because his brother was there to guide him through the adjustment. Since my dad didn’t know any English, my his brother would make my dad watch the news for hours a day until he started to understand the language. From watching the news, my dad learned other aspects of America in addition to the language such as fashion, culture, holidays, and different leisure activities. Then my dad moved to New York City with his sister and her husband.  New York City was something else. It was much more populated and culture rich than Tulsa. My father learned even more in New York, since he started a small candy store business. There he interacted with hundreds of people daily. From those interactions, he developed his English further and received helpful tips from the contractors, plumbers, cops, actors, and others. These are tips that most people need to know in the city or in a house, which my father purchases in the late future. My father didn’t really have any hardships in New York, until family members started to come to New York. He had to work harder to provide for them and help them adjust to life in New York.  Moreover, he had to prepare them to survive on their own which was a long process, especially in an expensive place such as NY. It was tough finding them a stable job able to provide them with money to afford the essentials and then have some money left over to save. These challenges of New York have shaped my family to be hard working. Almost all my family members are well off thanks to hard work they had to go through.

The immigrant experiences, from what I have seen, have made me thankful for being born in America and staying here.  A new place can take a toll on the immigrants and if it wasn’t for the help from my family, my relatives would have had even more difficulty trying to survive here. I was born into a middle class family, which has retained a whole deal of its Indian culture. Even though we were financially well off, Macaulay Honors College was appealing because it saved us money which could be used for medical school later on and even for leisure. My culture has mattered the most in my life because I have built my character around my traditions and religion. New York City has not really discouraged us; moreover it has inspired us to dream big. New York offers free education and gives people of all ages and race the opportunity to thrive. Knowing this, my parents have influenced me to pursue a respectful career in medicine, which is harder to do in other nations.  Just as New York City gives you the freedom and chance to pursue your dreams, it  is also a place where you can live freely according to your own customs and traditions. We still celebrate most of our festivals and holidays in New York, even if it may not be to same intensity. New York is a place full of promises for anyone who would work hard and follow their dreams.

New York City can be a tough place for immigrants to come to but, in the end it is worth it. If the immigrants have help or someone to rely on for a while and are determined to become well off they will enjoy their new home in New York. They will find their place in New York. We have found our place in Floral Park, which is one of my important and favorite places in New York City. First off it is my home and I am near my closest family members. In addition, the serene and peaceful nature of the neighborhood just keeps you happy. The people in the neighborhood are all friendly as well so it creates a sense of unity and closeness in the neighborhood.

My name is Pranitha Prabhu and I intend to be a biology major with a pre-med concentration. I chose Macaulay Honors College because it is situated at the very heart of New York City. When I was applying to different schools, I was sure that I wanted to a school that is located in a suburban area just to experience what it is like living closer to nature. However, when it came down to signing enrollment agreements, I knew that I was a city girl at heart. I like that there is always something interesting to do in the city, whether it is attending a Broadway show or going to an art exhibit. Macaulay Honors College was the only school that I would be able to go to without taking out student loans. Because I intend on attending medical school in four years, keeping loans low was essential. I also love the diversity of nations, cultures, and personalities that New York City offers. All these things were factored in when I decided to go to Macaulay Honors College at Brooklyn College and it is a decision I am extremely happy I made.

I do not know too much about Brooklyn and its demographics but I look forward to learning about the community in this class. Entering this class with such little knowledge means that there is so much for me to learn. I love that the city is so diverse but I have to admit that I never really thought about the demographics of New York City. This class will force me to think about the movement of people and why they may move to or from certain areas.

I was not born in the United States. I came to America when I was five years old. My father came here first, and once he got a job, my mother, brother and I joined him. The move brought on major changes for all of us. I was placed back in kindergarten even though I was enrolled first grade when I went to school in India. Moreover, I was placed in the ESL class even though I was perfectly comfortable speaking, reading and writing in English. For this reason, I had a very hard time making friends in school for the first few months because very few of the children were as comfortable with English as I was and I felt left out as they all communicating in Spanish. For my parents, a new place meant new values and a distance of thousands of miles between the closest extended family members. Being the first family to make it in America meant that my parents did not have financial support from their parents or siblings like many other families had. Rather, my dad was sending money every month to our family in India. Looking back, I admire my parents for the bold step they took relocating to America.

My parents brought us to America in search of better opportunities. In that aspect, the promises have been kept. My father slowly climbed the ladder of success. He went from a computer consultant to a director with several people reporting to him, in less than a decade. My mother took a few years away from work to take care of my brother and I, but was able to rejoin the workforce. Some of her credits would not transfer because she had been out of work for too long. So, she took a refresher course, offered by the city for free, for adults looking to get a job. After training in basic computer skills, she also gained knowledge on things like interviewing skills. She now enjoys working for the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. I personally enjoy all the experiences I have had at such a young age. In India, school is given the only priorities. I like that in America, extracurricular activities are equally important. Especially in the city, there are so many internships and volunteer opportunities for young people to try out. I can go to any college and pursue any career I choose, which is more than I can say for so many other young people in the world.

I live near Jackson heights, where there is a large Indian population. My parents chose to move here for that very reason. Practicing out religion and continuing cultural traditions has been easy. We have a network of about twenty families who live near us who are from the same community in India as we are. We get together at least once a month for a religious ritual or just for a dinner party. With these families, we communicate in our mother tongue of Konkani, ensuring that our native language stays alive.  In June, there will be a convention for our community where we will meet other families from all over the northeast area who. New York City with its large population has made it easy for our family to find others India who we can connect with and keep our heritage alive from thousands of miles away. Living near Jackson Heights also means that we can get different foods from India and that we get to keep our culinary culture alive. We always go to our temple in Flushing, Queens so that place is also important to my family. It is essential for us to stay spiritually connected from so many miles away.

Coming to America was the best decision my parents have taken. Although the move was rough in the beginning, we have come live a very happy life in the States. I have been exposed to different cultures and opportunities that I would not have experienced if I had still lived in India. We visit India frequently but I consider America home.

The first picture is of me opening presents during my favorite time in the city, Christmas time!

The second picture is of the neighborhood that helped my family and I keep our Indian heritage alive with relative ease, Jackson Heights.

My name is Teressa Cali and I’ve lived in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn my entire life.  I chose to attend Macaulay Honors at Brooklyn College for a few different reasons.  I enjoy living in Brooklyn and I never want to leave New York City, so going away wasn’t one of my desires.  I know that Macaulay will provide me with opportunities that I may not have found in other colleges and I believe that these seminars will offer me experiences that I will treasure.  I hope that this seminar allows me to understand the different cultures of New York and learn more about the types of people that have immigrated here.  I plan on majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in Health Professions and minoring in Psychology.  I love working with other people and teaching them new things, so I hope to go to graduate school for Occupational Therapy.  I know this profession will be rewarding for me.

Living in Bensonhurst my whole life, I’ve seen the many different people that have lived and still reside here.  Before I was born and when I was younger, Bensonhurst was mainly inhabited by Italian-Americans.  As time went on, most Italians moved away and our neighborhood has changed greatly.  Asian and Jewish people make up most of my community now.  We are one of the few Italian families left on my block.  We have considered moving, but we have so many memories in Bensonhurst, that it would be hard to leave that all behind.  Both my parents were born in America, so I’ve learned much of the immigrant experience from my grandparents, who are originally from Italy.  When my grandparents came to America, they had very little.  They started a life in a new country that they had not known.  My grandparents worked very hard to support a family and have a better life than they did in Italy.  They were so grateful to have the opportunity to come to this amazing country and live in New York.  My grandparents always tell me how lucky I am to be living in America.  My grandfather says that each generation in our family has advanced so much.  He was unable to go to college because he could not afford it, so he made sure he was able to send his children (my father) to college.  I received a scholarship to Macaulay Honors, which made my grandfather so proud.  When my grandparents tell me how hard they worked, it inspires me to work hard and do well in school, which helped me get accepted to Macaulay.

There are so many places in New York that my family and I love to visit.  One place is Little Italy.  My grandmother was born in an apartment there and her family lived there until she was three.  They went back to Italy when the Great Depression started because there weren’t any jobs available, and being an immigrant made it even more difficult.  It wasn’t until after World War II that my grandmother returned to America to raise her family in Brooklyn.  My grandma told me that many Italians immigrated to Little Italy, but now it is full of all types of people, exemplifying the diversity of New York and how it has changed.

The block that I live on is another very important place to me because three generations have lived there.  I’ve lived on 60^th Street my whole life.  My father grew up on the same block and my grandparents still live in the same house.  My great grandmother lived down the block and my aunt lives around the corner.  There are so many memories that my family has made throughout the years on 60^th Street: family parties, holidays, block parties, get-togethers and more.  It is a great feeling to know that my family is so close by and there are so many things on my block that remind me of the many experiences that we’ve had.

Knowing that my grandparents were immigrants and seeing how far they’ve come has helped me understand why so many people come to America.  I have realized that the United States is what it is because of immigrants that came here and shaped the country.  I love that New York is so diverse and that I have the opportunity to experience and learn about all different cultures and people in this great city.

The Verrazano Bridge is one of my own, and my family's, favorite places in Brooklyn.

            Eighteen months ago, when I graduated high school, I hadn’t even contemplating attending Brooklyn College. I had made deposits at two colleges—yes, one is not supposed to do that—and was on my way to Israel for a gap year program. While most of my high school friends were continuing on, like me, to a gap year in Israel, all of them had already decided on a college to attend. Several universities that had accepted me were too expensive, and I had been rejected from two honors programs that would have given me a full scholarship. One of those two programs was the Macaulay Honors College at Queens College.

            Since the moment I heard about the Macaulay program, I knew it was for me. It was an honors program that focused a lot on students’ understanding and connection of New York City. As someone who longed dearly to return to New York after twelve years in exile in New Jersey, the setting right in the city and the seminars that were all about New York absolutely sold me. So, in November of my year in Israel, I decided to reapply to Macaulay. After finding out that I was forbidden from re-applying to Queens, several long-distance telephone calls with my parents ensued, and I eventually settled on Brooklyn.  Nine months later when I walked onto campus, I couldn’t help but feel that the choice of Brooklyn College was arbitrary and, not really knowing anyone or having any friends there, potentially a poor decision. But, into my second semester, I have plenty of friends, the instructors are wonderful, and Macaulay is everything I had hoped it would be.

Although I had no particular reason for selecting Brooklyn College, the decision did mark a homecoming of sorts; I am the sixth generation of my family to live in Brooklyn. Almost 160 years ago, when the first of my family arrived in Brooklyn—and until the last half-century, or so—the Jewish community in Brooklyn was an immigrant community defined by the Jewish heritage and traditions the immigrants brought from Europe. However, it was not a particularly religious community; none of my great-grandparents were observant. Nevertheless, the sense of Jewish identity was strong amongst the Jews in New York, and the community remained cohesive and close-knit. But gradually, the once-insular Jewish community became assimilated into the wider culture of America, and the Jews began moving out of New York, pursuing jobs, education, and suburbs to raise kids. As many secular and assimilated Jews were leaving New York, the observant Jewish community in America was experiencing a resurgence, and many of these religious Jews found a home in Brooklyn and the other boroughs. Consequently, Brooklyn’s Jewish community—and communities in other parts of New York—has been transformed from a center of Jewish cultural life to a center of Jewish religious life.

As the Brooklyn Jewish community has changed, my family has changed as well. My grandfather became a rabbi and all of his children and grandchildren (and great-grandchildren) are Orthodox. Whereas my great-grandparents were drawn by Brooklyn’s vast community of middle-class people who shared the same Jewish heritage they did, my parents and I are drawn to Brooklyn because of the vibrancy of the religious life in Brooklyn and the abundant religious and ritual resources available. As my family has changed over the generations, and as the dynamic of the Jewish community in America has changed, Brooklyn has changed as well and has reinvented itself and remained relevant.

My family’s history in Brooklyn is in many ways exemplary of the Jewish immigrant experience in Brooklyn. My family has changed a lot, and so have Brooklyn, yet the relationship still endures strong as ever. But my family is by know means unique in that respect. I believe that every individual and family in Brooklyn has a story to tell about how they ended up in Brooklyn and what Brooklyn has meant to them and their family. For this reason, I am excited to study the “Peopoling” of New York City this semester to learn about other immigrant communities but also, how the history and experiences of them combine to form the fabric of our New York of today.

While I intend to pursue a career in medicine, I would hate for that to limit me. That is why I chose the large university experience that CUNY Honors College and Brooklyn College had to offer. The workforce is limiting when it comes to multidisciplinary knowledge and so I intend to explore as much of the “world” as I can. That is why I hope to major in classical literature in my future college career as well as chemistry. I want “The Peopling of New York” to give me a better understanding of the microcosm that is Brooklyn and New York City and further my understanding of the cultures and ideas that constitute New York’s unique identity.

I have always seen Brooklyn as the city’s most diverse borough. It has played host to the world and, as a result, has been shaped and has shaped the lives of countless immigrants. Before attending Brooklyn College and the CUNY Honors College, my experience with Brooklyn was limited to secondhand stories and superficial visits. While I may not have had the clearest vision of Brooklyn, it was nonetheless accurate. I have friends from southern Asia and the Middle East, as well as the Caribbean. I was not a stranger to the diversity of New York City when I arrived at Brooklyn College. Yet, it was still a wonder to personally observe the diversity and heterogeneous identity of Brooklyn. I have caught snippets of almost every language conceivable and seen representatives of every nation imaginable in Brooklyn. It is fascinating to see so many people, differing in heritage and ethnic origin, but similar in drive and ambition, forging new lives together.

The benefits of New York City, in the form of jobs, education and opportunity in general, are one of the most powerful forces shaping immigrant life. My family has the quintessential tale of immigration. During the 1980s and 1990s, immigration from South India to parts of the Middle East and the United states was growing. Syrian Christians, like my family, were less reluctant (of course not fully willing) than others to seek a better life in such a distant city. My father and mother were one of thousands of couples that left their small south Indian state to settle in the borough of Queens. Just like the many immigrants that had settled in New York City before us, we were fortunate enough to find better jobs and opportunities. My mother was able to find a job as a nurse in a state hospital and she had the job security, promise of advancement and steady pay that would have been far more difficult to achieve in her original circumstances. My father was also able to get the job security and steady pay of a job with the Port Authority. Of course the benefits of the immigrant life was not limited to my parents. I was able to receive a quality education and even attend college. The most obvious effect of expatriate life is the various blessing afforded to us.

The largest part of my social background is my race and ethnicity. Coming from a conservative eastern culture and a Dravidian language, it was undoubtedly difficult for my parents to accept the new social norms. Everything from figures of speech to styles of clothing was difficult to accept. The concept of dating, for example, is one of the most foreign (and slightly scandalous) institutions they have encountered so far. Even the heterogeneous population of New York City would prove to be a shock to them having come from India. Yet the ever-changing composition of New York City and its willingness to tolerate the extraneous is probably what made it perfect for us. New York City has never expected assimilation beyond an effective use of the English language and a willingness to work. As a result my parents can maintain their identity as Indians and still reap economic success and receive the respect of their fellow citizens.

I am probably the most fascinating product of immigrant life. I can lay claim to the advantages and disadvantages of two cultures, while never fully being a part of both. It is a very unique identity that has forced its way into all facets of my life. For instance, as I stand in the middle of my own personal culture war, I have been able to understand and commiserate with so many other viewpoints and cultures. My education has also benefitted, in that it has been given a great deal of importance. The greatest contribution from my identity, however, is probably my faith.  Over the years I have failed to grasp too many pop culture references and volumes of apparently common knowledge have flow right over my head. Even at a young age I would mix Malayalam and English, due to the fact that my parents only spoke Malayalam at home. In the end, I have never seen my identity as neither an advantage nor a disadvantage, but have embraced it as one among the many unique experiences that represent New York City.

My parents always tell me about their once definite plans about life in New York City. They wanted to earn enough money for a comfortable living back in India and return to their “nadu” or homeland. They reason they told me about this mindset (fairly common among new arrivals) was to illustrate how much changed. My parents have been here for over eighteen years and the have not followed through with their original plan. In fact, I suspect that they might not go back for many more years. The reason that they never returned is not so much as being enamored by New York (though I like to think that is part of the reason), but more so because they can not. Their new home has changed their identity so much that they are incompatible with the land that they left behind. One part of the issue is the modern conveniences and consumerist attitude that has not taken full hold of Kerala yet. While my parents would argue this is the only reason keeping them here, I would argue that there is a second and far subtler issue. Their once purely eastern attitude has been affected by New York. I catch my Dad following football and my Mom trying new restaurants and adopting newer fashions. Their passionate reactions to politics and investment national events are indicative of their new identity.

Of course, if my parents are not fully comfortable in calling India home anymore, then I am even more removed from my country of origin. My parents will often share verbal snapshots of India, dripping with nostalgia, and I cannot help but regret how much of my culture has become diluted because of my life in New York City. Yet I am not totally removed from my parents’ culture. I can speak Malayalam very well (unfortunately I can not read or write it), and I know a good amount of the adages in the language. Indian food is probably my largest cultural inheritance because it is pretty much everything that is made at home. As a result I can easily say it is my favorite type of food and I that I have a good knowledge of it. The most important result of my two cultures is how I am able to understand the motivations and attitudes behind what (almost) everyone does. Living in between the two poles of culture has definitely given me a better and broader understanding of various people that call New York City home.

I have my roots in two different cultures and as a result have mixed elements of both worlds into my life. While it may not fully characterize me, it does make up an undeniably large portion of who I am and what I do.