Picture of my Mom and Dad in traditional Indian clothing.
This interview took a completely different direction from what I expected. Not only did many of my dad’s experiences not match with what I expected from my research; but I also learned some interesting facts about him. For one, I did not know that my dad spent several months unemployed when he first arrived in America. In addition, I didn’t realize that not only did I learn english through my primary education, but he did as well. While my father’s experiences diverged so much from what my research portrayed of a standard Indian American immigrant, it serves to show that immigrants experience the same process very differently on a person to person basis. It seems that the STEM culture that India is famous for is only limited to metropolitan cities as my dad did not experience any of it while growing up. In fact, I thought it was somewhat humorous that my dad was taunted as a nerd for having interest in this particular field as my research told me that Indians hold students who perform well in STEM subjects on an elevated pedestal. However, my dad’s reasons for leaving the country aligned closely with my expectations; although, there was one point that I never expected: prestige. My dad’s transition to America was also anomalous to me. For one, my dad received a lot of help from those around him as he attempted to adjust. Often times, people portray the general American population to be xenophobic and hateful to those who are different, especially after 9/11, which occurred shortly after my dad moved here. Oddly enough, this event had little impact on my dad’s life as well which is contrary to the experiences of most people of color.
I think the most surprising answer that I received from my dad was about the importance that the temple played in our lives. While my research shows that the temple serves as a major center of the indian community and for socialization of children, my dad holds a position that is contrary to this. In fact he felt like the temple was actually unscrupulous. My dad views the family unit as the main place for socialization of the children. In addition, it’s interesting to see that the class divisions that exist in India seemed to have transferred over to America. When my dad begins talking about raising children in America, some points are risen. Most of the cultural hallmarks of western culture have already made it over to India; therefore, Indians are already aware of western ideals. What my dad made clear is that the most important aspect of raising a kid in America is making sure the kid shares his family ideals. As I am his kid, I can definitely corroborate this by saying my parents definitely put in a lot of effort teaching me the importance of family values. My dad’s discussion of the immigration process harkens back to my research in the fact that the immigration process is a major obstacle to professional success in America. Obviously, it didn’t affect him very much but some families suffer greatly from it. On the other hand, I find it interesting that my dad thinks that the immigration process is not an effective filter as this is contrary to my research. His statement implies that maybe the best are not actually coming over to America and are being blocked from entering by that process. Overall, my interview with my dad enforces an important fact about my research about Indian Immigrants: it’s all a generalization. While most points hold true for the average Indian Immigrant, some may not. This interview with my dad was definitely an important personal perspective to add to this autoethnography.