Identity Crisis

In the almost three years that I spent outside India, I thought a lot about immigration (to the USA of course). I have close friends in the bodyshopping business pestering me all the time and there were times when I almost decided that I was going the green card route. But there was something deep inside me that was totally against this. It was this thought about losing my identity and being culturally fit in a foreign land. In fact I was the only desi around who had a good number of videsi friends and I used to hang out a hell lot with them. To add to these, the country line dancing at electric cowboy got me a number of Italian and mexican friends too. After a lot of quality time spent with them I realized why I my mind was so fixated against immigration. In a multi-cultural group, while being sensitive and appreciative of each other's values, I held a strange pride about my cultural identity and uniquness. I realized that this is the one thing I did not want to forego. I realized that as long as I do not immigrate I get to retain all of that. I'm sure there are people who would not completely agree to my views that those who immigrate lose their identity. But I'm happy that I was not smitten by the bug and eventually decided to get back to school.

But what about those who took the plunge and are faced with the bigger challenge of dealing with the situation. The journey starts a whole identity crisis thingy. Particularly the first generation immigrants go through a hell lot of trouble. They tend to fake accents, some long to come back and others want their children to retain Indian values. A lot of them end up raising thier children with confused values. But in the middle of all commotion, I think a few people have found an answer to this too. And the best way to handle the indentity crisis is to actually laugh at the situation. Yes, humor is the magic potion here. A couple of these confused kids have done this exceptionally well. One is Russel Peters, the Indo-Canadian comedian and the other is Maz Jobrani, the Iranian American bloke. These guys have given the culture fit issue a different perspective. While they are essentially comedians, the comedy manages to spark a lot of profound thinking. They convey this beautiful fact that while the world (or economy, if you will) is shrinking at such a pace it does not essentially mean dilution of identities. Infact it is the retention of these uniquenesses(excuse me) that makes the stage called the world such an interesting proposition. You can read my banter but if you watch some their stage acts you are definitely going to be enthralled. And yes, these guys make me admit that my way is not the only way to think through these issues.

Videos I loved : Russel Peters

Videos I loved : Maz Jobrani