India 2.0: Identity Crisis

I heard of this term Identity crisis, from one of my desi friend in office. He used to tell us hilarious incidents of his kid. He can perform a stand up comedy with all his incidents. One day he told me about his kid facing Identity crisis. Identity crisis here is about not knowing ones family language, cultural/ethnic/family values. I would not have thought of a kid learning his/her mother tongue in some coaching class rather than at home. I saw this in US. My friend used to get involved in all those so called cultural activities in community, which given an option he would not have. Think of biggest of all festivals in India ‘Diwali; for kids brought up abroad this is just another festival. After some time in US, I observed that this whole Identity Crisis thing was quite normal for Indian families settled in US or anywhere abroad. 

Not just cultural and family values, but think of all those fun that we had when we were kids. I still remember those road side games that we used to play. Pakkda Pakdi, Langdi, Kho Kho, Goti (Marbles), Chor Police, GIlli Danda, Bhawra (Top), Vish Amrut, Son sakhli etc. It was so fun. Even today with friends, we discuss all these games and memories are as fresh as it has happened just yesterday. Kids brought up abroad probably will not even hear about all these fun, forget about playing. 

This weekend I was back in bay area after my official trip to Charlotte and over the weekend had nothing much to do, other than visiting friends, watching movies, cooking and relaxing. On my visit to one of my friends, one of our other Colleague/Friend joined us for dinner with his family i.e. his wife and 2 kids (both ABCD). After some chatting we all got into cooking mode and guys thought of giving girls a break from kitchen. And then what followed with the kid’s, motivated me to write this blog. 

Kids brought up in US speak English with US accent, which amuses me a lot. Not just this, kids find themselves more comfortable expressing themselves in English rather than in their mother tongue. Now my friend’s elder daughter started communicating in English and my friend asked her to talk in Marathi, which she obviously did not like. This is when the conversation took ugly turn and out of nowhere she started asking Marathi translations for all the objects she could possibly see around her. It was like in war, enemy across border is firing bullets, throwing grenades, firing missiles and we were running helter skelter for cover. We so called Marathi by birth or up bringing, were simply taken down by her questions. We only managed to answer 5 out of 20 questions. We also gave answers like this word came from Marathi, hence no translation. 

Let me give you feel of the situation, I will put some of the translations asked by 5 yr old kid, though I do not remember all of those, try translating it in your mother tongue.

1. Table
   
2. Sofa
3. TV
4. Phone
5. Fan
6. Light

Though we did not show any sign of guilt, probably we do not realize now. I felt we faced bigger identity crisis then kids born or brought up in US. Though born and brought up in India (between our culture and people), I bet not many of us can talk in our mother tongue without using English? How many of us remember or understand all of our cultural festivals/rituals? At my home mom and dad perform puja when ever we have any festivals and till day I or brother/sister in all these years did not take much effort to learn. I won’t be surprised if in years to come these small or big festivals/rituals will be lost with time. Even today I can see the diminishing enthusiasm for the festivals like Gopala (Dahi Handi), Holi, Sankrant (Kite flying). I am sure there are many more festivals which I would have celebrated, but do not remember them now.

I do not want to make any statement by writing this blog; this is just a thought.