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Contrastingly, coming to terms with the                   there quite a few funny, awkward or
       two cultures wasn't so easy for Tara.                     extremely hurtful moments Indian
       She appears to still be in the process of                 Americans have to go through.
       differentiation as she talks about her                     People travel to experience different
       experiences. “I feel like this generation is              cultures. But some lucky people, get to
       kind of distanced from their culture just                 experience more than one culture growing
       because they have been brought up                         up. Just like every good thing this too
       here and have been so used to the                         comes at a price. Here the price was the
       language and the American culture but                     sense of completely belonging

       but we are trying to keep culture close.                  somewhere for Natasha. For Shweta it
       For example there are many                                was the struggle to find her voice in the
       organizations in the University such as                   web of different cultural forces. Tara was
       cultural dance teams, or Indian Cultural                  challenged to keep in touch with her
       Association that help bring us all                        heritage.
       together and keep our culture going. So
       even though this generation influenced
       by the American culture, I do think that
       there are still many of us who are trying
       not to distance from it and keep it going.”


       For Tara, balancing the two cultures was
       more about being aware of the Indian
       traditions than forming her own ideas.
       She is trying to reach out to Indian
       dance forms and customs o keep in
       touch with her heritage. This is another

       challenge for people who grow up away
       from their roots. They have to seek out
       their cultures deliberately in order to
                                                                       Misha Mehta
       keep in touch with their origins.

       Indian Americans also face the

       stereotypes that are put on Indians.
       When people expect Indians to be the                      NIT Alumni, UT Dallas student,
       mute around girls, hair-oiled Raj from                    YouthkiAwaaz intern. Aspiring
       'The Big Bang Theory' or the sex-                         entrepreneur. Dreamer. Doer.
       obsessed yet sex-starving Kumar from
       'Harold And Kumar', it can be hurtfully                   “I write to bring you value and make
       discriminating or outright hilarious. From                you smile along the way!” Twitter :
       expecting all Indians to be computer                      @MishaHmehta
       gurus to being asked about their tribe,




                                                   P.G. Better Living
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