Being Indian…

Is it really important for a kid to be Indian at heart when she/he is born in a foreign country and brought up there? She/he probably will hardly ever come back to our beloved country. Is it alright for a kid to be a ‘coconut’? A term I recently heard in the TV show “The Mindy project”, referred to a person who is brown on the outside but white on the inside!

We spoke with few mommies who live in different countries other than India. Here’s what 5 NRI moms had to say!

Mayuri Raman, who lives with her family in the USA  says, “As a mom of 2 girls who are born and brought up in USA – till now I do think they are very much Indian at heart. My older one is 9 yrs old and she understands our culture and religion quite well. At least she knows the importance of being an Indian and relates well with Indian stuff. I sometime think that because I live abroad I try to impose or educate about India more. In fact my older one spoke Hindi first and then learned English. Till now I am satisfied how they are evolving! There are few things which only future could answer – there is indeed a sense of fear is in my mind as will they be an American Indian or just American when they reach a certain age”

Bijeta Mishra lives in Singapore with her family. She believes that her 2 sons Vedant (9) and Siddhant (7) are truly Indian at heart despite being born and raised in Singapore.  She says, “They are very much associated to Indian culture in their day to day life. Morning prayers, lighting up Pooja room, thanking God for every day meal or playing with numerous Indian friends till evening prayers, reminds them everything about India. Indian festivals are celebrated with greater grandeur in Singapore so they remain connected, be it playing with colors on Holi or bursting crackers during Diwali or simply lazing around during Satya Narayana Pooja or Sunder Kand. Being closer to India, there is a continuous visit of grandparents and even we make 1-2 trips yearly to enjoy every possible moment together in joint family. Home cooked chapati, Long beans vegetable and palak paneer are their most favorite vegetables. While they do enjoy an occasional pizza, nothing lifts their mood than home cooked authentic Hyderabadi biryaani.

With great expat Indian crowd and native South Indian crowd (Tamil is an official language!) it’s more of a Cosmopolitan feeling with Chinese, Malays and occasional Caucasian with Indians at every nook and corner in their life. You can take my kids out of India….but never India out of them“

Nidhi G. Maurya a Canadian resident and mother to 2 beautiful children, says that, “it totally depends upon the parents about how they want their child to be. In my case my love for my country and my culture reflects totally in my daughter’s eyes. Since we live in a far away country than our own, it’s easy to forget our roots/basics in our busy life.

However, for my daughter India is place where we belong, be it the language we speak or the rituals we follow or the festivals. Even at the age of 5 she knows Vedic chants, has strong command over both languages (English & Hindi). And she loves going back to India. Her favorite food is vada paav, pani poori and aloo chat.

Now with one more recent addition to the family, I will continue to make my children Indian at heart and soul”.

Sonal Ranadive, another US resident believes that whether a child is Indian at heart will totally depend upon her/his upbringing. She says, “Our children do remain Indian at heart. However, I would say it all depends on the upbringing and our way of living. If parents follow Indian festivals and rituals then children know and are fascinated towards it. I try to celebrate every Hindu festival which we did in our childhood”.

Niti Bhatia an US resident & a proud mom of a 7 year and a 7 month old believes that Indian children who stay in a different country are encouraged to be more ‘Indian’ than kids living in India, because parents take extra effort for the same. She says, “I feel my child is more Indian than most of the kids who grow up in India. That’s mostly because staying away from our country and family we take extra efforts to let him learn the culture, read stories about various festivals etc together.

It’s fun for them to learn new things and talk about it with pride in their classrooms and I enjoy his Hindi in American accent”.

These mommies have proven their point that no matter where a family is living, if the parents truly want, their children will grow up with the ‘Indian-ness’ in them!