The New Indian Kid

“Do you eat curry every day?”, “What is the button on an Indian woman’s head?”, “Do you play cricket?” and my favorite “Can you fix my computer?”. These, are just a few examples of the “friendly” and “banterful” jabs, I received at my first International school. Now you must be thinking; well your friends must have been racist or uneducated, but unfortunately they were none of the above, begging the question - what were they then? Well, let me tell you.

My chronicle, if you will, began on my first day of school in the British School of Bahrain. Just like the other new students, I was asked to line up at the front of the class and introduce myself. So, as Mrs. Payne (aka The Executioner) gives us the fatal stare to hurry up and bring our necks down to the pen, awkward silence fills the room. This silence is then followed by the new students looking at each other, pleading with every inch of our retinas, for some brave soul to start the proceedings. As you just predicted, brave souls like that don’t exist in reality. Noticing this, Mrs. Payne decides to take the lead -

“Prabhav Arora, why don’t you start us off? Your name is first on the roll anyway.”

Like a bullet, the reality hits me as I picture Mrs. Payne standing there, tipping her hat whilst blowing the smoke off her gun, creating a still even John Wayne would be envious of. Immediately, I start cursing every ancestor I know for inheriting the name Arora. Why couldn’t I be called Prabhav Zorro or something like that? Whilst going through a few curses I begin to speak;

“H-hhh-elllo, Mmm-mm-yy name i-ii-s Prabhav”.

Now, you must be thinking that I am one shy kid. Incorrect. I am in fact a kid which has just spent the first 9 years of his life studying in a Hindi medium school, having one class of English every week.

“I  li-ii-i-ke to pla-a-y foo-tb-all and m-aa-ke go-al-s. I c-aa-me India 2 we-ee-k-s ba-cck.

That’s right, I was just fresh of the boat and my parents had the stupendous idea of putting me in an International School. You must be thinking this was bad enough. Nope, the final movement is incoming.

“I a-aam e-lle-w-u-nn y-yy-ear-ss ol-dd”.

With that fantastic pronunciation of eleven I successfully managed to pull out the “stereo typical” Indian accent and fill the room with laughing gas. Now don’t get me wrong, I am probably one of the most patriotic Indians ever and am tremendously proud of my accent and identity, however sadly for me my classmates appeared to not share the same opinion. Fortunately, Mrs. Payne came to my rescue by yelling at class for silence and asking for respect. I then proceeded to bend my head to the floor feeling sorry for my “English”, hoping for the next in line and my countryman Arjun Arunat to take some of the heat. Just as I was beginning to get my hopes up, this chap decides to go on and blow the whole class away.

“Good morning class, my name is Arjun Arunat and I am eleven years old.”, giving me a cheeky smile after saying eleven he proceeds,  “I really enjoy playing football and basketball, in addition to playing the guitar.  I hope to make some new friends and enjoy life. I support Chelsea in football and the Warriors in Basketball. I’m originally from India but I’ve lived in England my whole life. ”

With that outburst of flawless English, even the Queen would be proud of, the class was taken aback. They tried to matching the face with the voice, scratching their heads on how an “Indian” could speak such English. Usually, I would be proud that a fellow countryman was restoring the pride of the nation; however Mr.Arunat just managed to outshine me like a Ford Fiesta racing a Ferrari.

Soon, the introductions were done and Mrs.Payne asked for us to return to our seats. As I was taking my seat, I heard a snicker;

“Hey Prabhav do you play Wolleyball”?.

Much to my surprise, Ben Harris had decided to break the ice in a kind manner, complementing Indians on their pronunciation of the letter v. The first of many I thought to myself. Subsequently, my friend Arjun, decides to take a seat next to Ben, yet he receives a fist pump and a pretty self explanatory invitation to the “cool kids” group.

Jokes aside, this event caused me to ponder on how judgmental society is, with my peers looking down on me because of the fact I couldn’t speak “proper” English. They hadn’t judged my personality, talked to me or even said Hi, but they had drawn immediate conclusions. I couldn’t even bring up the racist factor because my friend Ranbir had been accepted with open arms, or should I say fists?

The Importance of Hindi (To me)

You can be Chinese, Palestinian, Greek, French or Japanese ; but what really makes you part of that community?

Do you feel you fit in with those of your motherland?

What makes you, you?

These questions can have a pallet of answers to a pallet of people, but let me tell you about my personal opinion and how I side with Tan on the importance of my mother tongue. (Hindi) 

Firstly, I have never formally learnt Hindi in school, thus my father made it his duty to teach me the language on the weekends. My impromptu, informal classes stopped at age 12, consequent to me being able to read, write and speak proficiently. The fact that he did this, demonstrates how important us Indians consider learning our language, even if we don't require its use in English speaking countries.

Hindi has been of importance to me for three main reasons. The first and most paramount reason would be for conversing with my own. This means when I go back to India, I can talk to street vendors, relatives and even the local kids over there. Whether its playing street cricket, haggling, or asking the rickshaw driver for directions, knowing my mother tongue, (literally) helps me get around. More importantly, I can talk to my Grandparents, who don't speak English. Imagine, not being able to converse with those of your own blood and their treasure of wisdom due to the barrier of language, horrific eh? Moreover, if I was to speak English in India, I would appear to be a foreigner resulting in a different treatment and not being in harmony/unison with the local culture there. In fact, Colombians call them "gringos" , Indians call them "Gora's" meaning a "misfit" or a derogatory term for a white person. Thus, my somewhat "controversial" argument is that any human can live in any place in the world and call it their house, but there will only be one place which they can call home, which is their motherland .

Now think of this if you wanted to walk into your home but you didn't have the keys would you be able to get in? 

Absolutely Not! (No smart answers like the window are allowed). Similar to this, your mother tongue is almost a key for you to blend and mingle with those of your own ethnicity. That was point numero uno. 

Point number 2 is the fact that your mother tongue gives you something which you can call your own ; something which creates an intimacy between you and the speaker. One example, would be talking Hindi to my parents and sister on an abroad trip. Be it making fun of the lady adjacent to us's hairstyle, my mother telling my father that the item is to expensive or simply getting a discount at an Indian store because we both speak the same language, the sensation gives me an immense satisfaction and a sense of coziness when I use it. 

Okay, I think coziness took it too far.

Ultimo punto (the last point),  is the fact there are vista's of works to explore I have unlocked by knowing my mother tongue. This means that I can understand Hindi Poems, Hindi Movies, Hindi Songs and tons of other works of art that subtitles or Google Translate don't do justice to. If I was only equipped with English I would not be able to explore these fantastic works of art that my own rich culture has to offer with the same depth.  

In conclusion, Hindi has been a huge equalizer for me as it helps me fit perfectly into the Indian society even with the barrier of being an NRI (Non- Resident Indian).  Moreover, my mother tongue, gives me a sense of identity and belonging whilst providing cascades of different arts for me to explore.

Until Next Time, 

मेरे दोस्त (Google Translated - My Friend)

What's in a Name?

Hey Prabdab, Prabhaf, Praby, Prabhu and even Rabbit. These are exhibits of the butchery of my beautiful name Prabhav. The name Prabhav is derived from the ancient language of Sanskrit and is quite a rare name in India. The Sanskrit meaning of my name is the "Place of Origination of the Universe". I'm pretty important eh? In addition to this meaning Prabhav is one of the thousand names for the Hindu Lord Vishnu (Creator of the Universe). In reference to the locations of Prabhav's, we are quite well spread out in India, covering almost every city in India. Thus, as you can see my name is brimming with cultural and historical richness, however it doesn't stop there  because my surname carries a lot of weight as well!

A surname is a huge part of any Indians identity because 9 out of 10 times we can tell exactly where they are from in India, just by observing their name. However, as with anything else in India, surnames have some politics behind them as well. As soon as you tell an Indian the surname, they will immeaditely start judging you on your caste and city of origin. Let me tell you about the cities, because I'm not really proud of the Indian caste system. For example, my name - Prabhav Arora. The surname Arora is extremely common amongst the Punjabi society (North Indians) in India and guess what? I'm Punjabi. A name such as Rohit Chandani, would usually signify we are dealing with a Sindhi (Person who belongs to Rajasthan) due to the fact his surname has - "ani" at the end of it. There are many tricks to the trade and as you become a more "experienced" Indian you learn that your culture and your surname are a buy one get one free package. Moreover, my surname is vital to me because it gives a blatantly obvious hint on my religion. Prabhav Arora sounds like a Hindu name, Salman Khan sounds Muslim and John Abraham sounds Christian. 

So that's the cultural context of my surname but what about its history?

After doing some shocking research I found out that my surname Arora actually has a lot of historical valour to back it up. The Arora's, were a well respected Indian tribe living in old day Amritsar (Punjab) and current day Lahore (Pakistan) dating back to almost the 1800's. From there, we fought many wars against the Pakistani's and eventually moved back to India after the Indo-Pak partition. Since then, we have prospered as a business community, known to be intelligent, eccentric and loving. (Right on the money)

Take Care! 

Cultural Marker Misconceptions

Namaste!

Consequent to the previous blog post, I hope we are now familiar with each other, and you have some background knowledge on who I am. Whoosh! You didn't even see it, however, I just answered the I.B question "Who Am I?". Personally, I feel this question has two components embedded in the answer. The first would be personal choices such as Sports, Music and Hobbies; the other would be the culture you are born into and how it has shaped you. In my first blog post I articulated a lot on the first component however, in this post I would like to tend to the other one. So let's begin my story! 

I was born in Mumbai, India and stayed their for the first 5 years of my life. Since then I've shifted from Dubai to Bahrain to Dubai again to Singapore and finally landed at my current stop which is Abu Dhabi. Even though, I have shifted 10 schools and relocate every 1 or 2 years, my Dad made it his mission to teach me Hindi every weekend. Thus, I am very fluent in my mother-tongue, posse sing the ability to read, write and speak. Since Mumbai, I have been overseas for 11 years and have been very fortunate to be placed in an international school at each stint. These international schools have permitted the grasp of several different cultures and invaluable experiences. Naturally, if you haven't met someone of a different culture to yours, the first meeting will have its inevitable awkward moments. Let me narrate one that Indians face a lot. This is a typical conversation that occurs when I join a new school (Pretend Mark is Romanian and has never met an Indian before) 

Mark : Hey Prabhav, welcome to Raha  

Prabhav: Thanks Mark, it was hard shifting from India

Mark : Ohh! Do you speak Indian?

Prabhav: Nope.

Mark : Oh sorry I meant do you speak Hindu.

Triggered. 

India is home to 22 official "recognized" languages, 150 languages with a population of over 1 million speaking them and there are 1652 "unrecognized" languages. But, Mark wants to stereotype every language into one country or even a religion? 

Not fair Mark. 

I think that this cultural marker is very important to grasp because this what makes the people in India different and gives them an identity. For example, I am North Indian and speak Hindi, however someone in the South probably speaks Tamil, Telugu or Malayalam but I can't stereotype them or guess what they are speaking based on the majority. I would be crushing a culture in an instant. As a North Indian I shouldn't feel too bad because Hindu and Hindi are quite alike, however imagine someone mistaking your religion with a language. Long live the Millennials? I think this cultural marker is very important to all the minority Indians because they want people to recognize us for who they are, and not the majority. This, even leads to a larger problem because most people overseas don't know any other parts of India except Delhi, Mumbai or Goa. What happened to the other 29 states? I think I can sympathize with those which call it Indian or Hindu. For those which call Hindi, Indian I understand Russia speaks Russian, France speaks French and so on but languages don't work on the rule of thumb, good luck speaking American. For those which call it Hindu, I understand it sounds like Hindi but please don't confuse a religion with a language. I think by understanding this misconception and avoiding it in conversation would display respect for the vast Indian culture and a sense of pride for the Indian on the other side of the conversation that his language/culture has been recognized or questioned. Here's an example of the conversation which would have occurred if Mark acknowledged this cultural marker :

Mark : Hey Prabhav, welcome to Raha

Prabhav : Thanks Mark, it was hard shifting from India

Mark: Oh so what language do you speak, I hear India has a lot of them

Prabhav : Yes we do Mark, I speak Hindi

Mark: Great!

Be like Mark!

Until then,  

                       Alvida ! (In Hindi)

About The Author

Ola! Welcome to my blog! My name is Prabhav Arora and I study in Raha International School Abu Dhabi. I have recently made the jump to the horror story of DP. Hopefully, this one has a happy ending. According to my task on Managebac I have to let you know a bit about myself so here we go. First things first, I love the Stock Market. I've already started investing in it and even made some money. The Wolf on Khalifa Street, is another name I am also known as. In terms of Sports, I love football, basketball, water polo and cricket. Its almost a ritual for me to shift my interest in Sport each year because I love trying new things. Personally, I love travelling (excluding long flights) and listening to Music. My dreams for this year would be getting 45 out of 45 in the DP (Dreaming is free.) Coming to the English aspect of things, languages have always been very crucial in my life. Due to my Dad's amazing job I get to shift countries almost every 1 or 2 years. This means exploring new cultures and languages, and communicating is a huge priority for survival. Hindi is my mother tongue, however I have always had to use English because of my stints overseas. Anyways, I've got to go now because the Chelsea match is on!

Ciao.