“Pork lo mein, your order is ready!” The busy Chinese restaurant buzzed with chatter and chiming bells as 21-year-old Indian graduate student Karan Puri headed toward the waitress behind the counter. The telephone suddenly rang. Taking an order over the phone in Chinese as Puri arrived, the waitress stopped and smiled. “Hmmm, looks good,” Puri said. The waitress quickly replied, “Thank you. Enjoy. Bye-bye.”
As Puri returned to the table and placed his “I Love NYC” tray next to his book, he said in his Indian-British accent: “You try to get comfortable speaking to an American, or European or anyone from outside. It’s just nice to be able to speak to people from outside because, first of all, everyone everywhere, I think I can generalize, is looking to develop as the years progress. After every year of college, I remember, I wanted to either be mentally better developed or more cultured. I wanted to be either more intelligent or emotionally a more well-rounded person. And as a first-generation Indian immigrant, I learned even if you miss out on one part of growing up, you want to experience the other.”
Puri’s quest to understand the world around him led him to enroll at Rutgers-Newark in 2003. As a Ph.D. student and teaching assistant in mathematics, Puri is happy to be in America. However, he believes that his life in this country doesn’t conform to the stereotypes of cultural uniformity that the American media impressed upon him growing up in New Delhi, India. Puri still maintains his Indian identity because he believes assimilation in America, “the land of immigrants,” is hypocritical. No single immigrant in this country, he explains, comes from the same background. Instead he believes that he is also a part of America like the many immigrants that came before him. Inclusion, instead of assimilation, into this seemingly diverse social landscape is his goal.
“I came here with the objective of basically learning about and meeting new people from different places, not from my own country—because I know the people from my own country. Over here on the East Coast, diversity is huge. In fact, last semester, I had a Dutch roommate, and it was really odd since I was from such a different culture, but we got along really well and he became one of my best friends—just over a few months. Sure, he was an exchange student and he left. But in the summer, I am going to meet him in Holland,” Puri said.
Puri is among countless first-generation Indian immigrants who attend and teach classes at Rutgers-Newark, “the most diverse university campus in the nation,” according to U.S. News and World Report. Globalization, expansion of American culture and America’s continuing shift toward multiculturalism are factors that have shaped Puri’s view of America as well as his role within the country.
Stanford University sociologist Thomas Sowell, in his book Race and Culture, puts Puri’s objective into current context. “What matters is not how similar the groups may seem to outsiders but how different they seem to each other. At various times and places, differences in religion have been more important than differences in color or language, but at other times and places the order has been the reverse. There is no universally paramount criterion of difference, or any given objective measure of dissimilarity,” Sowell said.
Puri’s first semester at Rutgers-Newark in fall 2003 was his first time away from his hometown of New Delhi, a city comparable to the size and pace of Manhattan. He explained how accepting and rejecting the American stereotypes of South Asians that he encountered reconfirmed his own ethnic identity. At the same time, he shared common ground with his American peers in respects that he did not fully understand until he began to interact with Americans on campus.
“I don’t have many Indian friends here. However, I do get along better with Indians here who come from India. They are my closer friends. Indians over here—second-generation Indian Americans—I haven’t really had the opportunity to meet too many of them. Primarily, I think, because I have not made the effort. And I strongly, deliberately have not made the effort because I prefer to meet other, different people. This is America—you can choose. But if you ask this same question to someone who is an undergrad from India, he or she would probably tell you ‘we have mostly Indian friends.’ That happens a lot on campus; you find a lot of Indian students here who have predominately Indian friends or second-generation Indian American friends. Generational differences don’t seem to matter here. They’ll have predominately Indian friends,” Puri said.
New Jersey indeed has a large Indian population that is visible in Jersey City, Edison and Iselin. Although Indian residents of New Jersey and the Rutgers-Newark campus visit all of these communities, according to Puri, many residents find their loyalties to a community are based on the decisions of their social circles.
“I’ve never been to Jersey City. I’ve been to Edison with my friends. However, I’m sure it’s even more of an Indian place than Jersey City is. It is a place completely full of Indian supermarkets, Indian restaurants and Indian shops—an Indian paradise. And it is interesting because when you are there, you suddenly make a switch from English to Hindi. It is normal too. You are conversing in Hindi with your own people, and it’s not bad because there is nobody from anywhere else around, so you are not talking in a language that no one else understands. You don’t even feel bad about talking that language.”
Puri does not see this as exclusionary behavior on his part. He has grown keenly aware of his ethnic identity in America because he sees how other ethnic groups cross back and forth across cultural boundaries. As a recent immigrant, he does not see any reason why he should confine himself to one group or assimilate into one niche of American culture.
Rutgers University sociology professor Jamie Lew, who has specialized in Asian-American studies for more than 15 years, explained why Puri may feel torn between two cultures. “At the turn of the 20th century, the idea of assimilation in America was very different from how we conceive it today. At that time you really needed to ‘assimilate’; in fact that was the push, to assimilate as quickly as possible to become ‘American,’ lose your language, lose your identity, take on this American role, and then you’ll fit in. In fact, this whole notion of assimilation, as we think of the term ‘straight-line assimilation’ used by sociologists, is deeply rooted in how we conceive immigrants,” Lew said.
Historian Gary Gerstle offers a similar view. He explains how immigrant generations from the era of Reconstruction throughout the 21st century have undergone radical transformations in their outlooks on American culture. Once, immigrants were pushed to conform to specific national ideas and identities. Since the civil rights movement, which emerged in the 1940s and peaked in the 1960s, a more fluid range of American identities has emerged—with important consequences for immigrants.
Puri explained that he and his friends are not like most immigrants because they already had an idea about what America was like before they arrived.
“When I came here, I knew that there were a lot of Indians in New Jersey. Okay, I didn’t know there were so many Indians in Newark. But I knew that New Jersey is like the second India, huge numbers of Indians. Anyway, one part of me was really happy that at least I have some people here from my own country, so even if I miss home, everything will be okay.
“But then there is another thing. I came here for a different reason altogether. I did not come here to meet my own people. I came because the Indian education system teaches us very little about America. They teach us only about us.
“Nonetheless, it is very easy to get an idea about America because America is so omnipresent. I mean, in India, we have McDonald’s. We have been exposed to the worst of American culture for a very long time. So it’s not a shock for an Indian when he or she comes here. Everybody over there watches Friends and Seinfeld. Educated people in India think in a similar sort of way as the American. And the same jokes are funny. The same situations are interesting. I guess I came here to confirm this,” Puri said.
According to Sowell, it is common for immigrants to develop an ethnic identity after immigrating to America. Although it may be difficult at first, he said, once an immigrant understands that he or she is an immigrant like everyone else in the country, the ethnic dilemma of inclusion into Western society becomes less threatening. Puri elaborated on this issue of identity.
“It’s very difficult to define an American identity because the American community has developed from a very diverse background. America doesn’t have any one skin color or any one hair color or ethnicity. You have Americans from all over the place. I can’t really define any characteristics of the American. I wouldn’t define the American as someone who is white. There are just too many African Americans, South Americans, Hispanics—there are so many now. It’s easy to categorize a European country, but America is too difficult to categorize,” Puri said.
Although Puri has a pluralistic view of American identity, he feels that it is not his culture but his black hair and deep tan skin that often stand in the way of his inclusion into American life—especially after 9/11.
“I think discrimination in America is more about skin color. Any discrimination that may take place is just on the basis of skin color and appearance. After 9/11, we heard of a few people getting killed because they looked Muslim, and they weren’t. They were Sikhs; a couple of Sikhs got killed. One of them worked at a petrol station. And it was all because of the way he looked. And the guy who shot him didn’t know any better. He just thought, Look at the guy with the beard. Let’s just whack him,” Puri said.
A report made by Cable News Network (CNN) reporter Suhasini Haidar on September 19, 2001, confirmed Puri’s statement. According to the article, Indian native and practitioner of the Sikh faith Balbir Singh Sodhi “owned a gas station in suburban Phoenix. He had been receiving threatening calls from somebody who blamed Sodhi’s community for the September 11 attacks. And then, a masked gunman entered his gas station and shot him dead. Investigators said no money had been taken. They are working on the premise it was a racially motivated crime. The county attorney said Sodhi was shot ‘for no apparent reason than that he was dark-skinned and wore a turban,’” Haidar wrote.
But Puri understands there may be a reason why some Americans project discontent toward him and his peers. He does not believe his skin color is to blame for this behavior. After all, as he mentioned, a lot Americans pay the beauty industry a lot of money to have tanner skin. Instead, he believes that his skin color and physical traits may be an excuse or an outlet used by Americans who feel threatened by him being in this country.
“Most Americans are really accepting of the international community. But I have a feeling that somewhere deep down they don’t like us very much. I mean, people that come from outside America often are successful, and the ‘American’ Americans get left behind. But again, it’s not to put the blame on them because it’s not fair,” Puri said. He explained that the resentment he senses is generally expressed by Americans who have been in America for a few generations.
Furthermore, these “American” Americans tend to be Caucasian. But as he explained earlier, he doesn’t agree with such generalizations because they contradict what he’s always understood America to be: a land of immigrants. Nonetheless, he explained that this stance is often difficult to maintain because of the lack of diversity in television and media to which he is often exposed.
Puri further believes the resentment he senses from Americans may be due to India’s high academic standards and emphasis on education. As an algebra teaching assistant at Rutgers Newark, he does not believe American high schools, or undergraduate institutions, are vigorously preparing the students that come into his classes. “I teach college algebra, and when I look at my students, their level of education is so low. The amount they have learned upon entering my classes is so little in comparison to what we do in our country. In India, academics are very important—because that is the only goal as such. Therefore, it was a bit shocking when I came here because I thought the level of education here is fantastic since this is the most powerful country in the world.”
Puri elaborated on India’s system of education. “In India, education is number one. When in high school, you choose which academic stream you want to go into. You make this choice at the age of 15 to go into science or you take commerce or you take the arts. And then after your high school studies, you get admission into a university, and you choose whatever courses you want in university that are in accordance with your previous studies. In India, you have to be very focused from a very early age. You have to decide early in your teens whether or not you value your education,” Puri said.
However, Puri later explained that he actually received a private school education at the Christian Brothers School, “The Congregation of Irish Brothers.” This difference, Puri believes, is a particular reason why he does not want to assimilate into American culture. He likes his culture’s emphasis on education, ethnic heritage and work ethic because it provides him with a sense of direction and stability. Although he went to private school, he still believes Indian students in the public school system are at an advantage if they are able to remain in school. Therefore, because Puri feels he was educated more intensively abroad, he senses that Americans see him as having an extra edge when it comes to becoming successful in college and later in the workforce.
“In general, I think Americans have it much easier than anybody in any other country. They may not agree, but they don’t know what it’s like in any other country if they grew up here,” Puri said. He elaborated on how his cultural identity and social ties helped him understand poverty throughout India, in addition to the long-standing post-colonial border conflict India has had with Pakistan over Kashmir after the 1947 partition.
However, Rutgers-Newark student Robert Freeman disagrees with Puri’s perception that “American” Americans don’t generally like foreigners. Freeman considers himself to be American because his family has been in the country for over a century. He is also unable to pinpoint any lineage with certainty. But he does know that when he meets foreigners in and out of school, he does not feel threatened. He explained, “I love different ethnicities and different cultures. Maybe I’m an exception, but I highly doubt it. I don’t think foreigners that feel unwelcome at school or anywhere feel that way because they are smarter or better prepared or whatever. I sense that Americans get annoyed when foreigners come off as acting superior or better than everyone else. I mean, I went to school, I’m graduating in May, and I’m looking for a job. I’m also aware of politics and have lived through September 11 like all the other Americans in the [New York] metro area. So that means that I am also doing something right. Nevertheless, it can be off-putting when someone from a different country comes here and acts like they will be more successful than you. If they brag about their accomplishments night and day, that can be even worse—especially because we are supposed to work together in America. We are all supposed to be American together.”
Nevertheless, Puri believes his perceived difference also creates a gap between himself and second-generation Indians at Rutgers-Newark. “My perception is that second-generation Indian Americans are more American than they are Indian. Let’s face it, they grew up here, that’s their life, and that’s fine. And if they want contact with their roots, that is also fine. I don’t think it’s easy though to actually place yourself if you are in the second generation. I have an excuse because I recently came here. But in India, they are known as the ABCDs, ‘American-Born and Confused-Desis.’ If you’re an Indian, you’re a ‘Desi.’ ‘Des’ means country in India. And ‘Desi’ is someone from your country.” Puri elaborated that although the term “ABCD Indians” comes from a Bollywood film titled ABCD that came out a few years ago, the term has been popular in India since he can remember.
For this reason, Puri often finds himself torn between his own culture and American culture. He admires America for its freedom and its opportunity. But he also likes his own culture, as well as interacting with members of his ethnic community with whom he shares common interests. In America, he sees himself moving forward with his cultural identity and socioethnic ties—but he also sees himself working and living with Americans. Nonetheless, the question remains: If Puri does not have a problem with including himself into America culture, then does America have a problem with granting inclusion to immigrants who do not “assimilate”?
According to Lew, Puri is not alone with his troubles in achieving an American identity. Lew has done extensive research on Korean American youths and their families for the past five years and has found that “what’s really interesting about today’s post-1965 immigrants who are succeeding is that they are not assimilating but maintaining ethnic identities and ethnic networks.”
The current context in America, according to Lew, is such that ethnic networks play a crucial role in the way current immigrants are viewed and view themselves. “In order to understand experiences of post-1965 immigrants, sociologists point to several social and economic factors. First, unlike immigrants at the turn of the 20th century, who came mostly from countries in Europe, today’s immigrants are coming mostly from countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America. Consequently, they are mostly racial minorities who may not have the option to assimilate to ‘whiteness.’ Second, as a result of deindustrialization and globalization, economic opportunities have also changed. Today’s immigrants are faced with an economic structure that is much more bifurcated.
“In this context, it’s not so much about American culture as much as structural factors and how they are different today versus where they were at the turn of the 20th century. And the idea of ‘Americanism’ is radically changing due to the backdrop of post-1960 civil rights movement and how we perceive diversity today. For instance, immigrant ethnic networks, in forms of entrepreneurship and churches, are extremely important for providing economic and social support that today’s immigrants need to achieve social mobility. Therefore, while cultural assimilation is an important factor to consider, it is also important to place the idea of ‘Americanization’ in the changing economic and social context,” Lew said.
As for Puri, he does not feel that he has a problem with fully achieving inclusion in America because he believes that just being here makes him an integral part of American society. Furthermore, while Puri may highly value his education in America, he may also return to India upon graduating in order to better his life. “I am first generation, and I may go back home,” Puri said.
“And if I find a good job, I probably will go back home because the people here in America cannot seem to make up their minds about what it means to be an American. Okay, the opportunities might be greater here, but industrially the opportunities in India are fantastic. Nonetheless, if I do line up a good job in the industry, I may go back. Until then, I am a student here, and I have a right to stay as long as I work hard, contribute to society and believe in freedom.”
Omid Farza is a 2004 Honors College graduate of Rutgers-Newark.
