Life As an Asian American

I am half Indian and half American. My father is Indian and my mother is American. I have grown up in America my entire life and I have never set foot in India. However, I imagine that my reaction to India would be similar to the reaction I had when I visited South America: awe and amazement at the differences between western culture and other cultures. To me, India is an exotic place and extremely foreign to me. I see major differences between here and India, which is exactly how most of the West sees Asia. The west sees Asia as exotic and different and mysterious and somewhat less civilized compared to America. Although Asia is somewhat mysterious and different to me, unlike others, I have been exposed to Indian culture by hearing my father converse in Hindi, as well as by eating my grandma's indian food and worshipping the hindu gods during celebration.

I am confused by seeing India from my dad and grandparents point of view and being exposed to the western idea of Asia, which I know is wrong. I think both western thoughts as well as eastern thoughts, which makes me vulnerable to caving into the West's ideas of dominance to civilize the east with a democratic government and western ideals. I believe that the problem is the lack of publicized and televised culture of India. If America were to expose themselves to true footage and life in India (which is slowly occurring), then more people would understand the similarities and differences in our cultures and would acknowledge that because there was British colonization in India, India has many parallels with America and is therefore less mysterious.