Manu
Here's our amazing son, Manu, now in a wonderful college: The College of Wooster (see Colleges That Change Lives). He's an artist, a talker, an athlete, and a most remarkable, caring young man, who combines the best of two worlds. Enjoy his college entrance essays, which reflect a bit of his life.
A Different Life
The smell of Dosa rice cakes in the morning will never leave me, or the feel of buses so crowded that they tip while taking corners. The friends I’ve made and the wonderful people I’ve met in my father’s India are many, since I started my journey at nine months old. Although I returned there often, by middle school I wanted to live in and feel India for a longer time. So I began 9th grade in Madras. Home schooling in India meant taking a risk, living on less, and leaving our T.V. But it allowed me to experience my Indian culture in a way that enriched me and made me appreciate my life so much. For India has many great things, but also many flaws.
To most people,“IST” means “Indian Standard Time.” But in India, we substitute the words “Indian Stretchable Time.” One day, my family was on a train going to Calcutta. The train was old and rusty, tired and hot. We’d been riding for a day already when suddenly we stopped.
“Just a short break,” my father said. Twelve hours later, the train started to move. Another time, we called the phone company to get a phone line. After two months, someone came to help. Many times I found myself waiting in India. But this is the speed of the country and to live there is to adapt.
When I returned to Vashon High, I felt a new maturity in me. I had a sense of patience and persistence that helped me to study four extra hours a week with tutors and to work more hours, earning money to help my family and to buy my wonderful mom a digital camera for her work.
Pieces of life that you take for granted here - drinkable tap water or reliable trains - are not the same in India. You must adjust. Now, when dealing with my peers or parents, I am always ready to change, to meet their needs. In my American school, many kids try to find ways to fit in by forming cliques and groups. It was hard returning after my year away, yet through the next three years, I never isolated myself from anyone. I would always talk to everyone and anyone: maybe a feeling of flexibility and adaptability radiated off me.
Respect for family and for older people is very important in India. I’ve learned this from my uncle Sivamurty, my Indian family, my friends. So I’ve always been there for my parents, and put them first: working together to build our house and even sharing a Saturday night once in a while!
The cultural differences between and an Indian father and an American mother are many. But what I’ve learned from both, and from my time in India, stays with me. I hope to use it to be successful in college and afterwards. If I can do this, that is all I ask.
My Mother's Hard Work
Just the other day, my mom got her 15th book published. She started writing when she was 20 in Asia, after she hitchhiked there from Europe. She always loved words – her first poem was published in first grade. And from there, the seed that would put my mom on top was started.
To this day, I look to her as my mother, my caretaker, my emotional support, and one of my first role models. The drive and the determination that’s kept her going is what has pushed me to be the best person that I could be. I remember the day one of her books was put on a CD-ROM. I was a younger kid at the time and was not quite aware of my mother’s profession. But I still knew that having my mother’s book on a CD-ROM, for others to enjoy, was something pretty neat.
How many other people do I know whose mothers have traveled to over 20 different countries for work purposes, climbed the Himalayas, published many books, and shared stories for a living? My mother’s work and drive to succeed has given me much enthusiasm for higher goals, bigger accomplishments, and a sense of kindness and acceptance for anyone.
My mother’s knowledge of foreign cultures, through her travels and vast amounts of research, has rounded her off as a very open person. When I am lucky enough to go with her on her travels, I experience this diversity, and this stretches me to be a richer person, too. Yet like any mom, she can be the worst pain of my life - “but what are mothers for?”
The biggest values that I’ll take from my mother are her will to do her best, to be happy and never give up. For although my mother doesn’t make so much money, she loves her work, and she never sees an end to anything she does. I think if this is the one thing I can pull and take from my mom, I shall never be in a hole that I cannot climb out of.
