Aishwarya Week 5: An Evolving Story of a Neighbourhood's Multilingual Community
Photo by AZ Susan.
In today’s world, there are diverse groups of languages across the globe. For instance, each neighborhood in Fremont speaks a different language and shares a different culture. In one neighborhood of the same city, there are houses of blue and green with streets of kids screaming and running across the streets. But, what’s unique about this one street, are the cultural traditions we share as a community. Each kid you see running across the street comes from a different family that speaks a certain native language, originating from India. Although the description of the kids running across the streets may sound frustrating to me, I find it nostalgic because I was one of them too.
This street is not like any normal street where you see a collection of houses. This street has a special connection; a connection of culture and sharing of the same traditions. Every year, our street of families celebrate festivals together from Diwali to Holi at someone’s house. These festivals allow the families in my neighborhood to connect with one another through communicating in a diverse range of languages that originated from the same country.
Furthering its uniqueness, the street carries an album of memories kept in one person’s house. I emphasize one person’s house because one family carrying a book of memories of the street signifies that the street is not just a collection of houses but a close community of interconnectedness because of the spoken languages. When you flip through the pages of photos, every year you see new and familiar faces of people you have never seen before. Seeing new and familiar faces shows how cultural connections grow through communication. But what is amazing is how despite these languages and festivals originating from India, they still continued to be part of the diverse culture of America that evolved into an album of memories of its own.
Hi, Aishwarya! The topic of your neighborhood was very interesting to me! I was interested to know that you and your neighbors would celebrate festivals together. I barely know anyone on my street and I’m much too shy to try and approach them. The album of memories is a very interesting concept to me as well! That sounds like something straight out of a fairytale. That reminds me of the villages from the past where the citizens are well aware and close to each other, or a town like Holcomb where citizens were very trusting of one another. It is really cool that you are still able to connect to your neighbors at a time in society where everyone is aiming to improve their own futures and not emphasizing casual connections with those around it. I was also curious about the different “cultures of America” present in the families. Are they all from India? Or are they from other countries as well and all celebrate the festivals together? Either way, it’s amazing that you have these memories.
ReplyDeleteHi Aishwarya! The fact that your neighborhood celebrate together is very interesting. I know many kids in my neighborhood and we share the same culture but I do not celebrate with them, so the fact that you do is very nice. Whenever we celebrate Diwali or Holi, we instead go to a family friend's party to celebrate. The album of memories of your neighbors is a very sweet concept and it is heartwarming to hear how close you are with your neighbors and neighborhood. The fact you said "every year you see new and familiar faces" is such a wholesome way to look at it. Your perspective of how these cultural components have merged with the larger American culture is evidence of how civilizations are inclusive and always changing. Overall, your blog does a great job of highlighting the wonder of cultural diversity and the sense of community it promotes.
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