Hey Everyone!
As promised, here is my cross-cultural essay for my Peace Corps application. Enjoy!
Peace Corps Volunteers must be open to ideas and cultures different from their own. Give an example of a significant experience that illustrates your ability to adapt cross-culturally. You may draw from experiences in your work, school, or community in the U.S. or abroad. Please include the circumstances of the experiences and dates.
It may sound funny but although I am of East Indian origin and lived in South India for two years from 1992-1994, it is always a culture shock for me when I return to visit family in India. My shock is not just a result of the blatent political corruption, the lack of proper garbage disposal on the streets or even the fuzzy separation between livestock and man; it is also due to the lack of life’s little luxuries that I am so accustomed to and even take for granted here in the US. For example, in India, showers consist of bathing oneself with tiny buckets of hot and cold water; muggy weather is further exacerbated by the lack of central air conditioning in most places; and water must be filtered or bought for it to be safe to drink.
It may sound funny but although I am of East Indian origin and lived in South India for two years from 1992-1994, it is always a culture shock for me when I return to visit family in India. My shock is not just a result of the blatent political corruption, the lack of proper garbage disposal on the streets or even the fuzzy separation between livestock and man; it is also due to the lack of life’s little luxuries that I am so accustomed to and even take for granted here in the US. For example, in India, showers consist of bathing oneself with tiny buckets of hot and cold water; muggy weather is further exacerbated by the lack of central air conditioning in most places; and water must be filtered or bought for it to be safe to drink.
One of the biggest challenges I face when visiting India is that of using the traditional Indian toilet. In the US, the western style toilet is fairly easy to use because you simply have to sit and then when finished use toilet paper to clean up before flushing. In India, unless you are part of the privileged wealthy class, Indian toilets are usually nothing more than a hole in the ground. The awkward part is attempting to squat over the hole. This may not seem too bad but I remember many a time where I came out of an Indian restroom with numb legs. The process is even further complicated by the fact that water is used in place of toilet paper. All in all the process can get very tiring and very wet. I still haven’t mastered the art of using an Indian toilet so during my past few visits to India, I’ve made a rule of always carrying some type of disposable tissue in case of an emergency where I have to use a bathroom in public.
Despite all these differences between my lives on opposite sides of the world, I have come to find a sense of peace for I know that I can readily adapt to any environment, no matter how different the culture. When studying abroad two summers ago in South America, it took me far less time to adjust to my new surroundings in Buenos Aires than my peers. While I saw Buenos Aires as simply a fantastic new city that I couldn’t wait to explore, my peers saw the city as something completely foreign, a new world that was nothing like the America they were so accustomed to. Even though 50 years from now my life’s little luxuries most likely will not be prevalent in India, I know that it will be okay because these little inconveniences are just a small part of a bigger picture that makes up this exotic country that is both strange and home to me at the same time. After all, if I wanted to experience an “American” India, I would have just stayed here in Atlanta.
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