Culture to me is very significant, especially since it sets a basis for who I am. I believe
the culture my parents have instilled in me, and the cultural values I have learned and seen in American
society adds to my foundation. However, it is my experience and interaction with the Hindu culture that
helps define my character. Since I was young, my parents have constantly tried to instill the Hindu culture
in me. By the age of thirteen, I knew how to read, write and recite Sanskrit prayers and hymns. All these
things were in a vastly different language with completely unique characters. However, despite all these
cultural achievements I acquired, I did not get a sense of my true Hindu culture until I actually stepped
foot in my country three years ago. My arrival to India could be summed up in two words : culture shock.
After a long and tiring sixteen hour airplane ride my family and I finally arrived to our
destination. As I stepped off the airplane I realized I was stepping into a whole different world. I had
arrived in a place so foreign to me yet a major part of me.
As I walked out of the grimy glass doors, I had entered into an unknown zone that could
have been mistaken for a nightmare, but I stood in reality. Shocked, scared, confused and lost. What I saw
at that moment changed my attitude towards how I would view other people, more specifically, my
people, in the future. I learned that looks can truly be deceiving. There, right in front of my eyes, stood a
family of six beggars in torn rags with filthy hands. They were begging for anything. Their glassy and
teary eyes stared at me, waiting. I could hear their thoughts as if they were screaming in my ear,
"Americans! Ha! What do they know about the struggles of life!". I felt like running. My dad,
understanding my confusion, pulled me into our awaiting car quickly. As we sped off, the first words that
stumbled out of my...