Betterment Between Countries

With my return to blogging this quarter, I wanted to deviate from my topic of talking about wars effects on history and the modern day, and instead talk about my families history, through the generation, and the president it has set going forward, while touching on my father’s start in America. Though I was bourn in the United States, Wilmington Delaware specifically, I am of Indian decent, and almost all of my family is from the subcontinent. When moving from one country to another, there is often a story of the previous generation mobilizing the next to do so. With that in mind, I wanted to look at my grandfather’s transition out of extreme poverty, and how that impacted my father.  

First, I would like to talk about my grandfather’s story, and how that has shaped my father’s as well as my own life. Though he passed away while I was young, he left a remarkable legacy for my whole family that I hold very dear. My grandfather came from a very poor family, and grew up on in the slums of India’s largest city, Mumbai. My grandmother has even told me stories of him having to study under the lights of the train station at night, because his house did not have electricity, and was quite literally four walls and a roof. Despite the difficulty of his upbringing, he scored very well in school, and earned a place in the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay), one of the most competitive schools to be admitted into in India. It was at the end of his schooling, that he saw the opportunity to make the transition from his previous life, to a better one. With a small circle of friends, he helped found the Bombay Gas Company, supplying power to the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay). Though he did very well for himself, after his schooling and success of the company, he raised my father with a frugal mind and never let him forget the power of humility. After talking to my grandmother about my father, and his 2 sister’s, upbringing it is clear that my grandfather made every conceivable effort to make every aspect of their lives better than his. As a result, my father excelled academically and also attended IIT Bombay.

This idea of giving your children a better life than your own is something that is commonly seen among first generation children, and most parents in general. There is not only the societal pressure for you to succeed, but there is the familial pressure, which is especially true in the case of my father. My grandfather’s struggle, and ability to escape poverty and build a business from the ground up, has made a lasting impression on my family and within the city of Mumbai. With such a high bar set for my father, I believe that the only place or way he could build his own legacy is by coming to the United States. Though he came here for education, I cannot help but thing that the reason he stayed in the America partially for this reason. When looking at how these same standards are projected onto me, it is hard not to be intimidated. I am constantly reminded of all the good that my grandfather did, and I hope to create a legacy as powerful as his.