From The Peopling of New York City

Interview with Kanushree Jain April 1st, 2009 Brookdale Dorms

What do you consider as your nationality?

• Indian Where were you born?

• New Delhi, India , towards North of country (the capital!)

What languages do you speak at home?

• We speak Hindi and English, and my dad speaks Punjabi (because he lived there)

Where are your parents from?

• Mom and Dads from Haryana, India

When did you move the US? How old were you? • In 1992, I was two years old and we moved to Astoria NY because he had friends living here and in India we were suffering from business losses. I grew up here, in Flushing.

What’s the population like in Flushing?

• There are a lot of Chinese and Korean people mostly, but also a lot of Indian people

What traditions/rituals did you keep from India? Which did you leave behind?

• Yes a lot of Indian culture is preserved at home. We go to temple only on special occasions because we have a mini temple in the house. We don’t pray on a daily basis but we do light a candle every day which is a very common tradition.

What is your religion? Is it North Indian?

• We practice Jainism-a branch off of Hinduism. It was developed around the same time as Budhism. We have few ideals that come from Hinduism and some are only from Jainism. Jainism is absolutely vegetarian. We believe in “live and let live” and we are very careful about where we step so we don’t step on any animals. In my family we pray to Hindu gods. The temple we visit is mostly North Indian, though I am not sure what the differences are exactly.

What new rituals/traditions/culture did you encounter in NY that you did not in India?

• I don’t think there are any, we probably practice less traditions than we would if we lived in India.

Did you feel comfortable in your new community when you moved here? Why or why not?

• People weren’t accepting when we first moved into the building, they weren’t readily helpful. I personally think itss because it gave them a chance to make fun of the new struggling Indians. If they helped they wanted something in return. I think this probably has to do something with Indian culture.

Do you have traditions that come specifically from north or south india? If so how do they differ from other Indian traditions?

• Don’t really know but I’m sure there are some differences.

What are some differences in the clothing/language/food/religion/social interactions different between north and south Indians?

• I don’t really know to be honest.

Can you tell where in India someone is from, from the way they look?

• Not usually, often South Indians are darker skinned. But I can tell if someone is Punjabi right away. I don’t see Indians as different if they are from a different region, to me you’re just Indian. Most people do distinguish between North and South however.

Do North and South indians mix here in NY-how and how not? • Yes people from all over India mix, but they do tend to mostly hang with people from same region. People in general do, but we don’t. Whoever we find that is compatible with us we are friends with. We have Muslim friends and Punjabi friends.

Are most of your friends Indian? If so are they from the same region as you?

• No. I Have Indian friends, and they’re not North Indian necessarily.

Do you feel like a new combined North and South Indian culture is arising here in Queen? And if so, how?

• I think people definitely mix a lot here. But since I can’t really distinguish I’m not the best person to ask.

Do you often go to Jackson Heights?

• We almost never go there, if need clothing either go to India or have some family there send it over. We get Indian food from Main street in Flushing.

Do you note tensions between people of different regions?

• Definitely at times between Hindus and Muslims, who seem to just tend to avoid eachother. Personally I have no tensions with anyone as I cant even tell where you’re from.

Do you feel like you relate more to people from the same region in India as you?

• No, I can’t tell the difference from how someone is.

Are there interregional marriages? Are they seen as a good/bad thing?

• Yes definitely people prefer to stay within their own classification of religion such as Jainism. We are still allowed to marry Indian guys who aren’t Jain as long as they are Hindu.

Do you think Indian culture in NY has assimilated to American culture?

• Yeah definitely, I’m one of them. A lot of Indians enjoy a lot of foods besides their own home food (like my brother likes American foods more). And kids don’t want to watch Bollywood movies as much-I love them personally! I like Indian music better than American music too. Here you also lose more knowledge about Indian History, and don’t know meanings behind rituals and Indian Mythology. Ideals and practices in terms of love life are Americanized-“dating” before college, premarital sex, etc.

There is the concept of an “ABCD” which is an “American born confused Desi” tries to assimilate more.

What are some of the language differences between North and South?

• There are many language differences, and North Indians mostly speak Hindi, while South speak Tamil, Telegu, and Malayalam.

Some interesting conclusions:Italic text

I thought it was very interesting how little Kanusheri distinguished between North and South Indians. She often mentioned how her siblings, parents, or other Indians might definitely distinguish between people from different regions but she cant really tell. She also said it doesn’t really interest her to know where someone is from, and that all Indians share enough similarities to just be considered Indian to her.

I’d now like to interview some other people from South India as well as newer immigrants from North India and see their opinion on the cultural differences between the regions and their interaction in NYC. Even though Kanusheri is from Flushing I feel like her experience as an Indian immigrant is very similar to that of people who grew up in the neighborhood of Jackson Heights, and therefore fits well into my research project.