As I write this, exceptions start popping into my mind. But I think it's worth writing about it anyway.
Yesterday, we had some friends over for a very fun evening. Among the many things we talked about, the one that stuck with me was 'the feeling of home'. The U.S. is a country of immigrants and rarely do you get to meet someone that really belongs to this land. It's a strange thing to hear but two to three generations in, people still cite as their heritage, the nation or nations that their forefathers had come from. And even though one is born in a certain state, the 'allegiance' to that state is minimal.
To me, as an Indian and an Assamese, that is a very strange thing. Wherever I may live, I will always feel Indian and Assamese. When asked, I always differentiate between where I live and where I come from. And yesterday's conversation brought those feelings to the fore. When a friend commented that a town they had lived in for over a decade did not quite feel like home, I had to stop and wonder why.
Do human beings feel rooted to a place because of a certain kind of bond -- the bond of their mother tongue? Maybe that phrase exudes a power that we don't typically think about. And maybe the fact that language does not distinguish one part of the U.S. from another, removes that critical element, rendering many Americans unable to feel rooted to any one city or state.
I wonder if people in England feel that way too? Or France? Or any other country which is not like mine, where your language is a distinct marker of your ethnicity and your very being? Not that there aren't markers in the U.S. This is after all a country that has created its current heritage after having obliterated almost all signs of its native people. The sports teams of a state seem to be the clearest markers of state pride that I see in this country. Young or old, you swear your allegiance to your home state via the team it hosts.
But what if there isn't a state team? What is your marker? Other than a handful of cities, each town and city in this country carries a thread of homogeneity, with the same shops, restaurants and man-made landscape. The natural terrain feels like it would be the strongest mark of difference between one part of the country and another, but do the citizens of this country see it that way? Does that terrain root them to a certain part of their land over another?
Or does the fact that they speak the same language, overpower any need to have those roots to a certain part of the country?
Yesterday, we had some friends over for a very fun evening. Among the many things we talked about, the one that stuck with me was 'the feeling of home'. The U.S. is a country of immigrants and rarely do you get to meet someone that really belongs to this land. It's a strange thing to hear but two to three generations in, people still cite as their heritage, the nation or nations that their forefathers had come from. And even though one is born in a certain state, the 'allegiance' to that state is minimal.
To me, as an Indian and an Assamese, that is a very strange thing. Wherever I may live, I will always feel Indian and Assamese. When asked, I always differentiate between where I live and where I come from. And yesterday's conversation brought those feelings to the fore. When a friend commented that a town they had lived in for over a decade did not quite feel like home, I had to stop and wonder why.
Do human beings feel rooted to a place because of a certain kind of bond -- the bond of their mother tongue? Maybe that phrase exudes a power that we don't typically think about. And maybe the fact that language does not distinguish one part of the U.S. from another, removes that critical element, rendering many Americans unable to feel rooted to any one city or state.
I wonder if people in England feel that way too? Or France? Or any other country which is not like mine, where your language is a distinct marker of your ethnicity and your very being? Not that there aren't markers in the U.S. This is after all a country that has created its current heritage after having obliterated almost all signs of its native people. The sports teams of a state seem to be the clearest markers of state pride that I see in this country. Young or old, you swear your allegiance to your home state via the team it hosts.
But what if there isn't a state team? What is your marker? Other than a handful of cities, each town and city in this country carries a thread of homogeneity, with the same shops, restaurants and man-made landscape. The natural terrain feels like it would be the strongest mark of difference between one part of the country and another, but do the citizens of this country see it that way? Does that terrain root them to a certain part of their land over another?
Or does the fact that they speak the same language, overpower any need to have those roots to a certain part of the country?
Liked the spontaneity post meeting a group. For those who are proud of their roots, language is indeed a great rooting. I do not know if that pride stays when one choses to adopt another tongue even at home. Landing in at Delhi or Mumbai from outside India is not the same as when you finally land in Guwahati as you spontaneously start speaking to people around you in Assamese.
ReplyDelete