Summer Vacation India: An Indian-American Pediatrician’s Personal Developmental Perspective

In the last few months many Indian-American children walked, crawled, or got carried onto Singapore Airlines or an Air India plane, thus starting a time honored- tradition of returning to India to meet and become acquainted with their relatives. This tradition started in earnest in the 1960’s and 1970’s, when the first major wave of Indian immigrants to the U.S. started having children and taking them back to India to connect with their family and cultural heritage. These children are in for an unforgettable and indelible cross-cultural journey that will likely raise many questions.

Did you grow up in a different culture than your parents’? Are your children growing up in a different culture than you did? How are they different? During the rest of this week I’ll tell you my story.