But as a child of both, she had no real place of her own. The author shows how, even after they married, her parents still had a place that they fit into, in their respective homelands. Sometimes people were being ignorant, but often it was intentional, in a time when a ‘hate crime’ was not investigated or taken seriously. Her parents experienced a different sort of discrimination that Vaswani did, and she shows both types of experience. Discrimination and prejudice are everywhere, which I found amazing considering this was relatively recent history (she was born in 1974).
A mixed race child doesn’t have it easy in any culture, whether in the US or India, and she details her youth with anecdotes that are sometimes funny but often painful.
Eventually her father, a physician, immigrates to the US, bringing his heritage with him.Īll of this collides, naturally, when her parents marry and she is born. The lifestyle was more quiet, devoted, and respectful. Then she delves into her father’s past in India, and how his family had lived. They and their extended neighborhood formed their world, one they seldom ventured from. They lived big, loud, and frequently rough lives. She mentions her Irish aunts dancing on a roof over their Italian neighbor’s apartment, just to annoy them. She explores the history of her mother’s Irish Catholic family, with an assortment of memorable characters, all devoted to their city and their “tribe”.
She writes chronologically, and reveals not just her parents separate lives, but even further up the family tree. This book describes those 28 years, and her life as a unique mixture of two different races and cultural backgrounds. From New York to New Delhi, two journeys at two different times in life, 28 years apart. Neela Vaswani’s memoir begins and ends in airport terminals.
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