Growing up in one of the few South Indian families in Franklin, Massachusetts, USC senior Anish Gundimeda often felt isolated navigating his rich, cultural heritage in a city that did not always understand his roots.
In contrast to Nangoli’s family’s residence in a city that is densely populated with their rich Iranian heritage, Gundimeda resides in a hometown with scarce ties to his South Indian culture. Dean Woods sympathizes, stating “If you’re in an area where no one looks like you, how do you maintain that rich cultural identity?”
Gundimeda grew up in a unique household dynamic influenced by his parents’ arranged marriage and their relocation to the United States soon after. Confronted with the high cost of living in Boston, his parents put in long hours to establish themselves. Subsequently, Gundimeda and his brother were raised by their grandmother. Gundimeda was exposed to the sheer realities of the immigrant experience at an early age, helping his grandmother study for her citizenship exams at age 12. This distinct childhood influenced both his personal view and a clear gratitude for his family’s sacrifices.
While Gundimeda’s family raised him with a value and appreciation for South Indian values, he conveyed that “they wanted [him] to adapt and be as taken into American culture as possible.” This parental approach goes back to the concept of belonging. As affirmed by Dean Woods, no matter one’s gender, sexuality, race, or religion, no one ever wants to be left out or feel excluded. “Anything I can do to remove a barrier of exclusion for my child,” said Dean Woods, “I’m going to do it if that means giving them an Americanized name or not speaking our language so they can be more integrated into this community that which we live in.” Dean Woods finds that most parents are going to make this calculation.
Gundimeda recollected speaking boh Telugu and English in household, until his parents slowly weeded out Telugu to help him acclimate to America and lose his Telugu accent.
Given that Gundimeda was the second child in his family, his older brother grew up in varying approaches to childhood and educational standards. “When you put so much emphasis on every grade and put all this pressure,” said Gundimeda, “the child does not succeed as well. With me, my parents really tried to enable me as a whole, instead of micromanaging the little things in life.” With time, his parents’ approach to raising children transformed and adapted to fit the American mold in hopes to best prepare him for his future career, pursuits, and personal goals in this new country.
gear upon Gundimeda’s admission to the university.
As a current USC parent, “I’m very aware of the power that I have as a parent in shaping my child’s decisions,” said Dean Woods. As a child of immigrant parents, there is a high bar to meet in order to make your parents’ sacrifices feel worthwhile and make them proud. While the motive behind the pressure comes from a positive place, meeting this bar can be very emotionally taxing and mentally stressful. “If you were to ask me to list five reasons why there are mental health issues among students, I might say the fifth thing on that list is students feeling like they have to do the thing their parents want them to do, not necessarily the thing that they want to do.” The strength and weight of this pressure can follow students from elementary academia through advanced degrees.
For Gundimeda, a challenge put on first generation Americans that often goes overlooked is the lack of local family and relatives. “Thanksgiving comes around and you see these people, they have giant 50 person feasts. But like, you’re kind of there after you, your mom, your dad, and your brother have dinner and you just kind of sit there and watch a movie.” In Gundimeda’s small town in Franklin, Massachusetts, most families had American roots that went back many, many generations.
Gundimeda reflects on the stereotypical American adulthood pipeline where a child goes to college, turns 18, and abruptly becomes autonomous— often opting out of family ties to focus on themselves. In Gundimedia’s words, “American culture is a lot of ‘go do your own thing.’” Juxtaposingly, immigrant culture focuses on taking care of family and supporting elders, where the concept of family is paramount. “At the end of the day, it’s my parents and I and my brother in this country together. I can’t leave them, and I am not gonna turn the cold shoulder even when I get busy.” This dedication to family is not a personal decision, but an understanding of cultural priorities that value fidelity and relationships.
This esteem for family and blood relations runs deep in the foundation of many cultures, vastly contrasting the Western civilizations’ rugged individualism. “It’s me, me me. How can I advance myself and my interests?” expressed Dean Woods. “It certainly is not the case in other cultures, there’s an expectation that, you know, family, we help each other.”
Surrounded by a larger Indian community than ever before, Gundimeda feels enabled and supported in the USC community. Living with three roommates who come from a similar background, Gundimeda’s identity is strengthened by his experiences with students he can relate to who grew up “learning American traditions and culture while also keeping in touch with their roots.” At the same time, since Gundimeda grew up in Massachusetts where South Indian tradition was scarce, he finds it challenging to completely relate with students at USC who may have been raised amongst a high concentration of Indian culture “It puts me in this fine fine line in the middle that feels almost isolating,” said Gundimeda. “I am not Indian enough and I am not white enough.”
Nonetheless, Gundimeda definitely would not pin himself as “white-washed.” Instead, he proposed another term that his South Indian-American community coined over time that he finds a little more accurate. “They call it ABCD which is like, American born, confused Desi.”
Gundimeda, too, engages in code-switching by calling on a skill he was taught during his finance education. “Somebody told me once, how’s your white voice? Like, being able to culturally transition and shift.”
Dean Woods related to Gundimeda and Nangoli’s experiences code switching in the college academic setting. “If you were to put a hidden camera in my office and record me at work and then record me at home. Is there probably a corporate Dr. Woods versus Nickey at home with my family?” Evidently, there probably would be.
With graduation on the come up, Gundimeda is looking towards his future career opportunities. Despite his high involvement on campus, exceptional grades, and gregarious nature that should open doors for him in the financial field, he is concerned that his cultural identity will slam the doors shut. “These companies are not going to hire me for these roles because they are obviously looking for a polished, privileged white kid. Not to say anything wrong with that, I just don’t fit that.” he expressed.
Unfortunately, the negative part of being in the American workforce is that something as simple as your name can have an impact on whether you get a job interview or not. The name on the resume or the perceived color of your skin can influence how likely the American workforce will hire. Dean Woods speaks to her experience in Diversity Education and Inclusion training at USC Gould School of Law. “I hate to say that, but you could have two candidates with the exact same credentials, if one is Jamal and one is Brad. Brad is going to get more interviews than Jamal will, and that’s unfortunate, but that’s the reality of the society we live in.”
In discouraging times, Gundimeda resorts to his strengths— focusing on the silver lining. Gundiemda deems that his distinct cultural experiences allow him to connect and understand communities with diverse backgrounds, equipping him with valuable skills to add to any team. Embracing his Indian roots, he sees his gift to intertwine cultures as an asset that fosters inclusivity and teamwork in the work field. “I think it’s what’s going to allow me to maximize my parents’ investment in this country.”