Contributor: Eshwar Cherkuri
Hey y’all, I recently moved to the Bay Area from Texas, and while this post isn’t directly related to the Bay Area, it’s important to me and I think it may resonate with other young Bay Area readers.
But first, I’d like to provide a little bit of background about myself. My name is Eshwar Cherkuri and when I was three months old, I was adopted from an orphanage in Chicago by a lovely white family, the members of which I am now proud to call my parents, brothers and sisters. Growing up, I had always known I was adopted (it would have been difficult to hide that fact), which made it hard to feel like I completely fit in with my 8 brothers and 6 sisters. Being basically the only non-white kid in my small, predominantly-white hometown only exacerbated these feelings, and for this reason, I spent much of my childhood shunning my Indian roots in order to convince my peers (and myself) that I was exactly like them.
Last year, I was admitted to Stanford University, the school I now attend (go Trees!), which is a school with a very diverse population, including a significant Indian student body. Although I have little knowledge of Indian customs, members of Stanford’s Indian Student Association really took me under their wing (or should I say branch) in my freshman year and explained things like Diwali, Navratri, etc to me. Participating in these cultural activities with my peers lit a desire in me to understand my culture and my origins more deeply– a desire I think has been there for some time, but which I’ve been suppressing.
So, I’ve decided to visit India for the first time myself! I just landed in Bangalore and wanted to share some photos from the airport. I’m scared, but I’m more excited and cannot wait to see what the rest of this trip holds for me!
The Megaphone 