TEEN CENTER :: COLLEGE CENTER

FRESHMAN JOURNAL: MAY 17, 2005

'Persian Enough'

By Abha Bhattarai

There would be free pizza, my friend Matt assured me. It was 15 minutes before the Persian Club's first meeting of the school year, and Matt didn't want to go alone. He tried telling me the meeting would be fun, there would be food and that I looked "Persian enough" to blend in nicely.

So I went along, asking Matt questions about different cities in Iran, the language and the food during the walk across campus in case anyone happened to ask me what part of Iran my parents were from or whether I spoke any Farsi. I sat through the first meeting, signed up for the club's list serv and smiled for the group picture at the end.

I thought it was fun, and with only 10 or 15 members, it seemed more intimate and more enjoyable than the 300-member South Asian Student Alliance that may have been more appropriate for a Nepali American student like me.

I went to a high school where white students were a minority, yet there were no real cultural clubs or organizations. That never bothered me though. I would probably have been the last person to join a "cultural club" anyway.

I grew up having two sets of friends - the ones I hung out with at school and invited to sleepovers and birthday parties, and the friends I saw at Nepali gatherings every couple of weekends. I never mixed the two, although I'm not sure whether that was a conscious decision or not. Although I never realized it, I had a support system made up of my many aunts, uncles, cousins - some biological, some just cultural.

I'm still not dying to see a Nepali family every weekend, but I feel like I'm definitely a lot more aware and proud of my heritage. Whereas I would've tried anything to stay home from cultural parties and celebrations when I was in middle school and high school, I've looked forward to going to the couple of Nepali events I've attended here. I was the emcee for Chicago's Nepali New Year party last month, and every couple of weeks, my cousin and I go out for the all-you-can-eat lunch buffet at a local Nepali restaurant. It's comforting to have the same food that I grew up with at home.

I guess a lot can be said of finding comfort in what's familar. Northwestern has more than 60 cultural clubs and organizations so that Polish, Filipino, Taiwanese, Chinese, Singporean, Malaysian and Turkish students can all have a group to gravitate toward.

Although I'm not planning on joining the South Asian Student Alliance anytime soon, I like being able to stay involved with the Asian American community. I'm taking an Asian American Literature course and am on the executive committee of Chicago's Nepali organization, but I'm still careful not to completley immerse myself in what's comfortable.

If anything, being at college has given me a chance to explore other cultures while becoming more familar with my own. And, thanks to the Persian club, I can say a few words in Farsi now.