Embracing Heritage How generations and people are different and change By: Natalia Sandhu When people think of India they think of this!!

Introduction Different generations have different times. Different people have different lives. If you took a step into the past, what would you see? Wonder: Where would you be? Who would you see? What would be different? That`s the idea of the `` Embracing Heritage`` project. Some people think that life would mostly be the same, but if you took a step back into the past you probably wouldn`t recognize yourself. We were asked to interview three generations in our family, and I chose to interview my grandma, Pritam; my dad, Suhkpal; and my cousin, Tanveer.

Question 1: When were you born? Grandma (Pritam) - September 25, 1942 in Kundal, India Dad (Paul) - May 17,1970 in Faridkot, India Cousin (Tanveer) –September 16, 2000 in Ganganagar, India

Question 2: How was your childhood? Grandma- Good, I was the oldest child, and the only girl. We had an average family household in a dirt house. Dad- Good, I was the last child and I didn`t have any sisters. We had an average family household in a mostly concrete house. Tanveer- Not so great, I had a baby brother and most of the attention went to him. But we had an average family household in a concrete house.

Question 3: What did you use as transportation? Grandma – We used horses and carts, we added straw to cover the hard wooden boards. Dad – We used bikes, not motorized ones, pedal ones. Tanveer – We used autos* to go every-where. In the mornings on the way to school we would use autos! *Autos are little cars, they are like taxi`s but without doors or seatbelts. They can usually carry one through fifteen people at a time.

Question 4: When did you come to America? Grandma –My husband, and I came on December 28 th,2006. Dad –I came on August 3 rd,1997 alone. Tanveer –My mom, dad, brother, and I came on March 13 th, 2006.

Question 5: What was your education in India? Grandma – I finished fourth grade but I quit after that because I got a horrible disease. I got better but never went back to school.  Dad – I finished school with an BA in Accounting, an MA in Sociality, and an Degree in Business Management. Tanveer – I only got to Kindergarten and that I didn`t even finish it because we moved.

Question 6: What is your favorite food here that is not in India? Grandma – I would have to say the pizza here is the best!! Dad – I think it is lasagna, it is delicious. Tanveer – I think it is chicken, we don`t have that much in India.

Question 7: What was a hardship you faced here? Grandma – Everything was clean, everything is dirty in India. So I worried about cleaning and if I was cleaning right. Dad – I had no hardships, I knew English.But sometimes people couldn`t understand me because of my heavy Indian accent. Tanveer – I knew no English, so at school I had to have a translator (which was my cousin, Natalia).But I learned it quickly with all the help I got!

Question 8: What were some sports you played? Grandma – I didn`t really play any sports. Dad – I played volleyball for fun all the time in the fields. Tanveer – We always played my favorite game, badminton.

Thank You!! My reflection of the project is a pleasant one. I really enjoyed doing this project because it made me feel closer to my family members and I realized many interesting things about them. Something I didn`t know about my grandma was that she dropped out of school after 4 th grade. An interesting fact I learned about my cousin was that she had only begun Kindergarten when she arrived here. I thought she was more educated then that. learned the most, surprisingly about my dad. I mean, you live with them you think you know most about them. I had no clue that my dad liked playing volleyball when he was younger. I loved doing this project because I know more about my family`s history!! Once again: Thank You!!!!