Saturday, July 24, 2010

The Namesake/ movie

A young Indian man who believed in the words "Books are for to travel without moving an inch" was told " Pack a pillow and see as much of the world as you can" just before a train crush happened in India.

He came to New York with his young bride in early 70'. They had two kids, a suburban house and nice Indian friends. One success story in the USA.

However, their son, Gogol, started to hate his strange name which obviously was named after Russian eminent novelist, also what he struggled most was the balance between his Indian roots and his already Americanized modern life.

He managed to find his balance and the deep meaning of his name, as the title showed.

I rather sympathized his mother, Ashim, than Gogol. She wasn't able to adjust American culture like other family members, wearing sari all the time. When her children flew away from her, she said that she lost all her family when she came to the USA, and secondly she was losing them now. After her husband passed away, she was back to India.

This movie made me think that it is hard to understand somebody even if you were his or her parent or son or daughter or friend or else. Especially when you had different backgrounds. Thus we need to keep trying to understand each other.

Being a foreigner in different country is tough. I know the feeling. I sometimes feel strange when my kids act and speak like American kids. I know if you'd like to raise your children bilingual and international-minded, you must teach them your language first.

In the last scene, Ashim was singing Indian song in beautiful sari. she looked so relaxed and tranquil. I wonder that ending symbolized the value of tradition and ethnicity.

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