Although only 4.7 percent of the 41.3 million foreign-born American residents were born in India, the film, For Here or to Go?, portrayed a seemingly expansive immigration movement to the United States from India (Zong and Batalova 2015). This disproportionate relationship between the size of the Indian-born population in the US and representation of Indian culture, indicates that Indian culture carries an extraordinary significance in the lives of immigrants. After watching this film at the FunAsia Theater in Plano, I was able to experience the difficulties facing the displaced culture and its power to flourish in an unforgiving environment.
The film centers on the life of Vivek Pandit, an Indian immigrant, living in California. Throughout the movie, Vivek experiences vivid flashbacks of the life in India he trad
ed for the opportunities America could offer him. Yet, the film left its viewers with a question of whether or not his decision to move to America was the best decision. Vivek ultimately leaves America after a long struggle for citizenship and finds the opportunity of his dreams in his home country. During his time in America, Vivek was surrounded by Indian culture, whether it was the food he ate, the people he worked and lived with, or the places he visited. With such a rich Indian culture surrounding Vivek, it became puzzling to wonder why he began to question whether his home was in the United States or if it remained in India with his family.
Throughout a phone call with his mother, Vivek argued that his home was in California and not India, which he justified by indicating that he remains in California only for his career opportunities. Yet when Vivek’s career opportunities hit a dead end because of his expiring visa, he began to feel more displaced than he ever had before. People throughout the world immigrate to the United States to find their portion of the American Dream; however for many of these immigrants, the American Dream is too difficult to discover. Since Patek largely justified his definition of home not around the people, places, or food around him, and instead on the opportunities in the nation, it should be asked exactly what defines Indian culture in America?
Unique to Indian culture is the value placed upon the family unit and the traditions that exist as a result. Trautmann explains how the Dharmashastra creates a system of family based upon sons, of which the highest ranking of the twelve types of sons is the biological son to the mother (Trautmann 94). In light of the film, perhaps the only piece of culture that Vivek could not experience in America was his family unit.
Works Cited
Trautmann, Thomas R. India: Brief History of a Civilization. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2016. Print.
Zong, Jie, and Jeanne Batalova. “Indian Immigrants in the United States.” Migrationpolicy.org. Migration Policy Institute, 06 Mar. 2015. Web. 04 May 2017.