I’M an American Indian

By Priyanka Kamarthi

The author writes this book out of her experience with a few NRI friends, the stretch of imagination and also a bit of concern for the NRI child. The book is about the NRI teen, Donald Goswami, who had a comfortable and happy life at US along with his friends and hobbies. At 13 years of age, Goswami happened to shift to India suddenly because of his fathers change in employment. Goswami, being brought up and stayed in US for quite a long time had lot of apprehension to come back to India and face various challenges. After coming back to India, he had to overcome the change in the school environment, attitude of teachers, friends and relatives. Every day and every step initially was a challenge to him and he had to face it with lot of patience especially in teen age. But due to his strong will power, moral support of his mother and a few good friends he overcame all the challenges. Goswami wrote the happenings in a diary.
Readers, let us see what are the challenges Goswami has to face, how he overcame it and was he happy and comfortable in the end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Oct 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482885774

Priyanka Kamarthi

The young author, Priyanka Kamarthi, is studying in Bangalore, India. She is very keen in observing the happenings around her. She has keenly observed some of her NRI friends and the difficulties they face. The book highlights about NRI student who shifts to India suddenly in his teen age.

Book preview

Prologue

Donald Goswami is an Indian American spending a happy life in US. He had good friends, bullies behind his back and a normal tween life. On his thirteenth birthday, a friend of his named Mohan gifted him a diary where he could record his experiences on a daily basis. This diary paved him a platform to express his emotions, joy and sorrow which is referred here by Donald as Spidy.

No one knew what the early teen Donald had to go through until his dad got a transfer. His dad, a software engineer, was transferred to India. For a kid like Donald who had spent most of his life in the US, now going back to India would be nothing but a nightmare. Moreover he knew nothing more than English and had a good American accent which most Indians would find hard to follow.

Will Donald be able to face India again? Will he make the same kind of friends? Will people accept him again or will he remain a foreigner forever?

This book takes you through the journey of life faced by an Indian American in India.

Friday January / 1 / 2016

Time: 10:00 pm

Dear Spidy

Hi, I’m Donald Goswami. Ok! Don’t shut this book cause I’m not your Donald trump

Okay. I really don’t fancy politics. I’m just 13 now. As today is my birthday, Mohan had gifted me this thing.

So let’s just get started

Yeah! Today I had a New Year party as well and it was a complete blast. We did everything from surfing in the evening, walking on the beach, kite flying and cutting cake. Though I wasn’t allowed to go for the late night party, I somehow sneaked into it and had a blast. Wow! What fun it was. Hot cocoa mixed with chocolate just heaven.

Then ….then…man this diary business is killing me.

Friday January / 15 / 2016

Time: 9:45 pm

Dear Spidy

Today was an awesome day. I went on a trekking with my friend Charlie. The other guy’s bones were just freezed and their eyeballs attached to some sort of screen. I know that I’m not an outdoor guy either but believe me it was all Charlie’s idea.

Ever since my mom and his mom came to know each other, I’m having a tough time staying indoors; you see Charlie is a kind of sporty guy. He was the captain of our middle school Soccer team. He is our PET teacher’s favourite and being around with him is actually a worthwhile especially when we have to share our ground with some high school weirdoes. I also hang around with many cool guys. In our gang there’s sporty Charlie, hot Stacy, MJ (Michael Jackson) Rooney, nerdy Mohan and …..Me

You see I’m still working on an adjective to describe myself. Nothing actually suits me though. So when someone comes up with a new fancy word don’t forget to tell me.

Unlike Mohan, I’m actually not looking forward for school. You see sitting in a four walled vacuum where you can do nothing but wait for your professor’s lecture to get over isn’t actually something I would fancy. I just want to stay home and get glued to my television. My mom always reminds me that I’m grown up and it’s high time I take responsibility and learn to do things on my own. But I still can’t describe how time just passes by when I’m with my tom and jerry.

People in my family have always fancied outdoor sports. Once my dad had got an entire Cricket set just to see me build up some muscles. We also have this treadmill and a Soccer ball. Lately my dad had turned our store room into a gym. So if you ever prefer to use a free gym you could always come over to my home. My mom also calculates the calorie intake of me and my dad. She’s just worried if we would get type-2 diabetes. We have pizzas and burgers once in two months, candies weekly once, egg weekly once and no red meat. I’m constantly reminding my parents that with the energy crisis at stake I’m not planning to live for a hundred years. But elders just don’t listen. When the doctor visited my school they were shocked to see my fit and perfect body. Here’s this girl named Athina I’m trying to impress and believe me she totally got carried away.

Finally when it comes to my academic performances, I’m kind of Ok at it, you might be thinking that it is expected of an INDIAN AMERICAN. I’m not such a genius either but just to say it for a record I was called upon for the party after scoring good grades in my first semester. So tomorrow I’m calling my friends over to my home to play. I mean video games. But believe me; my mom is more excited than I am. She is thinking that I finally got her point. Yeah! Whatever.

Saturday January / 16 / 2016

Time: 9:45 pm

Dear Spidy

Today we had an exciting day. We played the whole day. My mom was ready with her milkshake, cookies and some Indian delicious snacks just to get pattered from my friends, but believe me it ACTUALLY worked. She also got the glasses of milk shakes ready and asked me to hydrate myself often. I seriously think that adults actually don’t get the concept of playing indoors. When my friends arrived, I quickly dragged them to my room and played everything from wild west to prison break 3000. We also played baseball in the HD Box. See this is where good grades come in handy.

We were taken to a different world for nearly eight hours. Then my head was ready to blow up so I switched it off. Yeah…later my mom had called me and my friends outside and showed them the new basketball court of ours. Charlie was taken aback and the next moment I saw him with one of those rubber balls. My friends eagerly joined him and I was forced to concede. What I have actually learnt from today was that outdoor sports are not that boring after all. I still don’t love it or something, but it sure kills time. Later all of us were invited to the fancy delicacy of my mom’s food. All my friends just gulped it up. They couldn’t just resist the aroma of fresh Rasgullas or Jelebis.

Later I dropped Mohan and Rooney. The moment Rooney entered his