A Short Story About My Self Vaishali Jalandhara

I hail from a Hindu joint family in the South of India. My parents have inculcated the values of culture, religion, respect, love, humility and care for others ever since I was a child while my grandparents have coddled me with gifts and stories from their childhood in pre-independent India. I grew up in a multilingual

On top of this, my parents always specifically looked up to me for being a leader in the house. The reason for this is, my parents knew very little English, and needed assistance with almost everything they would do. Also, I am the first child; the child that has to fall and learn from the mistakes without any older siblings advice or wisdom. Because of this, I make sure that once I learn the most efficient and effective ways of doing tasks, I then pass it down to my younger siblings. I make sure that they learn from my mistakes and accomplishments, while doing my best to lead them in the right direction to attain

A quick aside with my own personally experiences as the youngest of three brothers. Often my siblings have set the curve for what is acceptable and not – weather that be academics or that be sports. In my own competitive nature, I have sought to surpass my brothers, with me being the first of the three to go to

I am one of three children in my family,I have two younger brothers , one of them who is fifteen and another other one is twelve . I live with both of my parents who didn’t have the opportunity to get very far in their education. At the ages of 14 they had to leave home to work in an unknown city to help support their other parents and other nine or ten siblings. Thankfully the path has been different for me and my brothers who have had the opportunity to get the best education possible. and i will proudly be the first High School Graduate in both sides of my families .

Being the oldest child can be challenging, but very rewarding. Especially being a first generation university student in a household of 2 or more children. I am the oldest child, meaning all of the responsibility was placed on me. I was expected to have the best grades, outstanding manners as well as keep a smile on my face every time one of my 3 little siblings break a vase at a family friend’s house. I was the child who would have to watch over the children while my parents were at work, serve them lunch while my parents were out buying groceries, take them to football and basketball practices while my parents were preparing dinner at home. I was the third parent, and that has always been on me since before I could speak. I grew up feeling

Yes, it was actually very difficult competing with my younger and older siblings. They were all very competitive in everything that we did. That even includes our wardrobe, sometime even our looks. Another thing that I had to work harder for to get was being my own person and not living off of my parents, unlike my younger siblings.

Being the oldest, I grew up with many responsibilities. I have always been the one to set the example, create the right path, and be the role model for my younger siblings. My single mother worked day and sometimes even nights to provide us all with what we needed, never failing to keep a roof over our heads and clothes on our backs, so she along with my brother and sister became my motivation to become the best I can be. I knew schooling would be an issue for us economically; there was no way my mother could ever help me pay and there was no way I would allow her to overwork herself. So I made the decision to leave home at the age of seventeen and move to Oregon. Becoming a resident of Oregon allows me to afford schooling at a much better cost, even if it means being so far away. It is very difficult being distant from my family, but I am doing this for them. Finally, I reached the moment in my life where I saw what was most important to me and it was to be the best I can be for my family.

As the eldest sibling, I had no choice but to become a leader. At first, bearing total responsibility seemed to be an enormous undertaking at such a young age. Oftentimes, I wished for an older sibling to take my place and carry that burden instead. However, that responsibility honored me with values and skills I wasn't able to recognize until years later. Still a child myself, at eleven years old, I was babysitting babies less than one year old. Changing diapers, administering medicine, and preparing food came naturally to me, as I had been helping and leading others all of my life. Having responsibility no longer felt like a burden, but a gift. Leading others is now what comes most naturally to me, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

In sixteen years of life, I have received an opportunity to experience different cultures, learning styles, and languages. To start of, I am an American since I was born here, but the reality is that I was raised in India. My parents’ main motivation for moving back to India was because they wanted us to embrace our traditions, and most importantly, value our family relationships. We relocated back to the US at the start of 9th grade. This transition was a huge factor for transforming me as a person. I am cognizant of the two systems, cherish both, and realize that these multicultural experiences have encouraged me to grow and mature beyond my years. Relocating from a place is not as easy as one can imagine. When compared to the US, India

As the oldest of three siblings, I have had to do many things for myself that my younger brother and sister had done for them. For example, I had to fend for myself in attempting to obtain a driver’s license even paying someone to teach me to drive and take me to the exam, while my siblings had help from my mother in all aspects of the process. Also, the loss of my father has resulted in conflicts with the remaining parent, my mother. These conflicts were the result of economic struggle and disagreements about how to spend the monetary benefits left from my father’s passing. The position in my family as first‐born combined with the conflicts in my family, have led to life‐changing decisions such where to live, and what careers to pursue.

I was the youngest sibling in the family. But, don’t be fooled, somehow I have managed to meet and fail majority of the stereotypes resembling the youngest child. I have always been described as a natural leader, risk taker, and social butterfly.

Growing up as the oldest of five children taught me valuable lessons such as taking on responsibility at a young age and becoming a role model for my siblings. My fierce independence derived from watching my mother raise us as a single parent for the majority of her life. The hardships of a broken family were rough at times, but in retrospect, they made me the strong-minded and hard working person I am today. I often took on responsibilities around the house and helped care for my siblings as my mother worked multiple jobs to provide for us. The challenges of my upbringing have allowed me to empathize easily with people who face a wide range of

The oldest child plays an inimitable role in the structure of her family. She has a propensity to be confident and often craves her independence at an early age. She sets the standard for her younger siblings and realizes that her actions are observed closely by impressionable eyes. This accountability often instills in her a drive to act in a respectable and responsible manner. As the oldest child in a family of eight, I have been persistent in regarding these characteristics and have enabled them to shape my identity.

Where have I come from and where do I fit in to my world now? Through examining my personal heritage, I am seeking to answer a broad question with many potential answers. The answer that I give at any particular time relates to how I am thinking of the question itself. For example, if I had been thinking of the question in terms of location, my answer would differ from the one I would give should I have been thinking of the question in regards to my core values. In the next few pages, I will attempt to explain a bit about different aspects of my heritage and how they relate to the heritage of the person my learning team interviewed this week, Roftin Reginald, who was born and raised in India.

It was a Saturday morning and it was game day. The game didn’t start until 12:00 and we didn’t have to be there 10:45 A.M. Once all of us got there and we finally got into the gym to shoot around and warm up, Alicia and I were talking about who St. Marys had all beaten. From who they had beaten, they sounded pretty good. After a while of shooting we started to stretch. Alicia, Hannah, and Emily were near me so I asked them why the other team wasn’t here yet. Emily said “I don’t know they normally are already here”. By this time Taylor Swift’s song came on which is Emily’s favorite singer. The song was “22” and Emily started to sing “We will just keep dancing like were 22”. Once we were done stretching we started to shoot