My Perspective

I have never been the kind of person who takes everything for granted or accept anything that comes in my way. I never hesitate to ask why the most obvious things are done the way they are and why change cannot be brought. Therefore in this process, I have always promoted my perspective of the surroundings or an issue and ended up in arguments with my co-mates in life. I belong to a lot of “groups” or like-minded communities whose opinions do not coincide with each other and therefore have in the process fully understood the reason for my perspective and also what it is influenced by.

The first community that has had the most influence on me is my school, where I lived for 4 years. Those four years was a crucial part of my development and my ideologies. The school had nothing that a 21st century student would want in their life like laptops, gadgets, cell phones , luxury or any kind of connect to the world. The school taught us about how to take nothing for granted, including a maths equation and gave us a different kind of insight into today’s world. Now in Oakridge, which is a modern day-school I find that my ideas are considered strange and weird and in fact, at times, unthinkable. For example, in my previous school self-analysis or talking to self in order to understand yourself better was considered an essential exercise whereas the students in Oakridge consider that “loner-ism”. This is where my perspective differs and therefore I see my perspective as unique from the others.

Being a girl also makes an impact on my perspective of various things. I have very strong feelings regarding equality of men and women and always try and enforce that into my exercises. I have a particular idea that only boys should not be portrayed as heroes in Indian movies and girls also should be being the main protagonist’s role other than the attraction and entertainment factor that they usually portray. The people are mostly influenced by media and using this could bring about a very large difference. A friend of mine who is a business student would never agree saying that the movie would bring losses and though I too, belong to the community of business students I will oppose this notion as I am a girl.

Another factor that deeply affects the way I think is the characteristic of being patriotic and Indian. Frankly I still haven’t been able to find out the cause for my interest in patriotism since I have debated with people of every community I belong to on this issue and observed their opposite views. I think it is the effect that my economics teacher’s teaching style has had on me. A particular reflection of mine on the view that being a foreign citizen is more beneficial than being Indian is that we need to first accept our country as our and feel a sense of responsibility towards it. Unless we feel accountable for our own country, we will not be able to improve its conditions.

My origin being from a Telugu, Indian family also has an impact on my social behaviour and culture. I do not feel comfortable in short skirts and sleeveless blouses that are a trend in today’s world. This is because I have some values deeply in built in me that do not allow me to do such a thing. I have respect for my elders that is not voluntarily taught to me but comes naturally to me. I have a sense of belonging to my family that is a more Indian perspective and therefore has influenced my perspective.

My age too has attributed to my perspectives of society. Though I am from a traditional Indian family and follow most of the values I do not have the kind of belief in god that other members of my family keep. I do not believe in puja and other superstitions but I do believe in the belief of God .I feel that prayer from within the mind should take place and trust should be maintained on God after which puja etc. is not even necessary. Many of my family members oppose me on this and attribute this quality to my teenage. So, teenage also has had an effect on my perspectives.

My perspectives are opposed by many communities I belong to and supported too by many. I feel the combination of these ideologies makes my identity rather than the communities I belong to. Yet these communities play an important role in creating these ideas in me.