Blog 12: Gifts of Passage / Santha Rama Rau

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 Jordan Miles

Blog 12: Gifts of Passage / Santha Rama Rau

Santha Rama Rau's story, "Gifts of Passage" shares her life and travels through being a writer and being known for her thoughts on the conflict between Indian and western culture. She attends an Anglo- Indian school. She and her sisters were one of the very few children that were Indian here. Here she experienced discrimination for her race at a young age. This is seen when the teacher is condescending, asking her to share her name with the class.  She said I don't know, "the English children in the front of the class- there were about eight or ten of them- giggled and twisted around their chairs to look at me. I sat down quickly and opened my eyes very wide, hoping in that way to dry them off." (673). I felt very sorry for her in this school, experiencing feeling embarrassed for feeling different at such a young age and receiving different treatment simply due to how she looked. They must have felt as though something was wrong with them because of the fact that the teacher changed Santha to Cynthia, and her sister's name changed to Pamela. Another example of discrimination she faced was her teacher making her and the other Indian children sit in the back of the room with desks in between them for their test because she said "Indians cheat." This mistreatment made the girls extremely angry, rightfully so. They were brave at such a young age to recognize that it was wrong, and immediately get up and leave. At the age of five the mother and sister hoped that she could not truly understand what had happened but Santha says, "Of course, they were both wrong. I understood it perfectly, and I remember it all very clearly. But I put it happily away because it has all happened to a girl called Cynthia, and I never was really particularly interested in her." (676). I loved how she said this and was able to handle the situation with such a strong and mature mindset. 

Comments

  1. Delaney AshworthFebruary 6, 2023 at 6:40 AM

    I feel so sad for her that she was made fun of for her name at such a young age. Being bullied as a child really sticks with you, and I can't imagine the comments on this scale, which were discriminatory. She deep down knew this wasn't right, and her courage throughout this situation was enough to carry her through her life. She is so strong and admirable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jordan MilesFebruary 6, 2023 at 6:43 AM

      Yes, if she feels this way at such a young age it could lead to so many issues later in life of feeling not accepted for who she was and that there was something wrong with her that she can't control.

      Delete

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