Wanderer_x
Jan 29, 2010
Undergraduate / My view on diversity...DePauw supplement... [10]
This is my response to the Depauw prompt. Since the deadline is Feb 1st, I really need some help. I ll try to return the favor.
Describe a personal experience or a circumstance that has moved you towards a greater understanding of the value of diversity.
"Do you speak English?" a French man, who visited our family as my dad's guest, asked me once. In response, I wagged my head sideways. "Sorry, is that a 'yes' or a 'no'?", he seemed genuinely confused while I was taken aback. I thought it was a common gesture throughout the world. "Yes, I do speak a little bit of English", I replied. "Oh! Your sideways head-wag is same as the forward nod then. I have noticed other Nepalese do that as well." he said. "It's the Nepalese way, a bit of our unique style you see!" with a subtle sense of pride, I replied when a British friend of mine asked me the same question during my stay at Bhakunde.
A few months earlier, I had gone to a remote Nepalese village called Bhakunde where I worked as a volunteer to construct a "Child Care Home" along with five British volunteers from the University of Oxford. During our six weeks stay at Bhakunde, we worked as full-time manual laborers. We ate the same food those people with one-dollar-per-day income would eat and did the same work they did. We, I and my British friends, belonged to the complete different worlds from that of those villagers. For the Britons, skin color was just one the hundred obvious differences. For me, the language of that village itself was different to the Nepali I spoke back at home. Yet, just after a month's stay, we felt like we too belonged to that village. We loved the jokes those villagers enjoyed sharing repeatedly with us. We displayed superb skills at their local games and learned almost all the steps of their folk dance. We loved their local wine even more than they did. For my British counterparts, language was no more a trouble for they could interact well with the villagers even with their limited Nepalese vocabulary and elaborate hand gestures. Slowly, our distinction was marred and all that truly remained was our mutual love and respect.
At Bhakunde, I understood that diversity is nothing to be tolerated or adjusted for. It is rather something to embrace and appreciate. The more openly one embraces the differences in others, the better will he notice the beauty hidden in every subtle difference. Every variation, be it a cultural or an individual difference, makes the world all the more interesting.
After my return from Bhakunde, when I took an Australian friend of mine for a drive around Kathmandu valley, he asked me a question, "I have seen many guys in Kathmandu holding hands together. Are they all gay?" With a smile on my face, I promptly replied "No that is just a Nepalese way of displaying friendly affection. Besides, doesn't that make our culture even more fascinating?"
This is my response to the Depauw prompt. Since the deadline is Feb 1st, I really need some help. I ll try to return the favor.
Describe a personal experience or a circumstance that has moved you towards a greater understanding of the value of diversity.
"Do you speak English?" a French man, who visited our family as my dad's guest, asked me once. In response, I wagged my head sideways. "Sorry, is that a 'yes' or a 'no'?", he seemed genuinely confused while I was taken aback. I thought it was a common gesture throughout the world. "Yes, I do speak a little bit of English", I replied. "Oh! Your sideways head-wag is same as the forward nod then. I have noticed other Nepalese do that as well." he said. "It's the Nepalese way, a bit of our unique style you see!" with a subtle sense of pride, I replied when a British friend of mine asked me the same question during my stay at Bhakunde.
A few months earlier, I had gone to a remote Nepalese village called Bhakunde where I worked as a volunteer to construct a "Child Care Home" along with five British volunteers from the University of Oxford. During our six weeks stay at Bhakunde, we worked as full-time manual laborers. We ate the same food those people with one-dollar-per-day income would eat and did the same work they did. We, I and my British friends, belonged to the complete different worlds from that of those villagers. For the Britons, skin color was just one the hundred obvious differences. For me, the language of that village itself was different to the Nepali I spoke back at home. Yet, just after a month's stay, we felt like we too belonged to that village. We loved the jokes those villagers enjoyed sharing repeatedly with us. We displayed superb skills at their local games and learned almost all the steps of their folk dance. We loved their local wine even more than they did. For my British counterparts, language was no more a trouble for they could interact well with the villagers even with their limited Nepalese vocabulary and elaborate hand gestures. Slowly, our distinction was marred and all that truly remained was our mutual love and respect.
At Bhakunde, I understood that diversity is nothing to be tolerated or adjusted for. It is rather something to embrace and appreciate. The more openly one embraces the differences in others, the better will he notice the beauty hidden in every subtle difference. Every variation, be it a cultural or an individual difference, makes the world all the more interesting.
After my return from Bhakunde, when I took an Australian friend of mine for a drive around Kathmandu valley, he asked me a question, "I have seen many guys in Kathmandu holding hands together. Are they all gay?" With a smile on my face, I promptly replied "No that is just a Nepalese way of displaying friendly affection. Besides, doesn't that make our culture even more fascinating?"
