Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it. (Approximately 250 words)
I'm an Indian girl.
That makes the absolute hackneyed opening to an Indian applicant's essay.
But lets think about it. I start my day with the soulful music from Pakistan. Everyday, I go to college on rickshaws pulled by men, often Bangladeshi men, paid far lesser than they deserve. Still, I say "thank you, bhaiya" (Thank you, Brother) and still they smile at me as a sign of acknowledgement.
My class has people belonging to various communities; ethnic communities, societal communities, linguistic communities, geographical communities. Every day I identify more and more similarities and more and more differences among these people. Yet, we all form an invisible community of our own; one with a common interest in the study of Economics. We discuss economics, amongst other things, in Hindi, English, Punjabi, Bengali but mostly in our favourite 'Hinglish'-a commonly accepted blend of English and Hindi (accepted not by binding rules but merely by widespread use). After classes I occasionally join my friends for a bite in the canteen. It is always a task to decide what to eat: north Indian or south Indian, the famous 'chaat' from the city of Bombay or 'golgappe' from the streets of Kolkata, the all-time favourite pizza or the healthier salad. More often than not, we eat a strange mix of cuisines from all over. And that is perfectly normal.
So the question is: which community do I really belong to? It is a community wherein I discover sub-communities everyday; many every day.
So yes, I'm an Indian girl.
I'm an Indian girl.
That makes the absolute hackneyed opening to an Indian applicant's essay.
But lets think about it. I start my day with the soulful music from Pakistan. Everyday, I go to college on rickshaws pulled by men, often Bangladeshi men, paid far lesser than they deserve. Still, I say "thank you, bhaiya" (Thank you, Brother) and still they smile at me as a sign of acknowledgement.
My class has people belonging to various communities; ethnic communities, societal communities, linguistic communities, geographical communities. Every day I identify more and more similarities and more and more differences among these people. Yet, we all form an invisible community of our own; one with a common interest in the study of Economics. We discuss economics, amongst other things, in Hindi, English, Punjabi, Bengali but mostly in our favourite 'Hinglish'-a commonly accepted blend of English and Hindi (accepted not by binding rules but merely by widespread use). After classes I occasionally join my friends for a bite in the canteen. It is always a task to decide what to eat: north Indian or south Indian, the famous 'chaat' from the city of Bombay or 'golgappe' from the streets of Kolkata, the all-time favourite pizza or the healthier salad. More often than not, we eat a strange mix of cuisines from all over. And that is perfectly normal.
So the question is: which community do I really belong to? It is a community wherein I discover sub-communities everyday; many every day.
So yes, I'm an Indian girl.
