Wisam Sharieff – Native Indian Vs American Indian- Desi Culture Of Growing Up In America

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			You are a wonderful, happy, proud how proud they see guy. I take yesterday's comments.
		

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			You were born there you are more amazing than I come I did yesterday. I am I am I am so Desi that I
was put in ESL classes. No way but you do yourself, right? No. Well, the issue the problem was I
didn't when I when they put me in ESL, I didn't think I needed to be an ESL. It wasn't until 20
years later, I'm watching my home videos. myself saying Open the water. I know. Yeah. And I was
like, Okay, I guess. So then I was like, say you you're, you've evolved from where you grow up?
Yeah. And I think you took a part of every culture, that's good. I guess I've been exposed to.
		

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			You don't see the athletic newness, the discipline, focus, the ability to go out what the person
produces, creates, makes, like it's all in their box. I mean, my own concept is really, yeah, very
revolutionary. My only gripe with the DC culture
		

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			is that I wish there was more stuff in it. That I could take pride in.
		

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			Thank you.
		

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			Like, because it's funny, because I had several people like have kind of, like yesterday, you're
like, you're not at peace. Yeah. Like, what does that mean? What is it? They see you? Right? Yeah,
then like I get it. I don't I don't jive with the culture of other South Asian folks. Because even
South Asia itself like just like in Latino culture. Yes. Right, like a Honduran the same as a
Mexican. Oh, very, very different. Colombian. Sure. Sure. Cuban or Puerto Rico. Yeah. It's the same
diversity in culture within the South South Asia. Yeah, right. Pakistani Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi.
Right. keralite has nobody maman maman Bihari Nepali, or the different country but yeah. Mixed.
		

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			Nepalese. Yeah. I saw Yeah. Right. my great grandmother's * had a lot of Nepalese Yeah. So
like, there's that diversity. And the thing is, you'll find here in the US, a lot of Pakistanis,
many of them Punjabi, many of them, not a lot of head, their bodies are Gujaratis. Even a lot of
South Indians. But like from Bihar, the only ones that I've ever met in the United States, outside
of my immediate family are from Pakistan.
		

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			Like that, like there's that they're immigrants from India, like during the split, like nobody was
from actual Bihar. Yeah. Right. You came to the United States. So so you didn't have a lot than to
directly connect to dictate what your Bihari culture was. I think that what it was what I was at
home, okay. Yeah, yeah. And that really came down to the food. Right, our food is we don't do
biryani at home. Right. So when like, I have arrows like oh, you find me buddy and all the time like
we don't do biryani at all. We have a great dish called Daddy, which is rice, cauliflower and
potatoes. Right? Like, we also have allowed okay, but flowers for like special occasions. Yes.
		

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			Right. I would be your biryani I guess maybe kind of like special rice but like but yeah, he's been
and we know what beyond he is. It's just it's just not a main dish. Right? I'm sure some somebody in
India is watching this right? No, you're wrong. You didn't take enough of your culture home with
you.
		

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			But I've never heard very Bihari biryani. I've heard Bihari kebab, right. And every behinds would be
like, What the heck is that beheading of up? No way? Yeah, because it's not a big thing. Oh, yeah.
Natural Approach. Right is similarly how you're here. Shamika Bob Yeah, what what person from Syria
is going to be like, Yeah, we have these kebabs that are Oh shot. I didn't even Shamika Yeah, mind
blown.
		

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			I just I was like, Shamika mom, I didn't know. I mean, Sham me. Yeah. Oh, right. So like, that's the
that's the thing is like people like even my like in laws like, Oh, we're having Bihari kebab. Like,
okay. I'm good for you.
		

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			Like your in laws are not Bihari. No. So
		

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			yeah.
		

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			Because my in laws there, I guess. My wife and her immediate family, half of them are like from
Saudi. Right? Yes, heritage boxes on. But even then, it's like, most of them. They emigrated from
India. But like most of their identity is more closer to Saudi culture, although they consider
themselves Pakistani This is Can Can we can we call a culture of the expatriate person? Yeah,
they're not necessarily Indian Pakistani culture bound. Like, what are people gonna say? Yeah, and
they have a lot more of the so the living culture. Yeah, but they're never going to be accepted by
the Saudis. Well, it's middle culture. Yeah. Well, it's interesting from within my wife's family
		

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			that our Saudi citizens, right
		

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			They're more Saudi than the Saudis. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So a lot of the Middle Eastern folk are going to
try to, they're going to try to look for the Western or some other culture to emulate. So it is
definitely an interesting thing. I'm gonna say we have an Indian and Indian. Ah, see, I my mom is
75% Native American. Okay, so I'm Indian from American.
		

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			Indian. Yeah, I'll tell you, somebody who's like so weak. So like, what kind of Indian Are you? And
I'm like, I'm a native Indian. And then they got confused. That can be very confusing. Yes, exactly.
Like, what your Native American? I don't know. This is a funny thing growing up. I didn't understand
geography or anything, right.
		

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			I look at the US map. I see India and I'm like, I'm from India. Ah.
		

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			Yeah, exactly. And I remember whenever it came down to the curriculum of US history, and the
Columbus Indians, I mean,
		

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			and so but I didn't understand what they were talking about until much later. I'm like, Oh, wait,
what? Why are they called Indians? Like this guy? Thought he was an Indian. Yeah. And, yeah, so
Puerto Rico.
		

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			I went to school on the board of East meadow and Levittown, the most racially
		

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			gentrified place on Long Island that million Realtors were specifically selling. So when my
Caucasian friends would introduce me they're like, Oh, this is our friend. He was sound they would
say he's Indian. Is not a woowoo kind the dark kind Oh, yeah, I would even then I would be like
there's so many other things I knew that have a dot norra Whoo. Whoo. Yeah. So yeah, there's nothing
else and that's that's the only memory I have there. Little bit of trauma.
		

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			I say and we could we could flow podcast but I want to jump right into this.