A Look Into Two Different Cities

Our topic this week are the things that define the places where we have lived. My up-bringing has occurred in several different cities and two different countries. I was born in a small town named Gandhidham in the state of Gujarat in India. I soon moved to Surat, India where I completed my two years in "nursery" school. After that, I spent the next few years in Mumbai, India. Due to the presence of various different cities in my childhood, I am going to pick Mumbai because it is the city I consider my hometown in that country. [Side note: If you are wondering where these cities are, I am linking to them in our map]

Mumbai:

The thing that defines Mumbai is the most is culture. Mumbai is not only the most populous city in India, but it is also one of the most populous cities in this entire world. This big city is the residence for people of all different cultures of India and the world. As a result, almost every cultural and religious holiday celebrated in this world is also celebrated in this city. Mumbai is nothing less than a mixture of being a "melting pot" and a "salad bowl". As different cultures are celebrated and recognized, some people let the cultures become homogenized while others prefer the cultures to be different. You might be confused as to what I mean by culture in this context. Well, the way that country of India is set up- it seems that every region has their own culture differing from food to language. Overall, I believe the social accepting, welcoming, and the very hospitable culture of Mumbai defines the city and its people very well.

I believe the following video truly defines my statement of the presence of diverse cultures throughout the country.



When I moved from India to United States, I moved to a small southern Georgia town named Valdosta. I lived in Valdosta for around 2 and a 1/2 years. So, I don't consider it that much as a place where I grew up. However, for the past 6 years, I have lived in Lawrenceville, GA which I do consider one of the places I grew up. Lawrenceville is a suburb of Atlanta and is located in Gwinnett County. Diversity is the thing that defines Lawrenceville the most according to me. My high school's ethnic make up was approximately 40% Hispanic, 40% African American, 10% Asian, and 10% Other. The "white" majority of America was actually a minority at my school. As a result, my school was very culturally diverse. These statistics are a reflection of the diverse culture present in the town. If you walk down any street, you are guaranteed to encounter people of at least two different ethnicities. However, I don't think that the town is unified as a whole. It is broken up into different sections according to the ethnicities, and people don't mix much. Hence, I cannot say that the town holds one cultural thing that signifies it. On the other hand, Downtown Lawrenceville takes pride in this historic features as seen through the Experience Lawrenceville website. This relates back to the Savannah Article in "Southern Lady"[the one my group covered in class] where the article talks about the history about the city; however, it fails to mention the city today.

So overall, the two things that defined the two cities I grew up in are the welcoming culture of Mumbai and the diversity of Lawrenceville.