Corpus Callosum: Culture
Top 10 Comments from your South Asian/Immigrant parents
and making peace with replies regretfully unsaid.
When you grow up with parents from another country, certain things are very unique to your childhood.
There are clashes in culture. There are clashes in language. Sometimes there’s little to no translation to adequately express your frustration. But most of the time, you lack the lack of intuitive understanding to figure out why your parents say the things they say.
There’s undeniable solidarity you find with other first-gens about your experience, and perhaps you don’t even need to be South Asian to relate to the things on this list.
Here are some things that I’ve heard over the years, the snarky responses that I wish I said, and the lessons behind them that I’m taking away from them.
1. You got a 98? What happened to the other 2 points?
It’s in therapy.
I felt vindicated when my friend’s parents were happier with my high marks more than my parents. Being accomplished was the low bar. Anything under that bar was not worthy of recognition, let alone praise. I developed an unhealthy relationship with “success,” but it…
