Our Stories and Our Voices

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Our Stories and Our Voices

Hi , 

 

My name is Karishma Chopra and I am a grade 12 student currently taking the Communication technology Course at LDHSS. Since I was 12 years old I always had the passion for photography , Video production and Film.This year my English wanted me to enter the video contest “Whats Your Story” presented by Trend Micro. This contest has a grand prize of $10 000 and trend micro will be choosing the grand prize winners based on highest votes. It is my request to you to take a look at the video I have created and I would really appreciate if you could vote for me. In order to vote you will have to register and then click on the video “Our stories and Our Voices” by Karishma 

 

Here is the link to my video ” Our Stories and Our Voices” : http://whatsyourstory.trendmicro.com/vote-entry/744#.UXa-RKLql8E

 

Thank You for your Support , 

Karishma Chopra 

Overcoming Obstacles

If someone asked me what the book Little Bee is about, the first thing that would perhaps come to my mind is that it is a story about a young refuge who was deported to England, who shares her story of victimizing her sister being raped. Some abrupt events I would not seem to recollect is that Little Bee was a very strong woman. She faced every obstacle and overcoming these obstacles gained her confidence of being courageous.

I would like to relate back to my last post, “ Unseen mysteries”, as I discussed about women being sexually abused and how this sexual abuse is like an illness to the young females in Nigeria. Well, the next question is , how do you cure such an illness?

Many of you might have been bullied at least once in your lifetime. It may have been a small situation where you were emotionally hurt, or it could have been something worse. Bullying is also another factor of an illness where you can fear of the individual bullying you on a constant basis. In the novel, Little Bee has a constant fear of the men, and she imagines on how she could kill herself if the men were to come abruptly.

“I worked out how to kill myself in every single one of the situations a girl like me might get into in the detention center. In the medical wing, morphine. In the cleaners’ room, bleach. In the kitchen, boiling fat.”( Little Bee)

I am not advising you to kill yourself. I am telling you stand up to your fears, face you fears, and learn from your fears. This is exactly what Little Bee does later in the novel. She gains strength from the loss of her sister. She implies that “ I will never be afraid again . I will never spend another day trapped in the colour gray.” ( Little Bee)

I really like what she says because now she has overcame her fear and opened herself to a whole new world. When I say this, I mean that now that she is in England and out of the detention center, it is a new beginning for her, as she starts a new life in England.

Even though it is hard to forget such scarred memories, there is always improvement for strengthening yourself and being courageous.

In the novel, Little Bee actually teaches the reader on how to face a bully or “a scar maker”. She implies that scar makers want you to think that scars are ugly, but she wants the reader to agree that we should always view scars as beauty. However, “sad story means , this storyteller is alive.” (Little Bee)

Unseen Mysteries

“The-men-came-and-they-
burned-my-village-
tied-my-girls-
raped-my-girls-
took-my-girls-
whipped-my-husband-
cut-my-breast-
I-ran-away-through-the-bush-
found-a-ship-
crossed-the-sea-and-then-they-put-me-in-here.” (Little Bee , 11)

To the women in Nigeria, horror is a disease and an illness that cannot be cured. It is mentally feared every minute during which they live. People living in developed countries are blindfolded from the truth of sexual abuse to females. We tend to think places like Jamaica and Nigeria as beautiful tourist spots, and especially, a completely safe one. It is almost like these countries are hiding behind a mask. It can be argued that everyone has the right to live in freedom and without fear. However, many of the people in Nigeria are in poverty due to other countries taking over what little wealth they have. For example, in the book Little Bee by Chris Cleave, America wants to build an oil company where some of the villages are located. The main problem is that there are families living at the location that they want the oil sites to be placed. On the other hand, the only way for the Nigerian government to make money is to make an oil company so USA can give them profit of their land. The decision that was made was to kill all these young families and make profit for their country. Even though the plan was just to kill them, the men took actions beyond their orders. When I say this, I mean they choose to rape them first then kill them, maybe because they wanted “joy” out of killing the innocent citizens. In the novel, the author has stated that some of these incidents were true; they actually happened when the oil war took place in Nigeria. Telling an individual that these horrific incidents actually happen does not make someone believe the story. They would think I was just reading an emotional non-fiction book. People in this world do not want to believe that the world is not safe. For instance, in the novel, Arthur and Sarah questioned these young girls until they actually saw that these men looked very aggressive. If I were in their position, I would also think that this would be unbelievable. I live in Canada, and though I hear many stories on the news about girls being sexually abused, I will not be as affected because I would only feel sorry for them. Currently after reading this book, I have changed my views on how I approach the everyday news. Recently, the rape incident that killed a young medical student in India fears me. I have never been so affected after I read, viewed, and listened about what had happened to her. I was simply not able to get it out of my mind that there are people in this world who seem to lack any empathy at all. If you have not heard of this incident and you want to know more about it, here is the link- India gang rape: six men charged with murder
After reading the link, I hope you can see how it relates to the story of the Little Bee except she only victimized her sister being raped. If only these stories could be more like the following:
“The-men-came-and-they-
brought-us-colourful-dresses-
fetched-wood-for-the-fire-
told-some-crazy-jokes-
drank-beer-with-us-
chased-us-till-we-giggled-
stopped-the-mosquitoes-from-biting-
told-us-the-trick-for-catching-the-British-one-pound-coin-
turned-the-moon-into-cheese-” (12)

Entering in a New World

Aside

Entering in a New World

“Nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.” Mahatma Gandhi

One afternoon in 2005, my parents gave me the news that we were moving to Canada to live there for the rest of our lives. The thought of moving made me very happy to experience the unknown for me, but at the same time, I felt very sad to leave my home country. I realized that I really had no idea what to expect, as I had never been in this kind of situation. As a 9 year old child, I did not even realize that my whole lifestyle would have to change, as well as the ideas of adapting to a new environment, meeting new people, and making new friends. The main reason I was very happy was that I wanted to create a new identity of who I was. For instance, I did not like going to school in India because I was often picked on for being a lighter skin colour for an Indian in comparison to those in my class.I had a vague feeling of not belonging there, even if I was Indian myself. In addition, even though I was aware that I would not be physically seeing my grandparents, aunts, cousins, and close family friends, the idea of moving to a new place made me feel very comfortable.Until I waved goodbye to all of my relatives and family friends, I did not realize that I would soon be very far away from my home land. It was this home land that first taught me my culture, my traditions, my beliefs, and my values.

After two days of a long journey, and with the headaches of jet lag, we finally set arrive in Ottawa, Canada. The moment I left the airport after arriving, the first thing that came to my mind was how this city was very quiet, neat, and very well developed. I liked how diversity was present everywhere that I traveled within the city. However, for a few days, I had a hard time adapting to a new culture and lifestyle which was very different for me. For instance, people were referred to by Mr. and Mrs., or by last names, whereas in India, it is proper etiquette to refer to elders as “aunty” or “uncle”. To me, it felt like I was being born a second time, yet this time in Canada.Following this rebirth, it felt like I was taking baby steps again to adapt to a whole new world.

    In the same manner like Ashima in The Namesake, I also had some very emotional situations where I dearly missed being with my close relatives. Being in a new city with my family meant that for once, we, my parents and younger brother, were alone in our physical presences. There were even days when I had to hear about the death of people that I knew during talks on the phone. However, even though I was speaking to my relatives back home, I still wrote letters to my grandparents explaining how different Canada was in comparison to India. I mentioned the differences in things such as the education system, the health care system, the transportation system, and many other things. These letters that I had written share the memories of my baby steps to starting a new life in a new home: Canada.

May The Secrets Be Revealed

Aside

May The Secrets Be Revealed

Who are you ? What experiences reveal who you truly are? Do cultural heritage or traditional aspects display your true identity ? Is your name an extension of your personality which reveals your hidden destiny ?

These are some questions that  Jhumpa Lahiri’s , The Namesake , demonstrates through the ” immigrant experience and the tangled ties between generations.”

Hello , My name is Karishma

The meaning of Karishma is “miracle” and it originated from the language Sanskrit , which is  mostly used in India. I have always wondered about the meaning of my name , because in the Hindi language it is often said “kudarat ka Karishma” meaning  god’s miracle. When I was young, I always heard this when I watched movies or in song lyrics, but when I found out the meaning of my name I was somewhat very pleased to be named in Sanskrit. As a matter of  fact, my grandmother spoke Sanskrit , and all my prayers to god were sung in Sanskrit , so it felt like I always had the blessing of god. The recollection of my grandmother makes me very blessed since I lost her just few years back.

In India, it is traditional to have a nickname, a name that your parents , close family friends and relatives use. I have been given my nickname from my paternal grandmother. My nickname is originated from English, and it means beautiful. Even though my paternal grandmother choose this name for me , I have a strong hatred against my nickname. I hate when my parents or my family friends use this name. I have always regretted to carry this name. In comparison to the main character Gogol in the novel , I am glad that my real name is not my nickname, because if I was in Gogol’s footsteps I think I would have done the same as him; changing it. My nickname just like Gogol does not reveal my heritage or my cultural background. It just sounds very odd.

My parents have decided not to give my younger brother a nickname due to my experience. They agree that they should have just called me Karishma and not have given me another name, but now its too late to change the past. The situation keeps getting worse because more of my parents friends seem to realize that my nickname is short and sweet so they start to refer to me in that manner. Now a days, I am starting to accept my nickname and understanding that I am also a carrier of that , sweet and short name.