Canada Through the Eyes of India

The dust swirls around me as I step out of my uncle’s old Nissan Terrano. The humidity is stifling and the sun is shining, sweltering. “GOOD 2 SEE U AGAIN,” a sign hangs from the roof of my family’s home as we pass underneath. We unpack our bags and are offered the usual tea and snacks before my long-lost relatives sigh and put their saucers to the side. A brief moment of perfect silence before the verbal onslaught begins. I brace myself. Instead, one of my aunts puts a hand on my own. “Come,” she says, “your cousins are dying to see you.”

There it is.

And so, I walk into the courtyard and am immediately tackled by a significant number of cousins, all of whom are at least three years younger than me. After the usual pleasantries, one of my younger cousins speaks up, “Did you get us anything?” Perhaps they are angling for something as flashy as an iPad, (the luxury taxes are astronomical in India) or something as innocuous as a fancy maple syrup bottle they can show off to their friends.

My cousins look up to me and my twin sister for the usual reasons: we’re older than them, we bring neat little knick-knacks whenever we visit, and we probably fit the “cool cousin” category well. However, I also believe that a large factor in their admiration for us is the fact that we live in Canada.

For a bit of context, in Indian circles, Canada is seen as the ultimate symbol of fortune and prosperity. Now that I think about it, I never really realized just how often Indian culture reinforces a sense of wonderment towards Canada and Western culture in general. Since at least the 1980s, Bollywood has been one of the biggest influencers on the average Indian’s view of Canada. Oftentimes, the credentials of the stereotypical successful doctor or lawyer would be backed up by the fact that they studied abroad in Canada. It’s not just the movies, either. Recently, I’ve noticed an overwhelming number of Indian pop songs popping up on YouTube (mostly penned by recent Indian-Canadian immigrants) serenading their listeners with extravagant stories. Tales of driving Lamborghinis under the CN Tower, meeting the conveniently inconvenienced “hot” girl trying to keep her balance during a skate on the Rideau Canal…well, you get the idea. The sometimes hilariously unrealistic scenarios in these songs have an undeniable sway, especially for reinforcing the rose-tinted view of Canada that the younger population seems to carry (my cousins included).

However, even though Canada is deserving of its almost saintly image, the struggles of newcomers to Canada are often glossed over. The comfortable life my family and I live today is a far cry from 20 years ago, when my parents first moved here. They lived in a dusty basement with no proper windows and suffered from homesickness. My parents didn’t have a proper support network either. This was especially difficult, since a large part of Indian culture revolves around closely-knit family relations; you could count on receiving a helping hand from even the most far-flung relatives, no matter where you were in India. In Canada, my parents had no one. 

My parents made it clear that I was not to waste the opportunities that living in Canada afforded me. I quickly fell into the habit of spending hours studying for something as retrospectively insignificant as a third-grade science test and reading French textbooks in my free time. I had trouble making friends since my accent was a mess, and I couldn’t decipher “white pop culture” if my life depended on it.

I felt like an outsider because I couldn’t really relate to the Indian or Canadian part of my identity. However, in the eyes of my cousins, the most remote possibility of struggle is completely impossible. In the eyes of my cousins, Canada is known as the land of free healthcare and the incredibly tacky moose hats that we bring as gifts for them.

Perhaps my relatives should visit Canada for more than a few weeks. If they had a chance to immerse themselves into the everyday life of your average Canadian, their eyes would be opened to the more unglamorous aspects of Canadian life. 

Regardless, even though not all is exactly as it seems, Canada, through the eyes of India, remains a beacon of prosperity and advancement for many. Passing under the CN Tower for the 21^st time is still as breathtaking as the first time. And even though I didn’t bump into “the one” while struggling to keep my balance on the Rideau Canal (or any frozen place for that matter), I still think Canada is mostly what India hypes it up to be. Potential economic and educational benefits of Canada aside, where else will you find such gloriously weird things like maple bacon doughnuts or even the occasional ice hotel? Through the eyes of India, Canada is a country filled to the brim with diversity and potential. And should my cousins ever come to visit, I think they would feel the same.