Home is in Between
by Mitali Perkins
illustrated by Lavanya Naidu
illustrated by Lavanya Naidu
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Home is between. Words by Mitali Perkins. Illustrations by Lavanya Naidu. In memory
00:17of my loving Baba, M.P., to my husband Satyam Partner Extraordinaire, fellow immigrant,
00:23and keeper of my heart. With you I'm home always. L.N.
00:27Goodbye home. Shanti shouted. She waved to Didu, to warm monsoon rains, and the green
00:33palm trees of her village. The plane landed far away, in a town with cold rain and orange
00:39and yellow leaves. Shanti clutched her parents' hands.
00:42Hello home, she whispered. Their apartment felt like the village. Inside was Ma cooking
00:49Funny stories in Bangla. No shoes. Baba's big laugh. But outside, town was strange.
00:55New money to learn. New manners too. Like napkins on laps, no elbows on tables. English
01:06words Shanti didn't know, so back and forth she skipped. Remembering the village. Learning
01:12the town. Again and again. In between, Ma showed her how to dance kothak. Tanya brogth
01:18her to ballet class. Baba taught Shanti Bangla letters, kakaga. Shanti read him the little
01:24ingline that could in English. Halloween brought trick-or-treaters. Shanti gave out candy.
01:30Next year join us, Tanya said. Maybe, Shanti answered. Christmas came to town next. At
01:36Tanya's house, Santa filled a stocking for Shanti. Back and forth she ran. Remembering
01:41the village. Learning the town. Again and again. In between. Shanti danced through Bollywood
01:47films with her parents. She laughed through Hollywood movies with Tanya and Malcolm. For
01:53Hall, they called the village. Uncle's aunt's cousins. Splashed in paint. Feasting on Daija's
01:59biryani. They felt far away. So Ma played the harmonium and sang village songs. But
02:04later on the piano, Shanti had to practice heart and soul. Back and forth she trudged.
02:10If only her friends could learn the village. If only her parents could learn the town.
02:15Again and again. In between. Spring brought a surprise snow. Shanti and Tanya joined Malcolm's
02:20snowball team. You can throw, a kid said. Do you play t-ball? What's that? Shanti asked.
02:27Baseball silly? Where are you from Mars? Shanti didn't answer. Suddenly, she felt tired. Where
02:34was she from? Village? Town? I need a rest she thought. So Shanti lay down. Right there.
02:41In between. After a while, she looked up at the blue sky. With breezy clouds and birds
02:46watching by. Watching over her village. Watching over her town. Watching over Shanti. She stretched
02:52her arms wide. She was good at making anywhere feel like home. Especially here. In the space
02:58between cultures. Now, home is in between. Shanti sings Daija's Bangla songs. She hums
03:04heart and soul in English. She invites Ma and Baba Tanya and Malcolm. The whole town,
03:10if they want. They remember their villages. And dance with Shanti. A Bollywood ballet.
03:17Perfect for in between. Authors note. My parents were from the villages of Bengal. They brought
03:22me to the United States when I was 7 and raised me in a town where we were one of a few families
03:26from other countries. I worked hard to understand American manners slang trends and rituals
03:32the code at school. At the same time, I was trying to stay fluent in traditional Bengal
03:37culture and language the code of home. Going back and forth was tiring and I often felt
03:42as if I didn't belong in either world. But once I grew up, I realized that switching
03:47between two codes as a child had been a gift. It's like learning a new language kids are
03:52faster and and better at it than grown ups. And if we work at it as kids we keep some
03:57ability to crack cultural codes for the rest of our lives. It's like a superpower I tell
04:02young immigrants. The space between cultures doesn't have to be a barrier for children
04:06who grow up there it can become a threshold of gratitude to celebrate the best of many
04:10worlds. Please make yourself at home in Shanti's story. Her name in Bangla means peace. Glossary.
04:18Bangla, sometimes called Bengali, this language spoken in Bangladesh and India is one of the
04:23most common in the world ranking 7th. Bollywood, the Hindi language movie industry, Bollywood,
04:29Bombay plus Hollywood, in India. India produces more films watched by more people than any
04:35other country. Biryani, a one-pot meal of rice meat and aromatic spices. Harmonium,
04:41this musical instrument became popular in India during British rule. It's a reed organ
04:46with keys like a piano and hand-operated bellows that pump air into the instrument. Holi, sometimes
04:52called the festival of colours or the festival of love this holiday celebrates the arrival
04:57of spring with laughter and a playful game of throwing coloured powder at one another.
05:02Kathak, an anisant classical dance mostly in northern India. Lukai, small dough balls
05:07made of flour water and ghee that are rolled out and deep fried into a puffy bread. Sari,
05:13a garment that a woman wears by wrapping pleating and tucking about 5-9 yards of fabric around
05:18her waist then draping one end over her shoulder. Sareeja Mapa Dhani, these syllables are called
05:25the surgam. Each syllable is associated with a note in the Indian musial scale much like
05:30the salfej in English music. Shalmar Kameez, girls and women also wear shalwar's pants
05:36or trousers that start wide at the waist and narrow to a cuffed bottom at the ankles. The
05:40material becomes pleated around the body when it's tightened by a drawstring or an elastic
05:45belt. A hameez is a long shirt or tunic worn over the shalwar often with side seams left
05:50open near the hips so the wearer can move freely. The end.