<p>Prompt: Describe the world you come from for example, your family, community or school and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.</p>
<p>Essay: </p>
<p>I hear the laughs and playful shouts of children playing on the unpaved, gravel roads. My nose tingles with the smell of piquant curries and sizzling vegetables. On the street, I watch as cars stop, allowing a cow and her calves to cross. </p>
<p>Amidst the sound of cars blaring their horns, I hear my Nani ask encouragingly, Tunna, do you remember? I know what my answer should be: a confident yes. However, I feel like a stranger in my own home, like a foreigner in my own country. </p>
<p>I was born in New Delhi, India. Unfortunately, my experiences in India were limited because at the young age of three, my mother, sister and I relocated to the United States following the death of my father. Since moving to the United States, my family and I have visited India several times, and each time I visit, I feel more and more removed from my Indian heritage. At temple, I struggle to understand the customs and traditions. The extent of my Hindi is the simple greeting Namaste. While eating traditional rice and lentils, I am the girl using a spoon while everyone around me uses their hands. </p>
<p>On the outside, I am distinctly Indian. However, on the inside, I feel American. I enjoy hamburgers (veggie, of course) and pasta, and I prefer Lady Gaga over Bollywood. This duality of identity is not the result of disinterest in my culture, but rather, it is the result of a loss of connection and memory of my past. </p>
<p>Memories form the basis of a persons identity, and my inability to remember my time and my life in India has inspired to study neuroscience in college. I am interested in learning more about how the human brain forms and stores memories, and I would like to become a doctor, specializing in neurology or neurosurgery. I want to help people who, like me, are unable to remember the special moments in their life. By helping others, I will find my identity. </p>
<p>Please give honest feedback on how to improve, what to change, etc. Thanks! (=</p>