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GOING NATIVE

“This city has had a huge impact on my life”

When Barack Obama was elected U.S. President, Chennaiites often asked American Ariel Howard what African Americans thought of it. “I said that it was an historic moment, but I can’t speak for all of them,”she says.

Now, with all the hype over “Slumdog Millionaire”, her friends back home are asking Ariel about its likeness to Chennai. She tells them that Chennai is not really like Mumbai. “I can’t explain Chennai in words and pictures, though. You need to come and experience it.”

A Vice-Consul at the U.S. Consulate General here, Ariel is all too aware of the ever-increasing connections between India and the U.S. Equipped with a Masters in International Security and Economic Policy, Ariel finds living in Chennai “like a fascinating case study. India is growing rapidly and I am trying to comprehend it all. I definitely don’t understand the complicated political system here yet, but I am trying,” she says.

Ariel is curious about how the spiritual aspects of the city will be reconciled with the pervasive materialism that she sees. This interest has intensified since starting meditation and yoga, and learning about selflessness and detachment. “This has been the biggest gift I have got from Chennai: finding my spiritual centre and feeling more grounded. I’ve gained self-awareness here. I can’t put my finger on what it is about this city, but it’s had a huge impact on my life,” says Ariel.

Maybe it’s the fact that Ariel finds her hometown, New Orleans, comparable to Chennai. She is already accustomed to the things that other foreigners find difficult, such as the spices, heat, humidity and mosquitoes. Apparently, all those things are present in Louisiana, as well as similarly strong bonds between friends and family. Ariel’s mother agreed with these observations when she visited Chennai (on her first trip out of the U.S.) which she calls the “trip of her lifetime.”

One thing Ariel is not used to is being asked at the spa if she’d like her skin “de-tanned,” or being offered ‘Fair and Lovely’ cream in the mall. She has also been asked, while getting her passport photo taken, whether she’d like her skin lightened by the computer. “This is something I really don’t understand, especially since in America, people are obsessed with getting tans and darkening their skin,” says Ariel, who takes no offence from such incidents.

Even with a group of other Americans, she is singled out as ‘coming from somewhere else’, because of her skin colour. “I take this as an opportunity to educate people. I tell them that Americans come in all shades and sizes.”

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