Common Ground

           Through Gogol, Ashima and Ashoke’s son in The Namesake, I have learned the Begali traditions that come with motherhood. The mother’s whole family takes large roles in the first years of a child’s life. Mothers and grandmothers serve as midwives because pregnant women traditionally return to their parents home to have their children. I wish that this tradition was a part of our culture. There is something beautiful about bringing a child into the world in your childhood home and “[retreat] briefly to childhood when the baby comes” (Lahiri 4). Begali people have pet names used between family and friends and then a more intimate name. They do not repeat names like we do in US and British culture; they create a new name for every child so that each name is unique to its owner. Often mothers do not choose their children’s names, grandmothers will name their grandsons. After the baby matures and is able to eat whole food, brothers hold their nephews as they enter the world of consumption. He also holds the baby while chooses objects that might predict his future. While there are cultural differences between the United States and India, we still overlap on common ground.

In both of these vastly different cultures, women see their children as perfect miracles that their bodies have been able to create. The process of brining new life into the world might be painful, but both cultures believe pain has no memory. In reading this novel I have learned about Begali culture as Ashima and Ashoke reminisce about their lives back in India like they are in some sort of incomplete dream, hoping to wakeup one day and return home.