The YouTube channel RwnlPwnl often takes desi (Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi) culture to the extreme for the sake of satire and parody. A few months before learning to drive myself, I stumbled across a video from them called "Driving with Desi Dads." It was hilarious. I can't get into the cultural nuances here, as they would act as a tangent to the point of the blog post, but if you're a desi you know what I'm talking about if you watch the video. Ultimately, the father teaching his son to drive (in the immigrant car of choice, an Accord) berates his son in a quite fobby (slang for Fresh Off the Boat -y) manner to turn all "earbud, radio, phone, telephone, off" because "he is coach." I never thought my dad would say that to me when I learned to drive. But he did. I should've seen it coming.
My whole life he has been a proponent of being completely undistracted whilst performing tasks, specifically for others. I am part of a younger generation of multitaskers- hell I am listening to music right now while typing this out. However, I am writing this blog post primarily for myself. It's my grade and it is kind of therapeutic to rant about stuff on blogger. The distinction in my quality of attention and work ethic comes when I am called upon by others to perform. My father's culture is much less individualistic than that of the United States and perhaps that is why such an emphasis is put on serving others. When other people are dependant on my actions in order to fulfill their needs of happiness, success, or whatever other roles I must fulfill, I feel an obligation to perform for them in order to secure their own success, even if it means compromising my own desires. I have been taught to not be selfish in group situations almost implicitly. In the car, I am responsible for my passengers and their safety. Ultimately now that I have my intermediate, my decision to listen to music in the car is to reduce stress and thus keep composed on the road. However, since it makes my parents feel better, I opt to turn it off with them in the car- for their sake, not mine.
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