Semanti Mukhopadhyay

A Multi-cultural social shock

Social shock It was my skin that caught them off-guard when the doors to the class opened to let me in. Or it was the expectation in their minds that a foreigner had come to their school, from another country, who spoke English fluently and had enrolled in the school halfway through the term, skipping most of year 9. I was just as surprised as they were. Meekly walking in after the principal, I raised my head to look at a class of 8 staring back at me with wide eyes, roving their eyes over the stiff uniform I wore awkwardly, down to the clean white running shoes that had not experienced Indonesia's tropical wear and tear yet. No, they knew immediately that I was a foreigner. However, I was a foreigner in a class full of locals at an international school. I was an Indian kid caught between multiple cultures and societies, struggling to fit in.