Places Where I Have Lived

Hello Everyone, I'm Rajeev Atluri and I spent most of my childhood in southern India. I grew up in the city of Secunderabad. My family lived a suburban colony (neighborhood). Everything that one would need to live in this world was in walking distance from my house. I would identify my neighborhood as a "traditional neighborhood" as described in Suburban Nation. We had a park, a church, a temple, an outdoor food market, a public bus stop, a hospital, and a school, all within walkable distance from my house. There were several back roads to weave through the town. Not everyone had cars because most people preferred motorcycles, since the roads were not very wide. Two wheelers and walking were the easiest ways to travel. I used to bike to tennis practice every morning.

The thing I liked most about my neighborhood is the sense of community. Everyone knew everyone. We had people from different economic backgrounds, but that did not stop us from being a community. People who have not lived in India will talk about the evils of the cast system. To the families who lived in my neighborhood, none of that mattered. If you have seen Slumdog Millionaire, you must have gotten a sense of the slums in India. We had one bordering our neighborhood. In America, if such a thing happened, people would think about moving out of the neighborhood. I grew up in a middle class family and I was raised on value that teach us that people are people, no matter what background they have. There were always kids playing in the streets. We went to each others houses to eat, play, and do whatever. We had no problem with race, since most of us were Indian. We would occasionally see people who came from African countries, and we were fascinated at the sight of them.

The houses in my neighborhood were all fairly the same size, but none of them looked alike. Houses in India are different form those in America. The roofs are flat and most of them have stairs that take you to the roof. We would stargaze and occasionally sleep on the roof. All houses had compound walls and gates. I loved living in India. I don't care what people say about pollution and dirt. If one wants to raise a child in a good community atmosphere, I would raise him in India.

Posted by: Rajeev Atluri