My object is a pair of golden hoop earrings. They were made in India, which is my family’s homeland. This object was sent by my grandfather at my birth and my mom gave them to me recently. When my mom got married during the 1990s, she was the only one able to get a visa to come to America so she had to leave my grandparents and her siblings in India. When I was born in 2004, my grandfather sent these earrings as a shagun (token of good luck). Many young Indian girls start to wear earrings and other types of jewelry at birth to enhance their beauty and soon it became a tradition for many of them to start to wearing jewelry at birth. This tradition would emphasize their family’s wealth and represent their beauty. In 2014, my grandfather died. I had never meet him because in his whole life he was not able to get a visa to visit. Recently I got my ears pierced and my mom gave me these earrings to wear. To my family, the earrings are just a shagun, however they have so much more meaning to me. These earrings help me represent my culture and identity as an Indian-American female and help me connect to my grandfather, whom I never met. By wearing these earrings it makes me feel that even though I never met my grandfather he still watches over me everyday.

– Jasmine Kaur

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant