Namaskar (greetings) everyone!
Last week I had to figure out how to record the interviews and conduct mock interviews. My mom and uncle were kind enough to let me practice with them. Some of the problems I ran into was that I began the conversation in English, but I ended up using Bangla in large sections of the interview. Furthermore, my mom does not own a business on Devon Ave, so some of the questions did not apply to her. However, she did give me a perspective on why one would move to Devon Ave. When my mom first came to the United States, she settled in Oak Park, a west suburb in the Chicago-land area. She was not content with living in Oak Park because she missed seeing people walking around in the neighborhood and hearing cars zooming down the street. This area was too quite for her. She did become friends with other Indians in the neighborhood and they suggested that she visit Devon Ave on the weekends because it had a wide selection of Indian groceries that were not available in the local Jewel. This is how my parents came to know about Devon and its thriving Indian/ Pakistani community. My mom would really look forward to visiting the shops and neighborhood because it reminded her of India. This is why a couple years later, my parents decided to move into the neighborhood. This neighborhood provided all the amenities that were lacking in the suburbs and my mom was attracted to the hustle and bustle of the neighborhood. It felt alive to her.
Another problem was actually recording. I used my phone to record. The first time I started, it did not actually record anything. So I had to re-conduct the interview with my mom. This was quite frustrating because I had to re-ask all the questions. Things went a little more smoothly when I interviewed my uncle. He is actually a business owner on Devon so it was interesting getting his feedback. For my next blog, I will attempt to upload the interview so tune in for next week!
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