In chapter 4 Gogol celebrates his birthday twice, in an American style and in Bengali style. He lives his life double because of his different culture. In his Bengali culture, he has more traditions that he follows and meets with other Bengali neighbors and friends. When he celebrates it an American way he just invites his friends to his house and has American food and plays games with them at home. He has to live a double life because he doesn’t like mixing both his Bengali culture with American culture. I understand his struggles because while growing up I also had the same problem as him because I didn’t know if I was Indian or American. many people always tried labeling me as Indian or American, but it took me time to realize that no one has the right to say that to me.
Growing up, just like Gogol I celebrated my birthdays twice because I had to do it the American way first with my school friends and then I had to celebrate it again with my family and friends that are Indian. It was different both times because of different music, games, and food. As I grewuo I realized that there is nothing wrong with combining both the American and Indian culture.
Gogol also had issues with his name in school because it was different than everyone else’s. He never understood the significance behind his name and I think that his father should explain that to him. Gogol is having a hard time understanding why his dad kept his name Gogol and because of that, he lied to a girl about his name. He told a girl that he met that his name is Nikhil instead of Gogol. He was ashamed of his name in front of the girl.