SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, April 19,2013 (Deseret News): Preeya Prakash is difficult to define — even for Preeya Prakash. “I consider myself an American,” she said during a recent break in classes at the University of Utah, where she is a 24-year-old graduate student with a BA in neuroscience from the University of Southern California. “And I’m a Utahn. I was born here in Salt Lake City. I have lived here all my life. I’ve got the accent and everything.”
She is also Indian. Her parents were both born and raised in India, and her hair, skin and handsome features bear the genetic imprint of a country in which she has never actually lived. “When people ask me, ‘Where are you from?’ I always say, ‘Well, I was born here,'” she says with characteristic wit and good humor. “And then they look at me and say, ‘Well, yeah, but where are you … you know … from?’
Things get a little more complicated for Preeya when you throw her Hindu beliefs and culture into the definitional equation. “Culturally, I am Hindu — and a pretty traditional Hindu, at that,” she said while relaxing in one of the Marriott Library lounges. “For me, I kind of look to my faith as a guideline for how I should lead my life. It’s the part of me that keeps me grounded, that tells me who I am and that I am part of something bigger than myself.”
For Preeya, growing up Hindu in Utah has meant being part of a decided minority — racially, culturally and religiously. According to the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, Utah’s 9,000 Hindus comprise .5 percent of the state’s population — a number consistent with the percentage of Hindus throughout the United States.
“I credit my parents for teaching me how to balance our Hindu culture with the culture of Utah,” Preeya said. “We were Americans, we were Utahns, we were Indians, we were Hindu. We were all of these things, and we embraced all of them fully and completely.”
Much more of the interesting article as well as a slideshow at ‘source.’