“Yes, I am a Malaysian. But I’ve been here for so long, I guess I can’t really call myself a Malaysian. I have been Americanized”.
Rajiv Arumai Thurai has been in the states for the past decade and will graduate with a degree in Nutrition from UCO this coming May.
At age 13, his aunt adopted him from his parents and brought him here when she got a job as a nurse.
Growing up, Thurai refers himself as a sentimental person. During his teenage years, he would write and use poetry as a means to express himself to girls. However, after having sudden interest in soccer, his poetic hobby faded away.
“When you play soccer, you have friends, teamwork, and family. Everyone was like my brothers and sisters and we’re all like one big family. So I guess that’s why I play soccer. Its not a single sports it’s a teamwork.”Rajiv, posing with his favorite soccer team's banner.
Thurai is of mixed parentage. After his parents’ divorce, he lived with relatives on his father’s side, which influenced his traditional and cultural views. He speaks four out of five languages fluently. They are English, Malay, the national language of Malaysia, , a Chinese dialect, Hindi, an Indian dialect, and he took four years of Spanish in high school in the U.S.
“My real mum is Chinese and my dad is Indian. So I’m what Malaysians would call, a Chindian. But religion wise, I’ve been with my dad’s side until today. So Hinduism is what I followed.”
Being in the U.S. for so long, Thurai claims to have caught on some of the American values but has also preserved some of his Asian values.
“I have to say I never changed my Malaysian values. Or maybe I don’t really follow any value at all. I’m still staying with my ‘mum’ until now because she’s single. So you can say I have a mixture of both American and Malaysian value. Yes, she’s [aunt that adopted him] not my real mum but she has been taking care of me for 24 years.”
Since his sophomore year at UCO, he has been spending more time with Malaysians, which he feels has been bringing him back to his Malaysian roots.
“When I first came to UCO, I did not hang out with Malaysians a lot. I hung out more with the Americans and Europeans. But then I went to the International Festival in my sophomore year. That was when I first met Malaysians and that’s when I started to hang out with them more. They accepted me too. When they accepted you, you tend to hang out with them more.”
Thurai believes that interaction is inevitable in the world today and people should learn to be more accepting of all.
“It’s not good if you just interact with one race. The reason for that is because life takes you to a big open road. It takes a bunch of things to pile them up and see how your life was. I like to see my life to be a mixture of friends from different parts of world. It’s not about being friends with your own race. That is why I’m friends with everyone here in UCO.”
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