Photo | Robert Liu

By: Anoop Iyer and Robert Liu

Grades, classes and last minute help on homework due the next period. In junior Niranjan Bhatia’s friend circle, hearing these conversations isn’t unusual. Although the majority of Bhatia’s friend group is ethnically Indian and he sees these topics as commonplace among other Asian friend circles at MVHS like his, Bhatia believes that the different personalities and cultures of each of his friends sets them apart.

“We’re not diverse in race, I suppose, but we’re diverse in other personalities,” Bhatia said. “Some of them are a bit hyper; [one of my friends] is pretty funny, he’s always outgoing and sometimes a bit hyper, but [another one of my friends] is very good at studying and always tries to flex about how he doesn’t study, even though he probably does. It is very nice to talk to them; they’re both very helpful people.”

Among all of a person’s characteristics, Bhatia believes that personality usually determines the dynamics between friends, and often, people’s personalities can be influenced by their culture. Race, he says, plays virtually no role in this process.

“The culture around you, the culture of the school, maybe, the culture at home are all somewhat tied in [to your personality],” Bhatia said. “Personality is something that you grow into; it’s not impacted by external factors like race.”

Bhatia believes that it’s not just individuals’ culture that can influence their personalities, but also the pressures and values propagated at school, usually among peers.

“[As] Asians, [most of us] care a lot about our grades,” Bhatia said. “It’s not just a racial thing, it’s a whole Monta Vista thing. We always want to help support each other, strive to be better [and] get help from each other. [What] sets people apart as different is how the school plays out, what’s going on in the background, extracurricular activities; that can impact the conversation. It’s not a very racial thing — it’s more due to the overall culture in the school, and whether that’s impacted by race, I’m not sure.”

Similar sentiments can be seen in senior Ronith Kalidindi’s friend group, which is also ethnically Indian. Instead of race, Kalidindi highlights individuals’ culture as cultivating an exchange of virtues.

"I was [initially drawn to others in my friend group] because we shared similar backgrounds coming from immigrant parents,” Kalidindi said. “So we had similar personalities that meshed together. [But], I wouldn't say our race came into play.”

Kalidindi identifies the virtues he learned when he was younger and his parent’s immigration story and that those similar stories lead others in his friend group to develop similar mindsets.

“In the beginning, it was because we shared similar interests,” Kalidindi said. “And over time, I became closer friends with them … we've spent so much time together that we liked a lot of the same things.”

Building friendships takes time, but for senior Allison Wu, that time was limited. Wu, who moved from Lynbrook HS her junior year, found herself quickly adapting to the MVHS atmosphere and developing friendships. Like Bhatia and Kalidindi, Wu doesn’t see any significance in one’s race in the dynamics of friendships, but she appreciates the multitude of cultures she has been exposed to through experiences with her multiracial friends.

“My friend group at Lynbrook was also multiracial, so I was already exposed to a lot of cultures,” Wu said. “It was nice getting to know the Monta Vista culture in general, because it is going to be different from Lynbrook. I had a lot of fun getting to know people and what they liked … each family and each person does things differently.”

History teacher Cody Owens also sees the value of first-hand exposure to people of many different backgrounds. Through his role as a history teacher, Owens was able to learn more about a culture that always remained obscure to him.

“Where I grew up, I didn’t know anything about Indian culture,” Owens said. “Like, there wasn’t an Indian kid at my high school. So I’ve learned a lot about Indian culture [from my students], and also from class projects — we do the China project [and] a unit on India, so kids share a lot of cultural experiences and customs, [and] I definitely learned a lot.”

Despite the varying backgrounds in Wu’s friend group, if conflicts do occur, it’s usually due to temporary factors like stress, not racial differences. In Bhatia’s racially homogeneous friend group, cultural differences between friends also haven’t impacted conflicts. He believes that the roots of conflicts between friends is, in essence, a matter of people’s personalities and how well they can get along with each other, rather than race or culture.

“I guess I know how their personalities are, how to approach them, what to say [and] maybe what not to talk to them about,” Bhatia said. “I’m not that bad at judging how people are, so if there’s a conflict that can’t be resolved, then I’ll probably just not talk to them as much.”

Owens echoes this mindset, and adds that while ethnic backgrounds and values could bring out rifts in friends’ personalities, this isn’t always guaranteed.

“If somebody’s a stubborn person, it makes issues difficult to deal with, but I don’t know if there’s anything cultural that would make somebody more stubborn,” Owens said. “For instance, my dad is from Pennsylvania, which is close to the Midwest area, and they’re known for having a stubborn culture, so people [often] sink their heels in the ground. I think that’s the only thing that could cause conflict among friends. Otherwise … they’re not going to be your friend in the first place.”

According to Owens, despite the racial and cultural plurality in the MVHS community, dynamics among students here don’t feel any different than those from racially homogenous areas. Owens believes that, instead of race, the economic circumstances of students ultimately determine the friends that they associate with, and, to a lesser extent, the dynamics in these friend groups.

"Where I grew up, it was mostly Hispanic and white, so you had more commonality; here there's more plurality," Owens said. "But it feels the same, because I think socioeconomic setting is one of the biggest determinants in who your friends are. You can't control your race, so it shouldn't be a determinant of the content of your character.”