The Sunita Experiment
Author: Mitali Perkins
Setting: contemporary United States
Protagonists' culture/ethnicity: Indian (Bengali) and Indian American
In The Sunita Experiment 13-year-old Sunita Sen must deal with having her life turned upside down by the arrival of her grandparents from India, come for a year-long visit. Although Sunita loves her grandparents, she resents the many changes that their presence causes in her life. Her mother's desire to prove to her parents that she is the ideal Indian daughter requires her to undergo a dramatic transformation. Sunita finds it difficult to recognize her mother in the woman she sees wearing traditional Indian clothes and deferring to her parents' every wish. She is further confused by her mother's decision to take a leave of absence from her job so that she can take better care of her parents during their stay.
Adding to Sunita's distress are the upheavals in her social life that she attributes to her grandparents' arrival. When Sunita's mother asks her not to bring any boyfriends over until her grandparents have had time to adjust to American ways, Sunita is irritated but relieved that she will not have to endure the embarrassment of introducing Michael, her white American boyfriend, to her Indian family.
Sunita decides not to tell Michael about her mother's request because she does not want him to think that her family is strange. She feels uncomfortable that her family is so different from everyone else's, and she responds to her home situation by rejecting Indian culture and avoiding her grandparents. Sunita's feelings begin to change, however, as she gets to know her grandfather, who gradually seems to become less strange and exotic. Sunita's relationship with her mother also begins to improve once she begins to understand the kind of strain a grown woman must feel living in her own house with her parents.
As the people in Sunita's household learn to listen to one another, a balance between Indian and American culture is achieved. The aspects of Sunita's Indian heritage that once seemed strange and unfamiliar begin to be a source of pleasure and curiosity. The Sunita Experiment ends on a positive note, with Sunita realizing that she is proud of her grandparents and is no longer ashamed to have friends meet her Indian family.