The Namesake Post A # 2

Another culture gap between the Ganguli's life in Calcutta, and their life in Boston, is the ways of transportation. The ways people move from point A to point B are drastically different. In addition to that, the family just moved to a university town outside of Cambridge, no longer in an urban area. "She wishes [...] they could have stayed in the city. She is stunned that in this town there are no sidwalks to speak of, nostreetlights, no public transportation, no stores for miles at a time (49)." It doesn't mention this in the book, but in Calcutta, most people travel by S.U.V.s or by rickshaw, which is a version of a primitive car. They are moderately noisy, and are not quite the ideal vehicle to drive. Already, however, it seems that Ashima has been accustomed (a little bit) to the American cities, because she does miss the fact that there were a bunch of industrialized ways of transportation, and stores everywhere. She is not, however, completely accustomed to the ways, yet. "She has no interest in learning to drive the new Toyota Corolla it is now necessary for them to own (49)." Although the Corolla is considered to be a pretty good, safe, car by most American's, Ashima does not express an interest to drive it.