By Raakhee Mirchandani for Elle Magazine

Like so many of us, my American story is an immigrant one. My dad, came to this country eager to try his luck; my mom came as a brand new bride, unsure of a new land where she neither looked nor sounded like her neighbors. Their story has a happy ending: from Bombay to the 'burbs of New Jersey, kids, houses, Sunday temple trips followed by pizza nights. 

By Raakhee Mirchandani for Elle Magazine

It was bedtime and I was reading "The Story of Ruby Bridges" to my almost 3-year-old daughter Satya. She was wiggling and squirming, picking things out of places I would rather not mention. A little frustrated—like, hello, little toddler, don't you see me totally killing this parenting thing right now?—I let her have it, "Satya, if you don't want to listen to mama, I can just stop reading." She sat back down. The kid loves story time.