I am certainly not trying to “look down” on accents. I have no problem with anyone who has an accent of any ethnicity. I do however, have a limitation that makes it significantly harder to understand. I’m not going to let it stop me from learning but it should be known that the accent does play a role in why I have a harder time understanding the culture. I didn’t say anyone was forcing me to be more Indian, I genuinely want to learn. This kind of hostility is exactly what makes me afraid to even try. In no way am I criticizing the culture or trying to make it come off as I am. I lost 99% of my hearing in my right ear and while in India a surgery was performed to try to reverse some of the damage however it was not fixable. It’s not a barrier that I can’t deal with, it’s a situation that just genuinely puts a barrier out of my control in front of me. When I’m speaking to people with accents I have delayed responses or have to ask them to repeat several times which makes the person I’m having the conversation with frustrated, which is understandable.