Languages Spoken / English
Ms. Mohini Pai (Masala Chat Project)
Mohini Pai, 83, is a retired investment manager and non-profit leader. The interview includes detailed discussion of her early and young adult life in India and Kenya with her parents and six younger siblings. She...
Ms. Hena Banerjee (Masala Chat Project)
Hena Banerjee, 80, is an accountant and one of the first Indians to move to the United States in the late 1950s. The interview includes discussion of her early life in Mysore and Calcutta, traveling...
Dr. Nagamani Beligere Dharmapuri (Masala Chat Project)
Nagamani Beligere Dharmapuri, 82, is a pioneering pediatric physician who came to the US on her own in the early 1960s. The interview includes discussion of her fight throughout her life to defy expectations of...
Ms. Ranjana Bhargava (Masala Chat Project)
Ranjana Bhargava, 70, is an experienced civic and non-profit professional with a background in social justice. In this interview, Ranjana highlights the moments of her past that helped shape her passions and later her career....
Mr. Vijay Bhargava (Masala Chat Project)
Vijay Bhargava, 75, is the son of a prominent lawyer and civic leader of his city. The interview includes discussion of growing up in a large joint family, dealing with class differences, and important figures in his life.
Ms. Padma Chandwaney (Masala Chat Project)
Padma Chandwaney, 73, is a proud Sindhi community leader, one of the first Indian Americans in Chicago, and an insurance professional. The interview includes discussion of how she had to raise her younger siblings at...
Ms. Virbala Desai (Masala Chat Project)
Virbala Desai, 79, is a retired Montessori school teacher and one of the pioneer members of the Indian community in Chicago. The interview includes discussion of her first impressions of New York City as a...
Mr. Vidyasagar Dharmapuri (Masala Chat Project)
Vidyasagar Dharmapuri, 77, is a pediatric physician and was the first president of the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago in 1977. His wife, Nagamani, joins for the end of the interview. The interview includes discussion...
Mr. Kanti Gandhi (Masala Chat Project)
Kanti Gandi, 76, is the owner of a successful global chemical coatings company. The interview includes discussion of the fact that he among the earliest members of the Indian community in the United States, having...
Ms. Renu Gandhi (Masala Chat Project)
Renu Gandhi, 68, is a devoted wife and mother who works alongside her husband and children in the family business, the Gandhi Corporation. The interview includes discussion of how she built a hybrid identity as...
Ms. Shamiya Ghogha (Masala Chat Project)
Shamiya Ghogha, 20, is a newlywed who is adapting to life in America. The interview includes discussion about her recent move to Chicago from India and her efforts to learn English at the Indo-American Center...
Mr. Dial Gidwani (Masala Chat Project)
Dial Gidwani, 80, is a community educator, author, and retired airline security professional. The interview includes discussion of his multi-pronged efforts to teach Americans about the tradition of nonviolence which stems from India.
Ms. Daksha Patel (Masala Chat Project)
Daksha Patel, 76, is a pioneering neonatal physician who now consults for the Department of Social Security. The interview includes discussion of her average day as a child and how she charted an uncommon path...
Mr. Mafat Patel (Masala Chat Project)
Mafat Patel, 72, is an entrepreneur and the owner of two businesses catering to the Indian community in Chicago. The interview includes discussion of his frequent desire to return to India after he came to...
Mr. Parthasarathy Rajagopalan (Masala Chat Project)
Parthasarathy Rajagopalan, 77, is a financial advisor and former railway circuit engineer. The interview includes discussion of the fifteen people who founded of the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago in 1977, in which he played...
Ms. Sudha Rapp (Masala Chat Project)
Sudha Rapp, 73, is a world traveler and a luxury retail salesperson. The interview includes discussion of the fact that her family lived in the Middle East during her early life, but moved to India...
Ms. Tina Shah (Masala Chat Project)
Tina Shah, 39, is a designer and software developer who is working hard to ensure she keeps her Indian heritage alive for herself and the next generation. The interview includes discussion of her family's search...
Mr. Rohinton and Ms. Roshan Rivetna (Masala Chat Project)
Roshan, 77, and Rohinton, 82, Rivetna, are pioneers of the Zoroastrian community in the US, having arrived in the mid-1960s. The interview begins with Roshan alone, and her husband Rohinton joins approximately halfway through. The...
Mr. Navinchanvra Sanghavi (Masala Chat Project)
Navinchanvra Sanghavi is a mechanical engineer who was among the first Indian Americans in Chicago, having arrived in the early 1960s. The interview includes discussion of his devotion to the Pushtimargiya religious practice and his...
Ms. Mridu Sekhar (Masala Chat Project)
Mridu Sekhar, 69, is a retired owner of a successful healthcare technology consultancy and active participant in Democratic politics. The interview includes discussion of how geopolitical history during the Cold War and the Indo-Pakistani war...
Dr. Badri Das and Ms. Pramila Taparia (Masala Chat Project)
Badri, 75, and Pramila, 68, Taparia were among the first Indians to move to the United States in the mid-1960s. Badri is a retired obstetrician-gynecologist and his wife, Pramilla, raised their three children and helped in his practice.
Mr. Rishad Tobaccowala (Masala Chat Project)
Rishad Tobaccowala, 57, is an advertising executive and pioneering member of the Chicago Indo-American community. The interview includes detailed discussion of his successful career at the Leo Burnett Advertising Company, which was the largest advertising...
Ms. Naseem Umar (Masala Chat Project)
Naseem Umar, 64, is an educator and dedicated community leader. The interview includes discussion of the obstacles she faced in getting employment that matched her experience after arriving in Chicago, but how she eventually became...
Ms. Hema Rajagopalan (At Risk Stories)
Hema Rajagopalan, 70, is an award-winning classical Indian dancer who became famous at age 6 for her talent. The interview includes discussion of her approach to dance as a physical form of moral education and...
Ms. Sujaya Rupani (At Risk Stories)
Sujaya Rupani, 66, is an ophthalmologist and active member of the Indian community in Chicago. The interview includes discussion of her successful work life and moments of culture shock as she adapted to the US....
Mr. Lakshman Agadi (At Risk Stories)
Lakshman Agadi, 76, is a successful business owner in the field of women’s medical device distribution and sales.
Ms. Padma Rangaswamy (At Risk Stories)
Padma Rangaswamy, 75, is an historian of Indian immigration to the United States and a dedicated advocate for the preservation and transmission of her heritage.
Ms. Prem Sharma (At Risk Stories)
Prem Sharma, 77, is a pioneer member of Chicago’s Indian American community, the founder of Apna Ghar, a domestic violence support service for immigrant women, and has played a leading role in the Indian women’s community since the late 1970s. The interview includes discussion of...
Dr. Umesh Sharma (At Risk Stories)
Umesh Sharma, 81, is a general surgeon who retired as chief of staff at Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet, Illinois. The interview includes discussion of his childhood and decision to go to medical school, his...
Dr. Mallikarjuna Rao and Dr. Satyavathi Anne (At Risk Stories)
Mallikarjuna Rao, 80, and Satyavathi Anne, 79, are retired pathologists, both born and raised in villages in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, but they did not meet until medical school when their marriage was...
Dr. Upendranath Nimmagada (At Risk Stories)
Upendranath Nimmagada, 79, is a retired surgeon and active administrator of a medical school he co-founded in his home state in India. The interview includes discussion of his early life during which his father died and his family was supported by the local village, his...
Mr. Dipankar Mukhopadhyay (At Risk Stories)
Dipankar Mukhopadhyay, 82, is a pediatrician . The interview includes discussion of his family's roots on both sides, his community in Katwa, his enduring interest in politics. He has a very sharp memory for details of his experiences, such as the town he went to...
Oral History of Ms. Eshara Mondal (Broadening Narratives)
Eshara Mondal, 32, is a cloud engineering manager for a nonprofit and has a background in neuroscience and education policy. Born in Edina, Minnesota, and raised in Palatine, Illinois, she grew up balancing her Bengali heritage with American life. She participated in the Bengali Association...