Port of entry / New York, NY
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...
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. 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. 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...
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...
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. 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. Mekhala Banerjee (At Risk Stories)
Mekhala Banerjee, 73, is a retired cancer research lab technician and an author. The interview includes discussion of her childhood in Burdwan, outside of Calcutta, her arranged marriage, trouble learning English when she moved to...
Mr. Santimoy Banerjee (At Risk Stories)
Santimoy Banerjee, 80, is a philanthropist and retired biochemist. The interview includes discussion of his training in the 1960s in the growing field of biochemistry at the University of Calcutta Bose Institute and at Harvard...
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...
Ms. Shimmi Chandra (At Risk Stories)
Shimmi Chandra, 85, is a retired real estate agent and one of the pioneering members of the Indian American community in the United States. She arrived in 1959 with her husband and they founded Indian...
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...