Mr. Zakir Seedat (Broadening Narratives)

Description

Zakir Ibrahim Seedat, 66, is a Gujarati Muslim immigrant, former accountant and long-time retail worker, and a front-of-house administrator at the National Indo-American Museum. The interview includes discussion of his childhood in Bombay/Mumbai, the hardships imposed by the death of his father at a young age, self-taught English amid weak neighborhood schooling, and completion of a commerce degree at Mumbai University. He describes early employment in Bombay and a stint in Lusaka, Zambia, a decade-long wait for a sibling-sponsored U.S. visa, and advancement from cashier to money-room staff at O’Hare’s WH Smith before a failed La Grange gas-station partnership led to many years in tobacco and cigar shops. He and his wife married through an arranged match, raised two children, and moved from Chicago’s Northwest Side to Woodridge and then Naperville for schools and stability. Other topics discussed include: mosque life (MCC Chicago, Bolingbrook, and Naperville) and observance by moon-sighting (Hilal) rather than calculation; naturalization; intergenerational language shift; periodic returns to India and a family mango farm near Bharuch; views on the Bharatiya Janata Party/Narendra Modi era and regional differences in safety for Muslims; the proliferation of Indian groceries and mosques in the suburbs.