Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. This is the first of three videos depicting this interview.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. This interview is contained in two parts. This video is the first.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. This is the first of two videos depicting this interview.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. Dr. Sam Rajiah is the first Indian from South India that we have gotten to interview so far. He is originally from a Christian family that lived in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. His Father and Mother both had a great impact on his character. From his Father he got his desire to selflessly help others and from his mother his love of music. Dr. Rajiah seems in general very conscious of social issues. Due to a strong religious background, much of his socio-political involvement are with organizations with a religious orientation. For example, he is a part of an Interfaith organization in Cleveland that seeks to foster interfaith dialogue and understanding among the different religious communities of the Cleveland area. Also, because of where he comes from there is a noticeable identity separation in his interaction with other Indians. When he talked about the development of the Asian Indian community, it seemed that while he was friendly with people from North India, he was more closely associated with people of South India. This regionalism was not so strong in the beginning but was still there and got stronger over time as the Asian Indian community grew in NE Ohio. Despite some of this regionalism, Dr. Rajiah seems to have a general egalitarian ethic about him: He believes that all human beings are valuable regardless of their differences, though we also need to be able to respect each others differences as well. This is the second of three videos depicting this interview.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. Mr. Vijay Rastogi discussed his life in India before coming to America. Described as "the best days," Rastogi looked back fondly on his years in boarding school and college, showing pictures of his friends and classmates of the time. Rastogi made clear that his life goal was to come to America. So, he came to America in the 1960s where he found a job in engineering. He then started a business that dealt with water purification in the mining industry in the 1980s. Rastogi wrote for diasporic Indian newspapers, such as The Lotus. Mr. Rastogi has two children, but did not discuss their mother. They are currently professionals, his son being a doctor and his daughter being a professor. He likes to visit India every four years, where he sees his extended family. Rastogi also showed pride in his conservative political views. This is the first of three videos depicting this interview.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. During the interview Mr. Khandelwal talks a lot about how his love of poetry and his career as a poet was integral to how he lived his life. This passion is concretely demonstrated by actual recitations of poem in English during the interview. He is a famous contemporary Hindi Poet from India that has also written a significant amount of poetry in English after coming to live in the United States. Overall his love for poetry seems to have fostered a particularly high consciousness of maintaining his Indian “cultural identity” while at the same time being open to other cultural influences and interacting with non-Asian Indian people of Cleveland. This is the first of two videos depicting this interview.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. Dr. Sam Rajiah is the first Indian from South India that we have gotten to interview so far. He is originally from a Christian family that lived in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. His Father and Mother both had a great impact on his character. From his Father he got his desire to selflessly help others and from his mother his love of music. Dr. Rajiah seems in general very conscious of social issues. Due to a strong religious background, much of his socio-political involvement are with organizations with a religious orientation. For example, he is a part of an Interfaith organization in Cleveland that seeks to foster interfaith dialogue and understanding among the different religious communities of the Cleveland area. Also, because of where he comes from there is a noticeable identity separation in his interaction with other Indians. When he talked about the development of the Asian Indian community, it seemed that while he was friendly with people from North India, he was more closely associated with people of South India. This regionalism was not so strong in the beginning but was still there and got stronger over time as the Asian Indian community grew in NE Ohio. Despite some of this regionalism, Dr. Rajiah seems to have a general egalitarian ethic about him: He believes that all human beings are valuable regardless of their differences, though we also need to be able to respect each others differences as well. This is the first of three videos depicting this interview.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. This is the second of two videos depicting this interview.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. This interview is contained in two parts. This video is the second.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. During the interview Mr. Khandelwal talks a lot about how his love of poetry and his career as a poet was integral to how he lived his life. This passion is concretely demonstrated by actual recitations of poem in English during the interview. He is a famous contemporary Hindi Poet from India that has also written a significant amount of poetry in English after coming to live in the United States. Overall his love for poetry seems to have fostered a particularly high consciousness of maintaining his Indian “cultural identity” while at the same time being open to other cultural influences and interacting with non-Asian Indian people of Cleveland. This is the second of two videos depicting this interview.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. This is the first of three videos depicting this interview.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. This interview is contained in two parts. This video is the first part.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. Mr. Vijay Rastogi discussed his life in India before coming to America. Described as "the best days," Rastogi looked back fondly on his years in boarding school and college, showing pictures of his friends and classmates of the time. Rastogi made clear that his life goal was to come to America. So, he came to America in the 1960s where he found a job in engineering. He then started a business that dealt with water purification in the mining industry in the 1980s. Rastogi wrote for diasporic Indian newspapers, such as The Lotus. Mr. Rastogi has two children, but did not discuss their mother. They are currently professionals, his son being a doctor and his daughter being a professor. He likes to visit India every four years, where he sees his extended family. Rastogi also showed pride in his conservative political views. This is the second of three videos depicting this interview.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. The interview is broken up into two videos. This is the second.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. This is the second of three videos depicting this interview.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. Dr. Sam Rajiah is the first Indian from South India that we have gotten to interview so far. He is originally from a Christian family that lived in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. His Father and Mother both had a great impact on his character. From his Father he got his desire to selflessly help others and from his mother his love of music. Dr. Rajiah seems in general very conscious of social issues. Due to a strong religious background, much of his socio-political involvement are with organizations with a religious orientation. For example, he is a part of an Interfaith organization in Cleveland that seeks to foster interfaith dialogue and understanding among the different religious communities of the Cleveland area. Also, because of where he comes from there is a noticeable identity separation in his interaction with other Indians. When he talked about the development of the Asian Indian community, it seemed that while he was friendly with people from North India, he was more closely associated with people of South India. This regionalism was not so strong in the beginning but was still there and got stronger over time as the Asian Indian community grew in NE Ohio. Despite some of this regionalism, Dr. Rajiah seems to have a general egalitarian ethic about him: He believes that all human beings are valuable regardless of their differences, though we also need to be able to respect each others differences as well. This is the third of three videos depicting this interview.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. This interview is contained in two parts. This video is the second.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life. Mr. Vijay Rastogi discussed his life in India before coming to America. Described as "the best days," Rastogi looked back fondly on his years in boarding school and college, showing pictures of his friends and classmates of the time. Rastogi made clear that his life goal was to come to America. So, he came to America in the 1960s where he found a job in engineering. He then started a business that dealt with water purification in the mining industry in the 1980s. Rastogi wrote for diasporic Indian newspapers, such as The Lotus. Mr. Rastogi has two children, but did not discuss their mother. They are currently professionals, his son being a doctor and his daughter being a professor. He likes to visit India every four years, where he sees his extended family. Rastogi also showed pride in his conservative political views. This is the third of three videos depicting this interview.
Part of a series of interviews documenting the unique immigrant experience of Asian Indians in northeast Ohio and explore issues of professional, family, and religious life.