we forget the strawberry flats we picked stooping and crawling on our knees we forget the crowded windowless trucks in which like chickens we were taken there we forget the stares that burned through our skins the shattered moments that came with the shattered windows we forget the pain of not speaking Punjabi with our children… multiplying one with twenty-five our pockets feel heavier changing our entire selves and by the time we get off the plane we are members of another class. -Sadhu Binning
9th January is annually celebrated as Pravasi Bharatiya Divas by India to celebrate the contribution of the overseas Indian community. The day commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to Mumbai on 9th January, 1915. The celebrations are held from the 8th to the 10th of January, forums are held for issues concerning Indian Diaspora and the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awards are handed out.
Child Help Foundation, itself is proud of its brethren's operations from the United States of America. They might be living on foreign soil, but their heart still beats for their homeland.
To honour the Indian Diaspora community, we will be looking at some members of the Indian diaspora who are making us proud by contributing to various fields, whether it be art, science, politics or anything else.
- Kalpana Chawla
- Satya Nadella
- Jhumpa Lahiri
- Freddie Mercury
- Leo Varadkar
Kalpana Chawla was born in Karnal, Haryana. Despite being born into a conservative family, Kalpana always dreamt of achieving greater heights. She graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College. Kalpana Chawla then moved to the United States in 1982 and bagged a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1984. She then proceeded to get a second Master’s degree in 1986 and a PhD in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado Boulder. Kalpana gained prominence when she became the first Indian woman of Indian origin to fly to space in 1997. Sadly, her life was cut short during the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003 at the age of 40.
In 2014, Satya Nadella made headlines as he became the CEO of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer. He also went on to become the chairman of Microsoft in 2021. Satya was born on 19 August 1967 in Hyderabad, Telangana. During his youth, he graduated with a bachelor's in electrical engineering from the Manipal Institute of Technology in 1988. After graduating he moved to the United States for further studies, receiving an MS in computer science at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. For his achievements, Satya Nadella was honoured with a Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in India.
Jhumpa Lahiri was born to Indian immigrant parents in London in 1967. Her family then moved to the United States, where she spent a significant portion of her childhood. Jhumpa’s works often focus on the tussle between the cultural values of the homeland and their adopted home felt by many Indian Immigrants. Some of her famous books dealing with these themes are The Namesake and Interpreter of Maladies.
Many people might be surprised by this, but the lead vocalist of Queen had his origins in India. Freddie Mercury, whose real name is Farrokh Bulsara, was born to Gujarati Zoroastrian parents in Stone Town in the British protectorate of Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania) on 5 September, 1946. Mercury spent much of his schooling years in India, where he began taking piano lessons at the age of seven. During his time at St. Peter's School in Panchgani near Bombay, his fellow peers began calling him by the name ‘Freddie’, which became his moniker worldwide. In 1964, his family fled to England to escape the violence of the revolution against the Sultan of Zanzibar. In 1970, Freddie teamed up with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, to become lead singer of their band Smile. Later, they were joined by bassist John Deacon in 1971, forming the Queen and the rest is history.
Leo Varadkar gained prominence for becoming an openly gay prime minister of Ireland, the first of Ireland and the fifth head of state to come out. He is also the first Irish prime minister of an ethnic minority, being born to an Indian immigrant father in 1979. During his tenure as a prime minister in 2017, an Irish poll revealed that Varadkar’s government had an approval rating of 53%, the highest since 2011.
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