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Description:
Madhu Chandra was born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1947. She recollected memories of her upbringing, particularly how frequently her family moved from various cities across India, given her father’s position in government. Born a few months into the Partition, Madhu remembered stories that her family passed down during her childhood years after the freedom movement ended. She recounted how the event impacted her family specifically and India more broadly at the time. Educational opportunities and reuniting with her husband prompted Madhu to emigrate to the United States, specifically Cincinnati, in 1969. She drew on her childhood experiences of constant relocation during this period of adjusting to a new life in America. Madhu worked in a medical lab at the University of Cincinnati, primarily to alleviate the financial difficulties that she and her husband experienced during this time. Madhu recalled her amazement with the liberal atmosphere at the university during the early 1970s, particularly the anti-Vietnam War and “hippie” movement, and how it compared to her time in India. Madhu explained that she did not need to fully integrate herself into American society, as she and her husband had always intended to return to India after completing their higher education in the United States. In 1978, Madhu returned to India, where work politics quickly soured their experience, leading to Madhu and her family leaving India permanently in 1980. After decades of working in Connecticut for Deloitte in tax services, Madhu moved to Orlando, Florida, for her retirement in 2015. She discussed the cultural differences between living in Connecticut and Florida. Through the Asian Cultural Association, Madhu connected with the Indian community in Orlando, teaching North Indian classical music. She emphasized the significance of music in culture and her role in teaching music to the next generation of Indian Americans. Lastly, Madhu shared her observations about Florida, highlighting her concerns about current statewide and national politics (c. 2025).
Transcription:
00;00;05 - 00;00;23
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: This is Sebastian Garcia interviewing Madhu Chandra on May 15th, 2025, at Madhu’s home residence in Orlando, Florida for the Florida Historical Society Oral History Project. Can you please restate your name, date of birth and where you were born?
00;00;23 - 00;00;44
MADHU CHANDRA: Okay. My name is Madhu. I will spell it: M, A, D, H, U. The last name is Chandra: C, H, A, N, D, R, A. My date of birth is June 28th, 1947.
00;00;44 - 00;00;46
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: And where you were born?
00;00;46 - 00;00;57
MADHU CHANDRA: I was born in India in Allahabad. It is the northern province in India, Uttar Pradesh, Allahabad.
00;00;57 - 00;01;03
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Excellent. Can you tell me about your childhood growing up in India?
00;01;04 - 00;02;07
MADHU CHANDRA: We moved around a lot. My dad worked for the government, so he had different assignments in all parts of India, which meant, like, I must have gone to ten schools before I finished high school. But all big cities like Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, and a lot of other places, medium sized cities. But we were all over India, so basically exposed to every kind of language and we had to work hard because every time we change the cities, we had to go to a new school. And India had a competition to get into good schools. So which meant studying during the summer. My two younger siblings and I, all three of us were just, we had to study a lot, which helped us later in life.
00;02;08 - 00;02;13
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Absolutely. And so you mentioned what your father did. What did your mom do?
00;02;13 - 00;02;37
MADHU CHANDRA: My mom was a homemaker. My dad was a physicist turned meteorologist. And he worked for the Indian government. So that was why we were in all these different places. So we grew around, like, airports and sort of that…that was what he did for a living.
00;02;37 - 00;02;58
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: You were born in the same year as the Partition. I know obviously you were a baby, but do you recall anything when you were a little bit older of how Indian society changed after that, or what your parents told you from before [about] the event? Just talk to me about that.
00;02;58 - 00;04;12
MADHU CHANDRA: Yeah. Oh, definitely. I was only maybe a couple of months old, I guess, at the time of the Partition. But we heard so many stories from my parents. My father, the university he went to—there were freedom movements everywhere. So he used to talk about all the freedoms that—Gandhi was instrumental and [Jawaharlal Nehru]. We were in the city of Nehru, our first Prime Minister. So it was a politically charged city. So I heard a lot of historical stuff from my grandfather, fathers, aunts, uncles, and then my mother, how the women got involved in the freedom movement, how they were supporting Gandhi and then Indira Gandhi. So it was an amazing period. The school was full of patriotic stuff, all the schools because we had just gotten the freedom. So we were actually privy to that kind of a history.
00;04;12 - 00;04;20
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Right. Absolutely. And can you share any specific stories that your father, your grandfathers passed down to you?
00;04;20 - 00;06;14
MADHU CHANDRA: Yeah. One story that still had a lot of impact. And actually, the university, my dad went to, I went to the same university, which is University of Allahabad, and it was called the Oxford of the East at that time, pretty well known. So my dad wanted me to go there. And so there was a statue of this person who was killed, one of the freedom movements. And he used to talk about him a lot, I think, I cannot remember the name. I think the last name is L-A-L, but it will come to me later. And he used to talk about him a lot. He says, we just followed. He became the leader. And the four years he was there, all the student body followed him and did whatever. They were just really involved in the freedom movement. And the patriotism was at the top. So that is one story I remember. Then my mother's story was, I guess Gandhi said, you should shun all the fabric that was woven outside of India or came from British India. So the women they got rid of the fancy saris, and they wore homespun stuff, which is what Gandhi was preaching. And they had a bonfire of all their British made material. So those are the couple of stories I remember very vividly.
00;06;14 - 00;06;25
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: In what other ways did the Partition and this broader post-colonial freedom movement impact your life at this time?
00;06;25 - 00;06;28
MADHU CHANDRA: Sorry? How it impacted my life?
00;06;28 - 00;06;29
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Yeah. In what other ways?
00;06;29 - 00;07;55
MADHU CHANDRA: The other thing was like the Indians were taught, this is what my parents were taught to, to be subservient to the British. And there was no pride. You know, I think it was a little racial. And also how the British advocated, they were the best. And my dad used to say, “Oh, they are not that smart, but at every level, they are telling us what to do.” So that kind of thing impacted us a lot. And the other thing was knowing English. So all of us, it was mandatory that we learn English. A lot of people were not privy to that. We went to good schools where English was taught as a sometimes not even a as a second language but as the first language. All our academic stuff was in English. And so that was one thing that definitely—a lot of people who did not know English were not considered to be at the same level as the people who knew English. So there was a separation between the two people and a very minuscule number knew English really.
00;07;55 - 00;07;55
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Right.
00;07;55 - 00;08;00
MADHU CHANDRA: Yeah, just the ones who were raised in cities and went to good schools.
00;08;01 - 00;08;18
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: I am curious, do you think moving around throughout your childhood to several places across India, do you think that widened your perspective about your culture, your country?
00;08;19 - 00;09;20
MADHU CHANDRA: Oh, definitely. Definitely. It was easier to adjust to wherever we—it was easier to adjust in United States because of that. We were changing cities every couple of years. And it was nice to know the language, the local, because in India every one of these cities have their own language. We were Hindi speaking, but we were exposed to the southern languages, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarat, where we went, we were exposed to, in fact, when we were in Bombay, Marathi was in our curriculum. So as kids, we really had to struggle to learn this third language. And also food and people are different in each state. So we got to learn about their culture. And so it was really helpful later in life that kind of exposure.
00;09;20 - 00;09;31
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Absolutely. You mentioned the United States. When and what were the circumstances that led you to leave India?
00;09;31 - 00;11;20
MADHU CHANDRA: My husband and I were married, Subhash and I. And he came here to do his graduate work. And so I followed him to Cincinnati, University of Cincinnati. So we were on the campus. We lived on the campus, in the married student's dorm for four years until he finished his PhD. And, in the meantime, I worked in a lab at the medical school to support his education. And I think we felt comfortable in the new environment. The first thing was languages was not such an issue. And secondly, we were just exposed to a lot of—I was just exposed to a lot of change. So, made lots of friends in our building and we got to know many graduate students who were also, we struggled financially, but so was everyone in the building, it seemed that way. So we felt okay. And then American music, that was the big thing in our lives. We really got into Beatles and whatever. And the campus life was different. And the hippie movement, we were part of the hippie movement. So that was a new thing altogether. It was like so, consuming and so absorbing because the Vietnam War was going on and all that stuff. So we were at an amazing time in this country.
00;11;20 - 00;11;27
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Yes. And what year was this exactly when you left India?
00;11;27 - 00;11;27
MADHU CHANDRA: Sorry.
00;11;28 - 00;11;29
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: What year was it?
00;11;29 - 00;11;31
MADHU CHANDRA: This was in 1969.
00;11;31 - 00;11;32
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Okay. 1969.
00;11;32 - 00;11;36
MADHU CHANDRA: I left—my husband came in 1968.
00;11;36 - 00;11;52
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: 1968. You mentioned how you moving around India helped you adjust. Was that immediate or was that later on in life when you were already here in the United States?
00;11;52 - 00;11;57
MADHU CHANDRA: It was even taking a flight.
00;11;57 - 00;11;57
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Yeah.
00;11;57 - 00;13;00
MADHU CHANDRA: We had already traveled abroad once in 1962. And so I was very comfortable with the fact that I am taking a flight so far away. And it was far away at that time. So I guess it was immediate, but we were homesick. I was very homesick. And the kind of life, the financial struggle and all that. We were pretty comfortable in India. And all of a sudden you are thrown into as life as a student. It was not that comfortable until I found my job at the lab and everything, and it was okay. We were comfortable and yet we were, I was at least, very homesick. My husband was not as homesick as I was.
00;13;00 - 00;13;18
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: But you mentioned the hippie movement and the larger Vietnam, antiwar movement. What was it about that that attracted you when you were there?
00;13;18 - 00;14;17
MADHU CHANDRA: I was totally in awe of the liberal atmosphere because in India there were constraints, although women were educated at least my generation of women, even my mom was educated. But still people telling you what to do and what not to do, [whereas] here we had the sense of freedom where we were not accountable to anybody. That was one sense you get as an immigrant, because all of a sudden you do not have to report everything to your family and friends, or there was nobody to judge you. And that was very impressive, the hippie movement. I mean, I felt like, “Oh, God, I am part of this.” I felt like one, being on the campus especially.
00;14;17 - 00;14;18
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Absolutely.
00;14;18 - 00;14;21
MADHU CHANDRA: Yeah. It was the right time to be on the campus.
00;14;22 - 00;14;2
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: In what other ways did you feel that sense of belonging as an immigrant?
00;14;28 - 00;14;52
MADHU CHANDRA: Well the thing is that we never felt like we have to belong because although we were comfortable, we had so many friends and they were not Indians at all. There were not that many Indians at that time, but we always felt we were going to go back to India. There was never this sense that—
00;14;52 - 00;14;54
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: That you needed to belong because you were going to go back.
00;14;54 - 00;15;1
MADHU CHANDRA: Yeah, yeah. This is a great experience. Good. You are being exposed to everything. Good education. We are getting a different education but then we are going back. So we were never tormented by this fact that this is where we are going to have to belong.
00;15;16 - 00;15;18
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: So what happened? What made you stay?
00;15;19 - 00;15;46
MADHU CHANDRA: The family with the kids. We had one son. He came and he was in school. And then, we worked. I went for my MBA after he was finished with his PhD. We were always in school, and our son was in school, it seemed like forever. And then, started working and said, “we will save some money and then go back.” And we did actually.
00;15;46 - 00;15;46
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Okay.
00;15;46 - 00;16;40
MADHU CHANDRA: So what happened was there was a big engineering school, IIT Delhi. And Delhi is where my parents lived, and his brother and family lived there. So we said, “Only if you get a job in Delhi, then we will go back to India.” He ended up getting a job there. And then while I was there, I was in finance. Finance was a new field at that time almost. So they asked me to teach as well. So we were both there for a year and a half. But the work environment in India is so totally different. At that point, we felt like this is not the place we can just [come] back to, [and] our son was, of course, an American, so.
00;16;40 - 00;16;41
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Because he was born here?
00;16;41 - 00;16;44
MADHU CHANDRA: Well, he was five months old when I brought him.
00;16;44 - 00;16;45
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: So he grew up—
00;16;45 - 00;17;16
MADHU CHANDRA: Basically born here, so he had a hard time with the school and everything. So then that did not work out. And Subhash said. “Okay. It is time. Let's go back.” I was a little more adjusted than he was. So we looked at the whole picture. He got his old job back in Connecticut. He worked in Connecticut at that time. And his former boss said, come back.
00;17;16 - 00;17;26
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: You mentioned how it was totally different at that time, the work environment. Can you elaborate?
00;17;26 - 00;18;41
MADHU CHANDRA: Yeah. I mean, just the politics at work, but IIT Delhi was this very prestigious institute, it was so tough to get into it. And we saw that the professors there were just very political more than anything else. And we were not used to that. You know, here in the US, you go to a place, you work, you do your day's work, make some good friends, and come home. But, over there in India—first of all, the campus provides your housing. And so they mix after work, and it was always about work and that was it. And they were doing strange things. I did not feel like people were really honest with their research and other things. So, I guess culturally we could not fit any more, I would say that. That was the bottom line. It was not their problem. It was our problem.
00;18;41 - 00;18;57
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: And to that point, though, I was going to ask, do you think there was a stigma that you left India and now you come back like almost a sense of like you abandoned your homeland, like when you went back?
00;18;57 - 00;19;32
MADHU CHANDRA: I think a lot of people told us that, including my parents, my dad said, “Oh my God, you guys have the best jobs, and you can just leave everything and go back and abandoned the family.” That was one thing. So there was a lot of pressure for us not to do it, but I guess we could not adjust. And our son was very happy to be back. So it was tough.
00;19;32 - 00;19;36
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: What year was this when you when you went back to the States?
00;19;36 - 00;19;37
MADHU CHANDRA: 1980.
00;19;37 - 00;19;37
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Okay.
00;19;37 - 00;19;41
MADHU CHANDRA: 1980. And we came back. We were there for a year and a half.
00;19;42 - 00;19;4
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: In India?
00;19;42 - 00;19;47
MADHU CHANDRA: Yeah, in India and came back in a year and a half.
00;19;47 - 00;19;53
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: To Connecticut? So how long you all stay there?
00;19;54 - 00;20;27
MADHU CHANDRA: We were there for a long period. We were there for at least thirty six, thirty seven years. We lived in Connecticut. And then, later on, our son moved to Florida. So we decided to follow him. He is a physician, joined a practice here. So we said, “okay, I do not want to take the cold in Connecticut.” So after we both retired from work.
00;20;27 - 00;20;31
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: And when was this? What year this was?
00;20;31 - 00;20;39
MADHU CHANDRA: We bought a place here, but we were still commuting, so I say ten years ago, we moved ten years ago.
00;20;39 - 00;20;42
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: So, like 2015 around there.
00;20;42 - 00;20;51
MADHU CHANDRA: Yeah. I retired from Deloitte. He retired from Westinghouse and that was when moved.
00;20;52 - 00;21;03
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: And before we talk about Florida I do want to know more about sort of your professional life, which you just mentioned the two places. So talk to me about the work you did in Connecticut.
00;21;03 - 00;21;44
MADHU CHANDRA: I was in taxes, actually, and very specialized kind. Hartford was the insurance capital of the world. And so I worked for Aetna for a long time for about twenty two years. And then some of my bosses moved to Deloitte. And so they brought me to Deloitte. So that was what I did. I worked on taxes for insurance companies. It was a very specialized part of the code. So that was what I did all my life.
00;21;44 - 00;22;01
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: And when you when you arrived in Florida, how did your perceptions about the state change once you got here? I am assuming you had ideas about Florida before you lived here. So that is kind of what I am asking.
00;22;01 - 00;22;40
MADHU CHANDRA: Yeah. The ideas were the thing the people who live in the northeast, they do not think Florida is an option. You think you should be a snowbird at the most, but we came from a very liberal state and a blue state and moving to Florida, well, Winter Park is a little better, but still that was a big change. But I also found the people very courteous here. So the good part of Florida was that.
00;22;40 - 00;22;55
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Did you find any Indian communities, once you came to Florida, or was that something that you were seeking, or is that something that just kind of happened?
00;22;55 - 00;24;08
MADHU CHANDRA: Music has been my passion. And that was really the hobby turned into more than a hobby now. And after I quit work, I could devote more time. So now I am teaching North Indian classical music. So immediately I connected with all the people here who are interested in that kind of a thing, like Jasbir [Mehta]. So this is how I connected with people. And then, now, of course, this community has a few Indian families, and it is easier to get to know them than other people. We know the other neighbors, but the Indian community is quite active. In Connecticut, we did not have that many Indian friends. Here, there was no way to make other friends besides Indians because we do not work. Being retired you just do not interact with…
00;24;08 - 00;24;17
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Right. And can you share more about your teaching of music?
00;24;17 - 00;26;55
MADHU CHANDRA: I learned music when I was young. And then at that time when I was at Deloitte, and I said “What do I do when I retire? I am so busy right now.” And our son had left already, he was in college and a doctor and everything. So he had his own life. And I said, “What am I going to do with my life?” So about twenty-five years ago, about 2000, that was when he got married, I said, “What should I do?” And then I thought about going back to music. I did some very active soul searching, and then I decided, “No,” I had not—there was a huge break. So I started going for music classes to New York. That was where there was classical music teacher. You could not get anybody in Connecticut at that time, and online and all that was not an option. So that was what I did. I used to go to New York every other weekend and started my classes, went back into it like more than it—it was a passion. So I found time every day to practice like a couple of hours, three hours, whatever. It was crazy. So that evolved into a lot of love for music. And then what happened is that there was one person in Banaras, India, a musician, very big, Girija Devi. So really as a kid, I was in love with her singing. So I approached her. That time I was a little free. Deloitte would let me go to India for work and stuff like that. So I was flying into Banaras in Calcutta, where she lived sometimes, both places. So I started interacting with her and she had some students, so they started teaching. She was little older, so they taught me online on a regular basis. And then I was so enamored by her, we ended up making a movie on her life. And actually it won the Presidential Award in 2017.
00;26;55 - 00;26;56
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Wow.
00;26;56 - 00;27;23
MADHU CHANDRA: So yeah, a documentary. So, that was like I was going to India very often to make that movie, took about three years to make. And then during COVID we just said, “Why don’t you teach?”
00;27;23 - 00;27;24
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: So you teach online?
00;27;24 - 00;27;35
MADHU CHANDRA: No, the beginners I teacher in person, I have a music room, every Sunday, three or four hours.
00;27;35 - 00;27;36
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: And where?
00;27;36 - 00;27;37
MADHU CHANDRA: Right here in my house.
00;27;37 - 00;27;39
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Wow. Wow. Excellent.
00;27;39 - 00;27;48
MADHU CHANDRA: So that is where I teach. Right now, [I have] about seven students. That is all I can manage.
00;27;48 - 00;27;53;
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: What instruments?
00;27;53 - 00;27;54
MADHU CHANDRA: It is singing.
00;27;55 - 00;27;55
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Singing?
00;27;55 - 00;27;56
MADHU CHANDRA: It was vocal music.
00;27;56 - 00;27;57
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: It was vocal music. Okay. Got it.
00;27;57 - 00;28;00
MADHU CHANDRA: Yeah. Vocal. Classical.
00;28;00 - 00;28;23
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Fascinating. Just talk to me about your decisions to be more invested in the arts and culture once you retired.
00;28;23 - 00;29;23
MADHU CHANDRA: That answer came from a lot of soul searching. Because I had learned Indian music. My family was my mom was a good musician. We had music in the family, except we were so busy with our academics. So we could not pursue anything professionally. And so I thought about what would give me the—and then I used to go to this music school, even when I was a student, and those were the happiest times because I would have my class, then I would go listen to the music school in Delhi, and then I go to listen other artists. And so I loved that part. So I said this is probably the answer. I was old at that time. Like I said, is it too old to pursue at this age? And I said, who cares? It will give me happiness.
00;29;23 - 00;29;29
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Why do you think music is central to culture?
00;29;30 - 00;30;08
MADHU CHANDRA: I think, it is a universal language that everybody understands. And I think it is an art form. There is something about art forms like painting or music or writing. I think they just give you a lot of happiness, a lot of peace. I think that would be my answer. And you do not have to do it for anybody. You have to do it for yourself.
00;30;08 - 00;30;24
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Right. You have been in Orlando now for a decade, which is a long time. From your perspective, how has Orlando changed over the past ten years?
00;30;24 - 00;31;04
MADHU CHANDRA: The cities have changed quite a bit. As far as the general public, we do not have that much interaction because I do not go to work or anything, but, yeah, the building, I mean, there is a lot of facelift and, you go to colonial, and when we came here, it was not that great. Now, of course, it looks nice and so that is all I can tell you about Orlando because we are not part of the mainstream, I feel.
00;31;04 - 00;31;06
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Because you are retired.
00;31;06 - 00;31;42
MADHU CHANDRA: Yeah. Because my hobby is Indian music. If it was Western music, I would interact with more mainstream people. Yeah, but the only way I interact with the mainstream people is my grandchildren. I have been involved in their lives a lot. So their school stuff and my granddaughter she sings. She used to sing for Trinity Prep, and now she sings for her college. You know, she sings as part of a cappella group there. So that way I get exposed through them.
00;31;42 - 00;31;43
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Yeah.
00;31;44 - 00;31;47
MADHU CHANDRA: And otherwise—
00;31;47 - 00;32;17
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: But still you know, I understand what you are saying with mainstream, but it is important to, from your perspective as well. Even though you do not think you have much to say about Orlando, you definitely do. Do you promote them [the music classes] at all or is it more closed knit the classes that you teach here?
00;32;17 - 00;32;18
MADHU CHANDRA: Sorry?
00;32;18 - 00;32;23
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: The classes that you teach here. How do you get those students? Where do they come from?
00;32;23 - 00;32;50
MADHU CHANDRA: Well, they come from referrals. I do not advertise anywhere or anything. I have been getting constantly about six, seven students. That is all I can manage. Some kids have learned from me, gone to college. So I lose some students that way because they are all going to college. They cannot continue. And so that is how I get my students and basically from ACA [Asian Cultural Association], from Jasbir is a big factor.
00;32;50 - 00;32;52
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Well, that was my next question—
00;32;52 - 00;32;53
MADHU CHANDRA: Yeah.
00;32;53 - 00;32;58
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: What has been your involvement with the ACA or what has that relationship been like?
00;32;58 - 00;33;37
MADHU CHANDRA: Oh, it has been great. I mean she [Jasbir] is the first person I got to know when I moved to Orlando because I contacted her, told her about my background in music and we have been great friends after that. And we help out, both of us, my husband and I, both involved with ACA. I help with all the music functions that she has, concerts and stuff like that. Sometimes I have had these musicians here come and practice and so I have been very involved with the ACA, the music side of it at least.
00;33;37 - 00;33;49
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: And yeah that is my point. Like through that organization, I feel like you have been because when I talked to Jasbir as well, that organization has made a huge impact in Orlando.
00;33;49 - 00;33;50
MADHU CHANDRA: Yeah.
00;33;50 - 00;33;54
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: And has really integrated themselves in the mainstream, right?
00;33;54 - 00;33;55
MADHU CHANDRA: Yeah.
00;33;55 - 00;34;07
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: So I was just curious to see your perspective as well. What challenges does Orlando face today from your perspective?
00;34;07 - 00;34;56
MADHU CHANDRA: Politically, I do not agree with what is going on. That is my big issue. And I think my family also feels that way. So that is where I do not know what is going to happen. So that is one thing I worry about. One big thing I actually worry about. The other stuff is the same everywhere, but the education wise and political wise.
00;34;56 - 00;34;58
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Yeah.
00;34;58 - 00;34;59
MADHU CHANDRA: I worry about that part.
00;34;5 - 00;35;03
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: What is your biggest fear from the political angle?
00;35;03 - 00;35;41
MADHU CHANDRA: The political end of it is, I worry about racially not being so integrated. I think that is my big, big, big worry. Connecticut, I did not feel that way. It was a totally different feeling. So I do not know if it is from the political environment now. And I do not know what it is like in Connecticut anymore. I mean, I go there for a visit, but it is very hard to gauge. Here, definitely, I feel like there is a big change.
00;35;41 - 00;35;42
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: In Florida?
00;35;42 - 00;35;43
MADHU CHANDRA: Florida.
00;35;43 - 00;35;49
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: And you have always felt that way in Florida?
00;35;49 - 00;35;50
MADHU CHANDRA: I did not feel that way before.
00;35;50 - 00;35;51
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Okay.
00;35;51 - 00;36;21
MADHU CHANDRA: I did not feel when we first moved. My son and his family, they lived in Winter Park, and they had neighbors and we felt like, okay, this is more like Connecticut. But then over the period, over the years, I think I see more segregation. And that worries me.
00;36;21 - 00;36;28
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: How will Orlando or Florida change in the next twenty five years?
00;36;28 - 00;37;18
MADHU CHANDRA: Politically, it is definitely going to change. And that is the only thing I experience; I do not experience a lot of other stuff that happens. I mean, I do go to mainstream stuff here, I go to the Doctor Phillips auditorium, a lot to theaters and stuff like that. But really, I mean, this is my big worry. It will become more conservative and more segregated. I can see that happen, which is very different from what I experienced before.
00;37;18 - 00;37;31
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Right. How has your Indian heritage influenced your perspective on life generally and living in the United States specifically?
00;37;31 - 00;38;57
MADHU CHANDRA: Definitely. I mean the Indian heritage, I mean, the concept of the way we grew up as a family, not only just a nuclear family, but it was [also] an extended family, aunts, uncles, friends, everybody. So that has kept the family together. Over the years, my granddaughters have grown up, they both going to college and I think I have imparted that sense of family into them. I see that now. Like they went to Trinity Prep and after school once they started driving they all stopped by, occasionally to “all the time, oh, we are coming home, coming to you for a snack.” So it is very nice that we are really part of—they have included us in the family. So I think we have given them this culture and taking care of people and we have visitors all the time, people coming in. So, we definitely feel blessed that we have so many friends and family who still keep in touch.
00;38;57 - 00;39;04
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: What did you learn about yourself and the United States through your immigrant experience?
00;39;04 - 00;39;49
MADHU CHANDRA: Myself…first this place is a great country to learn things, the college education is superb. And it just widens your horizons if you choose to do it because you meet people of every single…so many countries, so many countries, I mean, basically we have had friends from just so many countries over the years. And it is a great place to be exposed to, which I do not think would have happened if we stayed in India.
00;39;49 - 00;40;01
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Lastly, if someone is listening to this recording fifty or hundred years from now, what do you want them to know about your culture and the state of Florida?
00;40;01 - 00;40;53
MADHU CHANDRA: Hard question. About my culture. About the music I learned maybe that has been a strong thing right now in my life. And then about Orlando, I mean, Winter Park is beautiful, kind of similar to Connecticut in some ways. And where we lived in West Hartford was like the downtown of Winter Park here, a smaller version of the Winter Park here. So I see similarities and that is what I would say. So it is a little bit of Northeast here in this little town.
00;40;53 - 00;41;01
SEBASTIAN GARCIA: Madhu, thank you so much for taking some time out of your day to share a little bit of your life story. I really appreciate it.
00;41;01 - 00;41;03
MADHU CHANDRA: Okay.
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