India

FHS Oral History Project – Akshay Manohar

Akshay Manohar was born in New York City in 1986. Only roughly a year old, his family moved to Bombay, India, where Akshay spent most of his formative years. He particularly recollected memories of attending a boarding school in India. After completing the boarding school in 1999, Akshay returned to the United States, specifically Gaithersburg, Maryland, to finish high school. He recounted the various cultural shocks he experienced upon returning to the US as an American-born Indian. He remembered watching the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks in high school, and how it felt personal to him along geographical and cultural lines. As a student in a medical careers class, he interned at Bethesda Naval Hospital (now known as Walter Reed National Military Medical Center), witnessing the effects of the subsequent Iraq War. Treating soldiers who returned from the frontlines with gruesome injuries deeply affected Akshay, leading him to pursue a career in medicine—a path he never intended to pursue professionally. Akshay attended Kasturba Medical College in Karnataka, India, with the intention of returning to the United States for his residency and subsequent professional career. In addition to experiencing renewed cultural shock, Akshay described the varied experience of practicing medicine across several places in India. Relatedly, he explained the similarities and differences between the healthcare system in India and the US, especially once he returned and started practicing first across the Northeast and then in Florida. After completing his residency in 2016, Akshay moved to Tallahassee to officially begin his professional career. In 2022, Akshay relocated from North Florida to Orlando, underscoring the cultural differences between the two regions of the state. Throughout the oral history, Akshay emphasized how his constant relocation between the US and India has contributed to his fluid ethnic identity, informing his engagement with and connections to his diverse patient population. Additionally, Akshay highlighted his professional experience as an infectious disease physician during the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has fueled the growing politicization of medicine in America.

FHS Oral History Project – Kannan Srinivasan

Kannan Srinivasan was born in Madras, India, in 1966. Kannan recalled stories that his family passed down about India’s independence movement in 1947, particularly how his father’s participation and how Mahatma Gandhi encouraged him not to abandon his studies for the fight for freedom. Inspired by his father’s engineering career, Kannan studied electrical engineering at the Regional Engineering College, Tiruchirappalli, India. Familial connections and higher education opportunities prompted Kannan to leave India and emigrate to Orlando, Florida, in 1991. Kannan recounted the cultural shock he experienced upon arrival, specifically the abundance of white people and linguistic barriers. He also emphasized how his pre-immigrant perceptions of the United States changed once he settled in Orlando permanently. A brief stint working as a software engineer developing pagers for Motorola in South Florida interrupted his master’s timeline. He graduated with his master’s in computer engineering in 1996, the same time he landed employment with Cincinnati Bell/Convergys, where he worked for the next fifteen years. In 2009, Kannan founded Global KTech Incorporation and explained the circumstances that led him to create his own company. In 2013, Kannan joined the Asian American Chamber of Commerce and served as its president four years later. In addition to highlighting his personal motivations, Kannan underlined the organization’s broader significance for the Asian American community in Orlando. Lastly, Kannan shared his observations about Central Florida, both culturally and generally, while prognosticating the cultural and economic changes that might occur in the area’s future.

FHS Oral History Project – Surabhi Adesh

Surabhi Adesh was born in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1965. Her father received a position with the Indian High Commission to teach Hindi music and culture in the West Indies and report on the broader conditions of the Indian diaspora in that region. As a result, in 1966, when Surabhi was around a year old, the family moved to Trinidad. In 1967, her father established the Bharatiya Vidya Sansthhaan Institute, also known as the Institute of Indian Knowledge, with a mission to reacquaint the Indian diaspora in Trinidad with Hindi culture through music, philosophy, and history. At eleven years old, Surabhi assisted her father in the Institute, teaching musical classes. In 1981, Surabhi and her family moved to Toronto, Canada, to expand the Institute's reach, highlighting the contributions they made in that region and the similarities and differences encountered while engaging with the Indian community in both areas. Surabhi also discussed her personal experiences through that comparative lens between both places. Financial difficulties prompted Surabhi and her family to relocate from Toronto to Orlando, Florida, in 1999. Upon arrival, Surabhi maintained her father’s legacy of teaching Indian music and knowledge through classes she held mainly at her house. Her involvement with the Asian Cultural Association facilitated this educational endeavor. Surabhi discussed her performances throughout Orlando, her teaching methods, her impact on the Indian community in Orlando, and what she learned about Indians and Orlando through her teaching career. Additionally, she highlighted the significance of maintaining Indian culture, both generally and specifically, through her pedagogy, especially in the face of what she called a “dilution” of culture generationally. Lastly, she shared her broader observations about Florida, including the state’s continuities and changes over the past quarter-century, as well as the challenges it faces in the contemporary moment (c. 2025).

FHS Oral History Project – Subhash Chandra

Subhash Chandra was born in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1944. He recalled how India’s independence in 1947 affected his earlier years and his family more broadly. In addition to the challenges brought with independence, Subhash remembered the financial difficulties his family experienced during his childhood. A fascination with American society and culture, learned through films and word of mouth, and a desire to complete his higher education in the United States prompted him to leave India in 1968. Subhash discussed the similarities and differences between his pre-departure conceptions of the US and what he observed upon arrival at the University of Cincinnati. He specifically emphasized how the larger racial issues during the late 1960s and early 1970s and the Vietnam War conflicted with his idea of America standing as the “most advanced nation in the world.” As a result, Subhash connected with several Civil Rights leaders during this time. Conversely, however, Subhash recounted his amazement when seeing a professor lunching with a janitor, and how that never happened in India as a result of the rigid caste system. In 1974, Subhash graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a doctorate in engineering. In 1978, Subhash fulfilled his intentions of returning to India after completing higher education in the United States. Academic politics in India, however, soured his homecoming, and he returned to the US permanently in 1980. After decades of working with several companies in Connecticut as an R&D engineer, Subhash moved to Orlando, Florida, for his retirement in 2015. Through the Asian Cultural Association (ACA), Subhash connected with the Indian community in Orlando, serving as the organization’s president at one point. He outlined his motivations for serving in the ACA and the importance of its mission more broadly in Central Florida. Lastly, Subhash shared his observations about Florida, highlighting the state’s continuities and ruptures over the past decade, specifically underscoring political concerns and how pivotal the contemporary moment (c. 2025) will prove to be for Florida and American history.

FHS Oral History Project – Madhu Chandra

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).

FHS Oral History Project – Jasbir Mehta

Jasbir Mehta was born in India in 1955. She recounted her upbringing in India, particularly how her family moved around the country frequently, as her father worked for the government. Jasbir also remembered how the transition from colonialism to post-colonial independence affected her early life and family. She particularly recalled stories her family passed down about the 1947 Partition, and how her father “lost everything.” In 1976, Jasbir emigrated to the United States mainly for educational reasons, as she attended the University of Pittsburgh. Despite increasing opportunities for women in India, Jasbir also cited such gender restrictions as circumstances that prompted her to leave the country, and her father to support such a decision. The Foreign Students Office at the University of Pittsburgh assigned Jasbir to live with an American host family, and Jasbir explained how this family introduced her to American culture. During her time in Pittsburgh, Jasbir produced a radio program that featured Indian music for public radio station WBUQ. She described her motives, the evolution, and how people responded to such cultural programming at that time. In 1989, Jasbir moved to Orlando, Florida, and almost immediately established the Asian Cultural Association (ACA). She feared raising her children in a place that lacked organizations that highlighted and promoted Indian culture, and thus created ACA. Jasbir thoroughly discussed how the ACA has changed over thirty-six years, emphasizing several groundbreaking initiatives such as establishing the oldest South Asian Film Festival in North America and partnering with several universities across Central Florida to educate people about Indian culture, including creating the first accredited course in Indian Music in the state of Florida. Through her leadership with the ACA, Jasbir has significantly elevated and supported the Indian community in Central Florida. Given her deep cultural connections, Jasbir shared more broadly how Orlando has changed over the past thirty-six years.

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