Book review
American-Born Confused Desi, Emigrated From Gujarat, Housed In Jersey, Keeping Lotsa Motels, Named Omkarnath Patel . . .

Most Indians know that thousands of their compatriots live in New Jersey, USA, but the realities of these immigrants' lives are often obscured by the glamorous image of the wealthy NRI. In this pioneering profile of one of America's most dynamic ethnic communities, S. Mitra Kalita, an award-winning journalist at the Washington Post, enters the lives of three families—the Kotharis, Patels and Sarmas—and shows how diverse the Indian experience can be in one American locality.

Increasingly moving straight to the suburbs rather than `paying their dues' in a city, New Jersey's Indians soon face issues of transportation, affordable housing and, on occasion, resentful reactions to their growing success. The fates of those on professional visas are tied to the economy, but others have continual difficulty finding jobs.

Yet while parents struggle, their children often excel in school, and they all have plenty of company: the largest celebration of Navratri outside India now takes place in Edison, New Jersey. `Whiz kids Sankumani and Shravani Sarma,' says Kalita, `left a rapidly Americanizing India only to find a rapidly Indianizing America.' Lucid and compelling, Suburban Sahibs puts a human face on India's massive diaspora.

Edition: Paperback
Format: B | 216 pages
Classification: Non Fiction
Published: 4/1/2004


About the author S. Mitra Kalita is a reporter with the Washington Post and president of the New-York-based South Asian Journalists Association. The daughter of immigrants from Assam, she has lived in Washington, New York, Puerto Rico and the suburbs of New Jersey.