Interviewee profile

For the past couple months, I have become a member of a business that allows me to work with many people with backgrounds much different than mine, especially Indians. This is how I met Raj Gajaphati. He is an Indian immigrant that has made himself successful in the auto industry as well as other business projects. He has a dark skin complexion, but different than that of an African American’s skin. His head has long, straight, and dark hair sprouting out from it. There is also an undeniably strong Tamil accent he developed back in his native country, India.

I remember going over to he and his wife’s, Kamala, house for dinner and I realized that they are truly Indians. They have several culturally traditional possessions, most of which came from India, in their house. Since they do not eat meat, a custom many Indians pick up from growing up in a culture that praises cows and an overpopulated country, my meal consisted of baked Indian potatoes, Indian rice, and Indian bread. Before I ate, I prayed that I would like the food because I did not want to offend them and their culture, but fortunately, the food was great.

My interest in learning more about Raj’s journey from India inspired me to interview him for a class project. The purpose of the interview was to discover how someone who grew up in a foreign country with tight cultural and religious beliefs can migrate and adapt to the loose American society. The interview took place at the Mardigian Library of The University of Michigan - Dearborn. During the interview, he maintained a posture that let me and anyone else who happened to see him know that he was indeed a professional. He sat straight in his chair with one ankle placed one top of his other leg’s knee wearing a brown suit with his hands together in his lap. He also kept a slight smile on his face suggesting that he was pleased to see someone so young a different than he is interested in interviewing him about his journey from India to the United States. It was his welcoming gestures and patience that kept me calm throughout the entire interview.

The first question that I asked was about his life growing up in India and what inspired him to want to move here. He immediately responded, saying “India is also a democratic country, like the U.S., and there’s a lot of difference in terms of culture, language, and beliefs.” Then he said, “Here in the U.S., for transportation we use cars and things like that, but typically in India, transportation is bicycles, motorbikes, buses and trains. Very few people had cars when I was growing up. They were usually for people who were very rich. I grew up in a middle class family were we used to walk from place to place.” This led me to believe that something as common as car ownership gets taken for granted in the United States because people in India would have to be rich in order to purchase one. I also felt he had a sense of pride in his success, from living in a place where most people do not even consider getting cars to owning two vehicles. Also, he said that his inspiration for coming here was, “That is one of the biggest dreams for a lot of people like me who come the U.S. We see the opportunities in this country and we know that if you’re willing to work hard for your dream they will come true.”

Afterwards, I asked him about him and his wife’s transition from India to the United States and their family’s reactions. His answer was, “Although I was very comfortable speaking the U.S. language, because that was one of the recognizable languages we used back in India, there were a lot of differences in terms of slang that I used back home in India and certain phrases that are used in the U.S. In fact, there were a few questions and things that I heard when I came to the U.S. that I didn’t know how to respond to. For example, there are certain phases that people say in India that mean something completely different here, and it is the same back home.” After hearing this, I asked him, “why is it that you couldn’t understand the language if you already knew how to speak English?” He said, “it’s because the English I was taught was from British people, so I picked up their British accent.” After knowing this, I can only imagine how hard it would be for me to understand his language when he first arrived here, with him speaking English in both a British and a Tamil accent. Now he only speaks with a Tamil accent.

He then said that his family fully supported his decision to move to the United States. One of the reasons he gave for why his parents were so supportive was, “Everybody back home understands the opportunities that are in the U.S. For immigrants who aspire to become better and more successful, they understand that this is a great place to come and get their dreams fulfilled.” I commend his parents for being so supportive in letting their child move to the opposite side of the planet because they live in a culture that values the importance of a close – nit family.

Finally, I asked Raj how his life is in the U.S., now that he and his wife have adapted to society and if he thinks the U.S. is as embracive to immigrants as it claims to be. He said, “I have already seen some of our dreams starting to be achieved. We still do a lot of things that we did back in India. Of course as time goes by, we have become more mature to understand why we do what we do, there are some things that we have tweaked a little, but overall we are very excited about life.” Generally, he is like any other U.S. citizen, although he sometimes shops at Asian stores to maintain his Indian roots. He even still paints a spot between his eyebrows to celebrate his belief in Hinduism. He also says, “America is one of the few countries that don’t discriminate anymore against immigrants.”

Since I have lived in the United States my entire life, I do not realize all of the many great things about this country. Raj is only one of the millions of immigrants who have left their lives and friends behind to turn a new page in search for success in the United States. There are so many reasons why people may choose to move hear from their native country, whether it being career opportunities, religious freedom, or governmental freedom, immigrants have found was to live happily in the United States.