THE VIRTUAL MUSEUM: THE PIONEERS

(Courtesy of the Vedanta Society of St. Louis)

On September 15, 1893, Swami Vivekananda appeared at the Art Institute of Chicago with other dignitaries at the World Parliament of Religions. In his famous electrifying speech, the striking “Hindoo monk of India” proclaimed that truth is one and that all religions are valid means of realizing the one truth. The Swami stayed at 1415 N. Dearborn Street in Chicago, and through his frequent Midwest visits, helped establish the Vedanta Society of Chicago in Hyde Park in 1930. It remains one of the oldest religions institutions devoted to the teaching of ancient Hindu philosophy in the U.S

Click on the picture to hear Swami Vivekananda.

(Courtesy of University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign)

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was the first Asian to receive the Nobel Prize ( for Literature in 1913). In 1912, he visited the University of Illinois at Urbana where he had sent his son to study agriculture so that he could help with the development of India’s villages. In December 1916, on one of several subsequent visits here, he met the Tagore Circle members pictured at 909 W. Nevada in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur P. Seymour (standing, fourth from right and seated, fourth from left).

(Courtesy of C. K. Chandran)

Indian students, pictured here on Midway Plaisance in front of International House at the University of Chicago in June 1946, were among the first Indians to be allowed into the United States after the repeal of the 1917 Barred Zone Act which prohibited entry of people from India and parts of East Asia. Since their visas did not permit them to re-enter the U.S. once they left, many students chose to forgo the opportunity to return home, and eventually became the very first immigrants of the modern era.

(Courtesy of University of Chicago Library
Special Collections Center)

Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister (1947-1964) and his daughter Indira Gandhi, who also served as India’s Prime Minister (1966-77, 1980-1984) are seen leaving Rockefeller Chapel following a 1949 address to faculty and students at the University of Chicago.

Years before the post-1965 Indian immigration, Nehru’s visit foreshadowed a future in which Indians would thrive in the United States.

More recently, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1996, 1998-2004) and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (2004 – present) have visited the United States and received enthusiastic receptions from Indian Americans.

"This family picture was taken in 1971 at my graduation, one year before I left for the US

( Standing, from left) My sister Kamal, myself, my brother Ashok, my sister Neelam and (sitting) my parents, R. N. Katial and Shakuntala Katial.

When I landed in New York some 37 years ago I was twenty years old .  The  West had started to fascinate me and soon going to America became an obsession!    I sold my Vespa scooter, bought my plane ticket and took off!   My family was heartbroken, they tried to convince me but I had made up my mind.

"My passport photo, taken when I was 20 years old.

Flushed with happiness, I arrived in NY City on a cold, dreary, wet afternoon, armed with a $ 600.00 personal check from a cousin residing in the US and a promise from a friend that he will pick me up at Kennedy Airport. A trunk full of clothes and the $8 safely tucked in my wallet, I walked out of the airport into the land of opportunity, land of my dreams and hopes!   My friend did not show up, starving, I had to use part of my $8 dollars as no one wanted my $600 check! My first meal in the US, 2 boiled eggs and a beer Such was the freedom of being in the West! My first beer! Finally found my way to the YMCA with the help of a cabby.  At the YMCA I stayed for over a week for $10 a day sharing a small room with a Desibhai / Sardarji. There was no dearth of work; I became a free lance draftsman for an architect. It was exhilarating to be able to make $20 a day! 

"The insurance industry intrigued me. I became a Recruiter/ Insurance Agent for New York Life and would walk miles, store to store and talk to one and all to try and make a sale. Hard work pays, I found myself as the first non-white General Manager in the prestigious New York Life Insurance Company! This is a picture of me as General Manager/Managing Partner taken in the mid 1980s. My office spanned the entire two floors of the Empire State building and hundreds of agents worked and learnt my techniques of selling. By now I had earned my CLU and ChFC.

My real dreams came true when God brought my wife Nikita in my life. Today I am a happily married man with two beautiful kids. I have achieved my dream and am living it everyday. No regrets, I am glad I bought that ticket almost 35 years ago. It was and still is a tough journey but one I love and chose!"