A Lasting Impact

In a recent conversation regarding the attacks on Mumbai I was asked about my reactions to this event. What I recounted was a violation and misrepresentation of a nation I had come to love and perceive as a peaceful, stable, and unified country. As I continued I began to feel the same visceral reaction I had when I first heard about the attacks- heart pounding, pain in my stomach, a cold chill. I never dreamed that as a person born and brought up in the U.S. my connection to India would be so strong. This is what I sought during my year as an Indicorps fellow, and it is only the Indicorps fellowship to which I can attribute the creation of this relationship to my motherland. Prior to Indicorps, India was a place where I was dragged along in AC cars driven by unknown men to house after house of relatives who spoke a language I did not know. During my year in India with Indicorps I learned Gujarati, washed my laundry by hand, rode the bus (or just waited for it and then walked), and learned how to make roti and dhal. I committed myself to the advancement of the sanitation movement, inspired by the men I worked with who pioneered the movement when it was more of an issue of caste than public health. They broke barriers by cleaning toilets; work proscribed to the untouchable caste, and promoted Gandhian principles of equality and simplicity. The work of the NGOs (non-governmental organizations/non-profit) I partnered with truly revealed to me the notion of seva (selfless service), their motto being, “Love all, serve all.” And I found this to be not only in work, but also in daily interactions of people in India. Everybody called me sister and welcomed me into their homes without question.

The NGOs I worked with were committed not only to equality and unity within castes, but also within the many religions of India. Living in Ahmedabad in 2004, just two years after religious riots tore the city apart, there was a great energy and commitment devoted to the unification of all Indian people. Hindus and Muslims at my NGO fasted and broke fast together during Ramadan. Another Indicorps fellow in my year worked to bring together Hindu and Muslim children to create a musical that emphasized peace and unity. With this display of compassion and empathy that surrounded me daily in India, it was difficult for me to accept the act of terror that occurred in Mumbai, an act that attempted to break the love of all the different races and cultures that I witnessed in India.

Throughout my fellowship experience these are the themes that persisted with me- compassion, unity in diversity, peace in suffering. These also are the themes that Indicorps, an organization founded by three young, inspired, and dedicated siblings who represent the 1st generation of Indian-Americans in many different ways; highly educated, successful, motivated. But what is exceptional about these siblings is that they took a chance to create change. They left their comfortable homes in the U.S. to give back to the nation which has brought us to our success as a Diaspora. They took a chance to create a group of Indian leaders in the global community to advocate for issues surrounding India and development. By taking this chance they themselves became leaders in their own right. Now, Sonal Shah, one of those three siblings has been appointed as a member of the transition team of what is hoped to be the most significant presidency in the near history. Indian-Americans have been given a voice, one who has devoted her life to the success of a unified India and a unified Indian diaspora. I remember Sonal speaking passionately as a guest at the University of Maryland about the divides we as an Indian community have created that have inhibited our influence as a large group in America. Her passion confirmed my desire to participate in the Indicorps fellowship, a program I had learned about through a family friend whose friend was doing the fellowship at that time. Sonal’s voice and leadership as an individual as well as through her contribution to the Indicorps philosophy continue to guide me today even after my fellowship has been completed for more than three years.

Priya Shashidharan
Indicorps fellow 2004-2005