New book gives a snapshot of the Indian community in Massachusetts

A new book by Meenal Atul Pandya, a communications consultant who has written on the Indian diaspora and lifestyle issues, has come out with a new book that describes how Indian-Americans created a community from almost nothing in Massachusetts.

Titled ‘Indian Americans of Massachusetts’, the book published by British publisher The History Press notes that despite being a tiny minority, their contributions have been numerous and far-reaching. Pandya details the influence of Indians on Massachusetts history.

The book notes that starting from Swami Vivekananda, who arrived in Boston in 1893 and left a lasting legacy of Hindu philosophy, there have been many Indian-Americans who made great contributions to Massachusetts, including Sushil Tuli, who opened a unique community bank, Leader Bank, as the first and only minority-owned bank in the state of Massachusetts in 2002.

It also chronicles The Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT, created with the grant of $20 million by Desh and Jaishree Deshpande that empowers MIT's researchers to make a difference in the world by developing innovative technologies.

“This is the story of how Indian immigrants created a community from almost nothing in Massachusetts and transformed it into the vibrant and well-integrated community it is today,” the author writes in the introduction to the 128-page book.

What is described in the pages of the book are the Indians’ struggles and their answers to those struggles, “their needs and their skill sets, that initiatives to preserve their culture and their impact on the larger Community.” It is also a story of how within a short period of five decades, millions of lives -- in America as well as in India -- have been and continue to be impacted.

“It is a story of a huge number of people uprooting themselves from their centuries old homes in cities and villages in India and creating new roots to a land of hope and opportunity.”