| The Gujaratis by Lavina Melwani
Almost one in five Indian in the United States
is Gujarati. Here’s why.
It
is one of the stranger stories of immigration: rooted
to their land, their soil and their animals, they nevertheless
boarded ships and left for unknown destinations. Yet
for all their struggles and prosperity in far-off lands,
it was if the Gujaratis had never left their village,
their town or their country, for they transported all
that they held dear — their way of life, their extended
families, their cuisine and their culture into the New
World.
You call it having your dhokla — and eating it too!
The Gujaratis comprise a mere 5 percent of the population
of India, yet are a force to be reckoned with in the
Indian Diaspora, from Africa to the United Kingdom to
Canada to the United States. Without a doubt, the Gujaratis
constitute the largest ÈmigrÈ group from India. In the
United States, they account for an estimated 20 percent
of the Indian American population, nearly four times
their proportion in India. Their economic clout extends
into billions of dollars and they are key players in
retail businesses, the diamond industry, and of course
the motel industry.
Gujaratis are just about everywhere: If you’ve ever
stayed the night at a chain motel or hotel — an ubiquitous
part of the landscape from Alabama to Texas to New Jersey——
there was probably a Gujarati behind it. The Gujaratis
are overwhelmingly dominant players in the Asian American
Hotel Owners Association, whose members have a $ 40
billion stake in the hospitality industry, owning more
than 17,000 hotels, with one million rooms representing
over 50 percent percent of U.S. economy lodging properties
and nearly 35 percent of all hotel properties.
If you’ve ever bought a pair of diamond solitaires or
a wedding band for a loved one, then there was probably
a Gujarati behind it. The Gujaratis are a multi billion-dollar
force in the diamond industry. The Indian Diamond and
Color Stone Association began 17 years ago with just
65 companies and today the total export of gem and jewelry
to the United States tops $6 billion and the membership
at 265 companies. Indian goods account for over two-thirds
of the total volume of jewelry sold at retail level
in the United States.
If you’ve ever had the sniffles or the flu, there’s
a good chance that the doctor you saw hailed from Gujarat.
There are thousands of Gujarati physicians across America
in almost every medical specialty.
Indeed the sheer number of Gujaratis ensures that they
have infiltrated every profession from accounting to
filmmaking in America. You most certainly must have
bought your gum or a pack of cigarettes or newspaper
at a Gujarati-operated newsstand or candy store. And
if you’ve bought garments made in India, it is once
again very possible that the manufacturers, the shippers
and the wholesalers are Gujarati too!
Dancer Sonali Vyas performing in New
York.
In fact, according to some estimates, Gujaratis constitute
almost 400,000 of the total Indian population in the
United States, and out of that at least a 140,000 go
by the name of Patel, a Gujarati name that is as ubiquitous
as Smith or Brown in the west. Open a telephone book
in New Jersey and you can scroll through pages and pages
of Patel.
The story of Gujarati success is repeated in countries
around the globe from Africa to England to Canada. What
is it in their blood or their history that gave them
this spirit of adventure and entrepreneurship to leave
their moorings in such vast numbers and set out for
foreign shores? Why did they pack up and leave while
others stayed? In the thousand villages of Charotar
in Gujarat, there is probably not even one from which
at least one Patel family has not migrated, and there
are some villages where more than half of the Patel
families have emigrated.
And having packed up and left, how is it that they —
more than any other community of India — keep alive
their customs and their traditions, their cuisine and
their social values even in alien lands with vastly
different mores? The answers lie in the land they left
behind.
Gujarat is the birthplace of Dadabhoy Navroji, the grand
old man of the freedom fight, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel,
the architect of a united India, and Mahatma Gandhi,
the father of the Nation. For Gujaratis, the Mahatma
and his ideals hold special place and of course, he
was also the most famous NRI of all times, having spent
several years in South Africa and leaving his imprint
there of nonviolent revolution.
One of the more prosperous states of India, Gujarat
with its strategic ports has a long tradition of overseas
trade. Gujarati businessmen have been active in Africa
since the 13th century, as bankers and moneylenders,
and even in the Mughal times Gujarat was a bustling
trade center.
The entrepreneurial Gujaratis have been the dominant
figures in the Indian populations of Kenya, Uganda,
South Africa, as well as Britain even in colonial times.
Although tens of thousands of Indian laborers were bought
into East Africa to build the railroads, most returned
home except for the Gujaratis who stayed on to become
small traders.
The Navratri celebrations are a must stop for New
Jersey politicians. Here New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey
and his wife in the Navratri tent with Peter Kothari
and Gulshan Grover.
A fascinating history of the Gujaratis can be found
on the Matiya Patidar Samaj website, written by the
late Ramanbhai Prema, with research from books kept
by the Baroths and Vahivanchas. Foreign invasions around
AD 1000 had compelled the Kanbi from Leava and Karad
villages of the Gujaranvwalla district (presently in
Pakistan) to leave Punjab for Gujarat. At that time
the Solankis were ruling Gujarat and the land in the
taluka of Patlad was uncultivated and granted to the
newcomers.
The Kanbis were hard workers and cultivated the land,
giving a twelfth portion of the crop to the king. Each
village had a headman who collected the crops for the
king and kept records of the kingdom on the pat — a
log book — and the person who kept these records was
known as Patlikh, a name which was shortened to Patal
and then to Patel.
The emigration of Patels began in the late 19th and
the early 20th century, first to east Africa and then
to the rest of the world. Scholars like David Pocock
attribute the migration of this agricultural community
to factors like famine and plague, as well as the rules
of inheritance whereby the property is equally divided
amongst all the sons. As the land was divided and subdivided
amongst successive generations, the shrinking pie made
it necessary to find other means of sustenance for the
increasing family in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
At that time there were many work opportunities in East
Africa, where most of the migrants initially worked
in railways and other civil services, while others became
traders. In fact, there were so many Patel employees
in the East African railways, that it became known as
Patel railways! When the east African countries became
independent, many of the Patels moved to the United
Kingdom.
Most of the Patels, settled in the UK in the 1960s and
the 1970s, are twice-migrants. First they went to the
east African countries and then they migrated to the
UK. They came to Britain in two major waves, in the
mid-1960s from Kenya, and in the early 1970s from Uganda,
after being expelled by Idi Amin. And now of course,
many of them are thrice-migrants, having moved from
Britain to America.
In Migrations and Cultures, Thomas Sowell observes,
“Throughout East Africa, the Indian operated on a very
small profit margin, lived extremely cheaply, took the
risks of selling on credit, and worked long hours under
what would be impossible conditions for Europeans.”
He quotes a British observer in the 1920’s commenting
that the Indians were driving their trucks,’“without
lights, without brakes, apparently without tires, and
with an engine which looks like conking out at any moment,
pushing trade through the most inaccessible places.”
It is this can-do attitude that the Gujaratis have carried
with them to different parts of the globe. In fact,
as Sowell observes,”“The economic role of the Indians
in Uganda can perhaps best be appreciated by considering
what happened after they left. The economy collapsed.”
India still throbs in the hearts of these Gujarati
seniors
One reason for the proliferation of the Gujaratis in
America is their strong sense of family unity. There
can never be just one successful Patel, because he’ll
always share his good fortune with otherPatels. The
fastest-growing organization in the U.S. hospitality
industry, the Asian American Hotel Owners Association
(AAHOA) has a membership base of more than 7,000 members,
a majority Gujarati, many of them Patels. Together they
own 17,000 hotel properties, more than 35 percent of
all hotel properties in the United States.
That is a mind-boggling figure when you consider that
Indians are under 1 percent of the U.S. population.
The market value of hotels owned by AAHOA members totals
nearly $40 billion, and gives employment to 800,000
people. This does not include many independents who
are not members of AAHOA, and so the figure is much
higher.
Dhansukh ’‘Dan’ Patel, the president of AAHOA, was born
in Gujarat, grew up in England and came to the United
States at the age of 21. He started out with one small
motel and now owns 11 of them in Tennessee and Kentucky
encompassing Holiday Inn, Hilton Gardens, Days Inn and
Best Western.
His story is that of many other Patels, who relied upon
family connections to succeed in the hospitality industry.
“When I came here 20 years ago I bought a property because
my father-in-law owned a hotel in San Francisco and
helped me. After I came, my family members knew that
if they came and got into the hotel industry, there
would be so many people to back them up that they would
never fail. Our Gujarati folks are very hard working
and they put their heart and soul into any business
that they buy. They do a lot of the work themselves
and so they see a good saving at the end.”
As he points out, “What better business is there than
operating a hotel? Not only do you find your residence
there and revenue generating system, but family support.
It’s very tough to get a job here, but with a down payment
and owner financing, it’s easy to get into the hotel
business.”
Dhansukh Patel says AAHOA is working to educate the
motel and hotel owners to streamline their businesses:
“We cannot operate a hotel the way we used to 20 years
ago. Today technology is in, franchises are in and so
education is necessary to help people learn how to use
the technology to bring the customers to their hotel.
We educate them to become better hoteliers.”
The Swaminarayan Sanstha, a socio-spiritual organization,
is very prominent among Gujaratis.
The thriving Gujarati community has three newspapers,
Gujarat Samachar from India, Sandesh published from
Chicago and Gujarat Times from New York. It also has
scores of regional organizations including several Gujarat
Samajs across America. The Gujarat Samaj in New York
is the oldest Gujarati organization established in 1974
and is the only one with its own building.
According to Chandrakant Patel, the secretary of the
New York Gujarat Samaj, it has 2500 family members and
a membership base of 10,000 people. There are Gujarat
Samajs in various states, including Illinois, California,
Texas, North Carolina, New Jersey and Connecticut. Chandrakant
Patel, an engineer working for the U.S. department of
defense, also serves as the editor of Kalam, the magazine
of Gujarat Samaj.
The Gujarat Samaj provides networking and cultural activities
including katha, spiritual chants from well-known gurus,
kavi samelan with Gujarati poets, and folk dance. Gujarat
Din, a celebration of Independence Day for the State
of Gujarat, is celebrated on May 1. Every year either
a Satyanarayan Katha or Gayatri Yagna is performed to
launch the year off to an auspicious start.
Perhaps the Gujarati community has managed to keep its
culture intact because of the close-knit kinship of
different groups such as Brahmins, Patels and banyas.
Organizations of these various clans exist even in America.
Marriage meets are arranged in New Jersey and North
Carolina to find suitable life partners within the caste.
Says Chandrakant Patel: “It’s a way to get an introduction
to a life partner. I think this is the best way in this
country.” He points out that times are changing and
in America Gujaratis are marrying not only Gujaratis
of different clans, but also from different communities
of India.
Rajesh Patel, an electronics engineer based in North
Carolina, is the president of the North Carolina Triangular
Gujarat Organization. He himself did his B,Sc. in Baroda
but was invited to the United States by his wife’s uncle.
After completing his masters in Rutgers, he brought
his family over. Today there are 180 people from their
extended family in the United States. Says Patel, “It’s
all about family unity.”
There are nearly 1000 Gujarati families in North Carolina;
when the organization started 13 years ago, there were
just a handful of members. Says Rajesh Patel, “Our goal
is to preserve Gujarati values and culture here and
we don’t want to forget our roots. We also collected
money for Gujarat earthquake and sent it through Share
and Care. We observe all Gujarati functions and festivals
— Holi, Navrati and Diwali.”
Why does he think the Gujaratis have succeeded so well?”“There
is always the feeling ‘Yeh apna admi hein’ (this is
our own); we help each other real well. There is a good
unity amongst us.” There is also the work ethos, be
it in the candy stores or the hospitality industry.
They are willing to work from morning to evening and
are extremely resilient. And in bad times they can expect
support from the tribe.
The website maintained by the Patels of Greater London
explains the reasons for the solidarity of the community:
“The village life in India had a profound effect on
the first generation migrants, and the social identity
of the Patels is deeply embedded in village life which
was highly intimate, co-operative, intense, and amicable.
The religious and cultural bonds further cemented those
ties with village people, which they remember with nostalgia.
Therefore, for the first generation migrants the ties
with their relatives, villages, and country have romantic
value and hence are quite powerful. They consider themselves
British citizens and yet they think they are the self-appointed
ambassadors of India to the UK.
“The most remarkable peculiarity of the Patel community,
however, is that though they are ever willing to adapt
to the constantly changing external economic environment,
they maintain strong internal integration with reference
to their social life. Therefore, they have retained
their identity by organizing themselves in terms of
their ancestral villages of origin and marriage circles.
They have formed the associations based on their villages
like Bhadran Bandhu Samaj, Karamsad Bhandu Samaj, etc.
And some of them have also formed associations based
on their marriage circles (‘gols’) such as Shree Sattavis
Gam Patidar Samaj.”
While the system is more entrenched in England, even
in the United States organizations such as these exist
and organize marriage melas where young Gujaratis from
the same caste can find life partners. Bit in the melting
pot of America, where everyone is from somewhere else,
young people are often finding their own matches.
AAHOA’s Dan Patel.
In the United States, Gujaratis have maintained their
food habits and cultural celebrations and the rest of
the Indian community has them to thank for the proliferation
of ethnic groceries, vegetarian restaurants and temples
in America. Navratri is celebrated in a very big way
with garba performances held in many locations, from
huge tents in New Jersey with thousands of participants,
to small gatherings in school auditoriums. Gujarati
homes are studded with furnishings from back home, including
the wooden swing, which is a feature of almost every
home in the old country.
One important organization which provides a visual roadmap
and blueprint of a code of conduct and living for its
many followers is Bochasanwasi Shree Akshar Purushottam
Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a socio-spiritual organization
with its roots in the Vedas. Many Gujaratis follow its
message of spirituality and social service, and involve
their children from the very beginning.
The Gujarat based organization has branches in the United
States and helps the overseas Gujaratis keep their balance
between two worlds with its mix of spirituality and
social service. Its International network has many devoted
volunteers with thousands of centers and 495 BAPS temples
worldwide.
Many in the community take the social service message
seriously, and there are several nonprofit organizations,
including notably Share and Care, which coordinates
donations as well as volunteer work from the community.
After the devastating earthquake in Gujarat last year,
many organizations including BAPS and Share and Care
mobilized the community into action. Physicians flew
in to offer their services.
Major organizations like AAHOA, Gujarat Samaj and AAPI
donated large sums for the rehabilitation of Gujarat.
Dhansukh Patel, chairman of AAHOA, is currently in Bhuj
working with BAPS and Habitat for Humanity in Gujarat.
He says the goal is “to rebuild our Gujarat back, to
rebuild and give those folks their lives back.”
Indeed, the economic clout of the NRIs is increasingly
seen in their home state and Gujarat might be the only
state that has instituted special perks for its foreign-based
sons. The Non Resident Gujarati Bhavan (NRG Bhavan)
in Ahmedabad provides hospitality and support to visiting
NRIS. The Gujarat State Non-Resident Gujarati’s Foundation
(NRG Foundation) is issuing a Gujarat Card to the Non-Resident
Gujaratis outside India, which will give them special
considerations during their visit, and the state even
boasts a minister for NRI affairs.
While many Gujaratis are physicians, hoteliers and diamond
merchants, there are just as many in business, engineering
and other professions. Arun Bhatia is probably the only
Gujarati developer, taking on the traditional calling
of his family in Bombay. Over half-a-dozen skyscrapers
built by him are silhouetted against the Manhattan skyline
and scores of properties in the city have been rejuvenated
or managed by his company. His latest offering”— the
Capri — is a $60 million luxury 47-story tower in prestigious
Sutton Place. Over the past two decades Bhatia has built
several noted residential complexes valued at $400 million.
The Gujaratis may have followed traditional paths when
they ventured into new lands but the young Gujaratis,
the ones born in America, are certainly treading off
the beaten path. There may be many doctors, accountants
and engineers, but now there are also writers like Suketu
Mehta, artists like Siddharta Joag, and dreamers galore.
At the age of 21, Sandy Dalal became the youngest fashion
designer ever to receive the prestigious Perry Ellis
Award for Menswear as the best new talent in 1998 by
the Council of Fashion designers of America (CFDA).
Last year he bagged the Fashion Group International’s
2001 4th Annual Rising Star Award for Men’s Apparel.
Dalal’s collection can be found in the creme de la creme
stores, including Neiman Marcus, Barneys and Bloomingdale’s,
and his suits, starting at $1000, attract a whole range
of celebrities including members of A Tribe Called Quest,
Third Eye Blind, the Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes,
John Cusack, and Aerosmith.
The emerging crop of Indian American filmmakers includes
a number of Gujaratis, who instead of going in for medicine
or engineering have embraced the ephemeral world of
cinema instead. Gitish and Piyush Pandya are the two
brothers behind the year’s biggest hit American Desi
which has done well in the England too; Krutin Patel
directed the critically acclaimed ABCD, which was produced
by his sister Naju. Here too the legendary closeness
of the Gujarati community played a hand: when it came
to raising funds, Krutin found he had willing backers
among the many kin his father had helped when they first
came to this country.
As the new generation of Gujaratis born and brought
up in the United States comes of age, they are a blend
of India and America. Attorney Parag Patel, whose parents
came from Ahmedabad in 1960 to pursue graduate studies,
is representative of this new generation. Born in Belleville,
NJ, he chose to go into government and serves as Councilman
in Edison, NJ.
He says, “It is clear Indian Americans are individually
excellent on a professional and academic basis. But
collectively Indian Americans have been below average
and marginalized in mainstream U.S. politics and, as
result, have been impotent.”
He believes that Indian Americans can become empowered
by real political involvement through local political
service in zoning boards, school boards, municipal councils,
and local political parties, not necessarily only federal
political activism and fundraising. Asked if he knew
of many second generation Gujaratis who are attracted
to politics, Patel observes,”“Simply, no. But I believe
— and hope — that the lack of second generation Gujaratis
is a natural immigration phenomenon. They are now maturing
and have nearly graduated to a level of comfort and
sophistication, which allows for political involvement.
Other ethnicities, including Jewish Americans and Irish
Americans, have taken longer periods of time to mature
and graduate into political involvement.”
Indeed, the second generation of Gujaratis is taking
on just about every field. Even when they go into the
traditional ones initiated by their parents, they are
bringing their own individualism and a new sophisticat-ion
to the workplace. In the old days their parents might
had problems with English as they toiled at small, rundown
motels but now gone are the days of mom and pop motels!
AAHOA hosts youth conferences and provides internships
and mentorships to help the younger generation get into
the hospitality industry. Says Dhansukh Patel, “We have
built a solid foundation in the hospitality industry
and now the youth must build on that foundation.” A
new sophistication is coming in to the dealings and
special seminars are held for young hoteliers, including
women. A recent conference attracted 850 women from
across the United States.
Mike Amin, a third generation hotelier from California,
is the vice chairman of AAHOA and the future face of
this powerful organization. At the University of San
Francisco, he studied economics and business with concentrations
on new venture management, feasibility analysis, financial
management for development firms, and real estate law
and analysis. He earned a B.S. in Finance and Marketing
and serves as the managing partner of The Amin Group,
a family-operated commercial management and development
firm.
As vice chair, he has introduced new strategies, creating
alliances with state associations, advocating political
awareness and grassroots activism and ongoing education
for independent hoteliers. An intrinsic part of America,
this third generation Patel hotelier is a member of
non-profit panels including Catholic Charities and the
Mayor’s Action Committee on Homelessness. For a people
that could drive through the African bush in a truck
“without lights, without brakes, apparently without
tires, and with an engine which looks like conking out
at any moment”— it will be interesting to see how far
this amazingly intrepid community can go with all the
advantages of a topnotch American education and their
Gujarati entrepreneurial genes.
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End Of Article.....
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