Part III: A Migration of Generations: Stories of South Asian Immigrants (read part I or part II)

This is part III of our series on South Asian immigrants and their journey to America.

The story of how Harbans Lal ended up in the United States starts with a South American detour. When Lal and his wife, Chitra, left India for Brazil in 1979, they thought it was for a short-term contract and that they would go back.

“The initial assignment was only for 16 months, which turned into six years,” Lal says.

At the time, Lal was 30 years old and had already worked in India for seven years as an agricultural engineer. Originally from the small town of Kashipur, a suburb of Nainital in the state of Uttarakhand, he was in Hyderabad helping to improve farming practices in an area deficient in rainfall.

He was working for the organization known as ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics), and a team of Brazilian scientists also working for ICRISAT were in India for training.

The Brazilian scientists returned to their home country wanting to start a farm machinery program, and the officials at ICRISAT recommended Lal for the program.

“I was hired as an international consultant,” Lal says.

Lal’s first (and at that time only) child was only two years old, and the family prepared for the trip despite several reservations.

"We went to that country with no knowledge of Portuguese [Brazil’s official language],” Lal says. “We had no idea where we were going. I had traveled in the plane only once before.”

An attractive salary and the idea of short-term tenure encouraged Lal and his family to make the necessary preparations for life in Brazil.

“We were moving house for 16 months, so we had 11 pieces of luggage,” Lal says.

Lal and his family quickly found out they had reached a place where good samaritans abounded.

“One good thing about Brazilians [is] they’re very helpful people,” Lal says, adding that their hospitality made him and his family feel at ease.

The 16-month contract extended, and before they knew it, the family had spent six years in Brazil and had grown to include two more daughters. At the end of those six years, it was clear to Lal that his time in Brazil was coming to an end. Mentally he began preparing to return to India to join his brother’s transport business, but a friend had another idea.

Lal's close friend sent this article to encourage him to pursue a PhD and life in the United States; the handwritten note says: Harbans: Here is something to feel very hearty. Best of luck. You are only approaching 40's. He is 83.

The friend encouraged Lal to consider going to the United States to continue his career, but Lal was resistant at first.

“Basically there were three choices for me [at that time],” Lal says. “Choice number one for me was to take a local job.”

This option didn’t bode well for the family because the pay cut would have been drastic.

“The second choice was to go back to India and start my career all over again. The third choice was to come to U.S. and the only way to come to U.S. was education,” Lal says. “I was so scared to come to [the] U.S.A. to pursue [a] PhD, but my friend kept inspiring me.”

Lal tried to shrug his friend off, but one day the friend came up with an argument that Lal couldn’t ignore.

“He saw some article in an American magazine that some 83-year old had completed his PhD,” Lal says. “He said, ‘If this man can do it, you can do it.’”
Despite misgivings about his age, Lal applied to universities in the United States and eventually decided to attend the University of Florida-Gainesville.

“That first quarter was hard,” Lal says. “Right in the first quarter they asked me to take a computer course, and it was tough for me, but I was determined to stick it through.”

Lal had positive experiences with his professors and other students, but living on a limited student budget brought him to a life-altering decision. A smoker at the time, it quickly became apparent to Lal that he only had so much money to spend.

“The smoking was becoming a burden in the sense that there wasn’t much income left [to spend on it],” he says.

“I took my last exam of the first quarter, and I took that pack of cigarettes and tore it,” Lal says. “And that was the end of my smoking.”

Lal credits the move to this country in part for the inner fortitude to give up the habit.

“America gave me that willpower to quit smoking,” he says.

Finishing his degree, Lal and his family moved to Oregon when a job opened up there. The family lives there today in a Portland suburb, and Lal now works as an environmental engineer for the National Resources Conservation Service division of the United States Department of Agriculture.

As a member of the national water quality and quantity team, Lal’s objective is to see that “national resources are conserved and preserved for future generations to come.”

In his spare time, however, Lal is working towards a preservation of a different nature. Lal wishes for the social interactions that come so easily to people in India where a neighbor can drop in without a moment’s notice.

“I miss that opportunity to intermingle and mix up with friends of the same values,” Lal says. “That sort of freedom to interact with people.”

Lal decided to do something about this; early this year he formed the Association of Senior Indian Americans of Portland, Oregon (ASIA-PDX), and even though the association is less than a year old, the mailing list already goes out to 150 members.

ASIA-PDX social functions are held twice a month; members attend picnics and hold “laughter exercises” similar to the laughter club sessions popular in India, among other activities.

But Lal’s vision for ASIA-PDX doesn’t stop with the bimonthly meetings.

“What will happen to us when we’re 75, 80 years old? What is the best way so we can have a comfortable senior life?” Lal says, posing questions he has been pondering for quite some time now

The answer: a community living center where older Indian Americans can live in close proximity to one another. While the center is still in the early stages of planning, Lal is determined to make it happen.

“That’s [a] dream project for ASIA-PDX,” Lal says. “There’s a lot of interest because a lot of people are seeing it coming.”

He may miss the social interaction in India but has absolutely no regrets about leaving the country.

“When I left India, we left for a purpose, and that was a good thing to do,” he says. “I think we are very blessed.”

For more information on the Association of Senior Indian Americans of Portland, Oregon (ASIA-PDX), email Harbans Lal at harbanslal@hotmail.com.

Ekta is a freelance writer and editor living in Texas with her husband, two daughters and father-in-law. She enjoys writing features and helping others streamline their articles. She can be reached via email at egarg0201@gmail.com.