From The Peopling of New York City

Fr. Albin Roby

Fr. Roby, a priest in the Roman Catholic Church, emphasized the ease with which he immigrated into the country twelve years ago. He also stressed that this was almost entirely due to his profession as most immigrants have much more trouble filing all paperwork that is required to make the journey into the United States. In his twelve years here, he explained that he has been warmly welcomed by St. Charles Parish, which is located in Oakwood and predominately Italian. He said that he has assimilated almost completely into American culture. The only real contact he has with his own ethnic community is when he cooks Indian food on the holidays for a group of around twelve priests from Staten Island, Brooklyn and New Jersey. This is compounded by the fact that according to Fr. Roby, Staten Island’s Indian restaurants focus on foods from the Northern section of India and this is rather different from the foods prepared in his childhood home in Southern India.

Kanika Khanna

In speaking with Kanika, a Political Science major at the Macaulay Honors College at the College of Staten Island, discussed her perspective on life within Staten Island’s Indian community. The child of immigrants, she was born in Brooklyn and moved to Staten Island when she was very young. This seems to have created a dual cultural identity for Kanika. During her interview she explains that she does not fully participate in the Indian community on Staten Island, rather she follows some cultural traditions within her family.